Poem-a-Day Challenge - Day 1 - Beginning Born of Ending

Today I started the Writer's Digest 2014 April Poem-a-Day Challenge (PAD) with a sense of relief. I already write a poem every day. I started this last year and have continued it into this year because it just feels right for me. I was inspired to try a year of writing a poem every day after I participated in a couple of these challenges a couple of years ago. I figured if I could write a poem every day for a month, why not a year? I quickly learned that thinking up topics and themes for a poem every single day can become challenging, so it's a welcome change to have someone else provide me the prompts for a month... Not to say I won't write any poems based on my own desires because I'm sure I will.

This year the challenge kicked off on a today, which makes it a Two-for-Tuesday. The prompt was beginnings and endings with the idea being to write two poems, one about each topic, or to write a poem that incorporated the two concepts. I wrote two poems that incorporate both concepts because, after all, what is a beginning without an ending or an ending without a beginning?

My blog has been rather quiet over the past few months, so I think I'm going to share my experience writing poems for the PAD Challenge this month. I might not share a poem every day, but on the days I opt not to share a poem, I'll at least share the prompt and a few words about it.  Here is one of the two poems I wrote today.

Beginning Born of Ending

Our beginning was birthed in our ending
We piled wood on the fire
Burned all we were to ashes
And poured more fuel on the fire
We stood so close the flames singed our skin
Our hands clasping to what once was
As we were pulled in opposite directions
Until our fingers electrified the air between us
The fire cracked and we stared into one another’s eyes
All we pretended to be danced before us in flames
John Mayer sang “Slow dancing in a burning room”
As we planted our feet and watched our past go up in flames
Red and yellow danced together into orange
Gray ash floated into the air and fell at our feet
Black embers crashed among new brown kindling
We sidestepped a rhythm and felt a lost beat
Fell to the ground in frozen tears
Mourned the past we could have had
If we’d only reached past our vulnerabilities
And exposed our truths before they were consumed by deception
As our deception, possibility, and truth burned in the fire
We fell out of our roles and into ourselves
Awakening a true beginning born out of our ending
T. L. Cooper is an author and poet whose work aims to empower and inspire through an exploration of the human condition. Her poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared online, in books, and in magazines. Her published books include a collection of short stories, Soaring Betrayal, her Silhouette Poetry Series, and a novel, All She Ever Wanted. She grew up on a farm in Tollesboro, Kentucky. She currently lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband and three cats.

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