Help
This was written off of prompt #16 on Scott Woods’ Live Journal:
“Write a poem about an aspect of a national tragedy that contains:
- no statistics
- no references to other national tragedies
- no newspaper headline references
- no mention of the media, or lack thereof
- a focus on some aspect of the tragedy that no one else talks about much, if at all”.
I wrote about a second-hand story told to me about an act of kindness in the wake of 9/11. This is written in chained lunes. Enjoy.
-Nicole
————————————
clean wet lines
left by the tear tracks
on her face
film of soot
covers her, casting gray dullness
in the sunlight
she is wandering
aimlessly while fires rage on
Manhattan is shaking
a man wandering
finds her, panicked and speechless
he offers help
the one thing
he can do, he does -
call her parents
they now know
she is still alive, thanks
to his call
Written 6/13/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved
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Great, or heroic, actions are sometimes such small gestures; I forget this sometimes and therefore fail to act simply and heroically. Thanks for the reminder…
You’re welcome. Sometimes all it takes is a simple act of kindness.
-Nicole
a moment that will live on for them forever.. excellent use of the prompt….
Thank you, paisley. This is actually a true story - the man is a famous figure, but I wanted his simple act of kindness to speak more than his fame, and I think he might agree.
-Nicole
[...] Performance on YouTube I have just posted my performance of “Help” on YouTube (this is also in my chapbook, “Raven Feathers”). This was performed at [...]
“Help” Performance on YouTube « Raven’s Wing Poetry said this on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 8:11 pm