Week 6
In which we consider a love poem; no pressure
Welcome to The Public Domain Poetry Project where we deconstruct an older poem by using each line (one per week) as a jumping off point for a brand new poem. Participants are encouraged to share their poems in the comments below, or to leave us a link so we can read them elsewhere. If this sounds like fun to you, please consider subscribing for free so you don’t miss next week’s prompt. Thanks for visiting!
It’s Week 6 of the Public Domain Poetry Project and this marks the halfway point of our first poem, “Travel,” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. How are you all doing?
It’s Valentine’s Day this week. Here in Portland, Maine it is bittersweet. It is just our second Valentine’s Day without our Valentine’s Day Bandit, and we’re all still grieving. For decades, Kevin Fahrman would make his way around town on Valentine’s Eve and hang red hearts on shop windows. He was completely anonymous, no one but a few helpers sworn to secrecy knew his real identity. But every year we’d wake up to red hearts everywhere, huge banners draped from the roofs of downtown buildings. He loved Portland and this was how he showed it.
We only learned his identity at his death, and his family have started a foundation to try to carry on the spirit of the Valentine’s Day Bandit. Portland residents are encouraged to download the printable heart and make their own rounds of their neighborhoods, show a bit of love for the community. Last year we were all happy to see so many hearts in honor of Kevin.
I’ve never loved Valentine’s Day as a chocolate and gift cards holiday, but the Valentine’s Day Bandit made it feel bigger, like a Valentine to our community. I can get behind that. I’ll definitely be printing out some hearts of my own this week and posting them around my neighborhood.
And in honor of the season, my response to today’s prompt is a love poem. You don’t have to love Valentine’s Day to love love poems. I used this week’s line as the opening of my poem, extending into a second phrase with a comma. You needn’t write a love poem this week. As always, the direction you take is entirely up to you. But maybe don’t rule out a love poem. They needn’t be too syrupy, in fact I think they are better when they’re not. If you are inclined to try your hand, here are links to a few I’ve posted in the past as food for thought:
Here is this week’s line followed by my poem attempt. Happy writing!
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming
Time Enough To Sleep
Though the night is still for sleep,
and dreaming brings fancy to life,
I would always choose the day
when we can speak together
While I love to sleep beside you,
our limbs brushing each other
In slumber, our breath mingling
in the cool bedroom air
As intimate as that sounds,
as romantic as it might seem,
I love more to hear your voice,
your laugh, your feet upon the stairs
We can sleep together forever
Our ashes sharing the same pot
But now let’s stay up talking
because I will never get enough
Of this everyday life of ours
where we laugh from room to room
Call up and down the stairs, and sit
together, among the flowers we grew
If you’re new here at The Public Domain Poetry Project, welcome! It is never too late to join the fun. Below are links to previous weeks if you’d like take a look. The comments are always open, so share your poem attempts, or a link to them, any time.
https://open.substack.com/pub/margaretannsilver/p/though-the-night-is-still?r=2ghube&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
What a lovely, lovely love poem, Tara!