Day 2 of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo)
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt:
we challenge you to write a poem that directly addresses someone, and that includes a made-up word, an odd/unusual simile, a statement of “fact,” and something that seems out of place in time…
Herewith:
The Protestant
Are you going to the protest? I am.
Heard that before? That’s because I’ve said it before.
I mean it this time.
I’ll be the queen of protestation!
Thou thinkest I protesteth too mucheth? Ha!
And, no, when I said protestation I didn’t
mean prostration.
But really. I’ve got it all figured out.
I’m making a sign, at my kitchen table
with the curtains drawn so the neighbors won’t see.
I’m sharing my opinions in big block letters,
though I’d rather just print them on an index card.
Maybe file them away in my mother’s old recipe box.
In the back with the newspaper clippings of obituaries
and the torn off corners of Christmas card envelopes
bearing old friends’ new addresses.
I figure I’ll take the sign out to my car
disguised in a trench coat like
an under cover bedbug.
Signs don’t wear trench coats?
A dead giveaway, then.
Okay, I’ll just spirit it out of the house
under the cover of darkness,
like an insomniacal bedbug.
Of course I worry.
What if I get there and I don’t see anyone I know?
What if I get there and someone I know sees me?
You say my excuses are infinityesimal?
Tiny and of little consequence, but
they can go on forever.
[eye roll] Very funny.
I mean it this time.
I’m going to the protest.
Are you?
What Rhymes with Stanza? 
I really want to, but my hubby says if the youth do not what good is my voice. He has a point, but I still want to feel like I might actually still have a choice. If maybe our protest can change something and give us reason to rejoice.
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Every voice matters. The youth may not care about losing Medicare or veterans’ benefits, but it’s literally life and death for some. If we don’t show up, who will?
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I have gone to about one protest a week so far. They have been well organized. & the organizers I’ve seen are younger people. For example, the permit at one allowed us to walk on both sides the sidewalk down Detroit’s main street (about 4 miles). At every cross street, there was a member of the organizing team to keep us from blocking traffic. They had bullhorns to give cross/don’t cross instructions, but also to lead chants & remind us not to litter & not engage with counter protesters (there were a few at the beginning, but they shriveled up quickly). The only police I saw was at the point where we had to cross the main street, & they were simply sitting in their cars, allowing the organizers to do the right thing. Which they did.
There’s a slight majority of older people protesting, perhaps because we don’t necessarily have to work. Maybe many of the younger people work in retail & can’t get off on Saturdays? My daughter (24) & a friend of hers were able to come to one & were enthusiastic about making signs, etc. But otherwise they’ve had to work. Also, they voted. As did my sons.
I wrote about the experience at one here: https://clizjaxonwrite.art.blog/2025/04/05/protest-symphony/
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Wonderful ♥️
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yes
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