After today’s poem, we’ll be 60 percent of the way through this challenge. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve got a better than 60 percent chance of making it to the finish line. In my case, I know not every day has been pretty, but I’ve got up and poemed—and that alone is something. So let’s keep at it.
For today’s prompt, write a message poem. You can decide the medium: Message in a bottle, postcard, or voice mail. Of course, there are text messages, telegrams, and letters. My wife loves to leave me messages on Post-It notes (and I love to find them). So write a message in a poem today!
Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want. In other words, it’s more important to write a new poem than to stick to the prompt. — Robert Lee Brewer, Writer’s Digest
Message of the prickly pear
I have some neighbors
a couple streets over.
I don’t know them,
haven’t even seen them;
I just pass by their house sometimes,
sun hat on, earphones in,
on my way to 10,000 steps.
They have two prickly-pear cacti planted in the ground:
one at the foot of their mailbox
and one in a raised bed by the sidewalk.
Three times when I have walked by,
there have been broken-off paddles of cactus
just lying there,
and gingerly I picked them up
and brought them home*
and planted them in pots,
so now I have prickly-pear cacti as well
(although mine overwinter inside).
When I went by last week,
and saw theirs were bursting with new buds
and tiny burgeoning lobes,
I heard the message of the prickly pear:
“Seize the day!
When conditions are favorable,
GROW!”
And so I transplanted my three
together in a new pot
and brought them outside for the summer
because now is their time.
And I hope
my time is coming.
For everything you ever wanted to know about prickly pears, try opuntiads.com!
* I brought the first little lobe home in my pocket. Don’t do that! Even if they don’t look very prickly, they are.
Our recent transplanting adventure was a logistical challenge. How to get the big ones out of the pot they were in and into the new pot without getting ourselves stuck by bundles of tiny spines? In the end, we used a variety of garden implements and managed to hurt neither ourselves nor the opuntiads.