For today’s prompt, pick a direction, make that the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. There are so many directions: north, south, up, down, left, right, over, under, etc. But there are also more specific directions like “Across the Way,” “Through the Woods,” and “Beyond the Clearing.” Or give directions like “Clean Your Room,” “Tie Your Shoes,” or “Get Over Here.” — Robert Lee Brewer, Writer’s Digest
On the lake side
On the lake side of the street
is a little cottage
where 13 years so far
of our family history have played out
Following 30 years of another family’s,
and another
Going back to 1948
A retreat, a refuge, for each in turn
You can park your car on the other side
You can go down through to the stone patio
and sit and watch the water
You can imagine whose feet have
walked the hardwood floors
— who laid them board by board
sweat and dirt
building out a vision —
who else has watched the quiet lake
What dreams they dreamed
as it flowed,
both tide and time
Whose heart has broken
— and ached
and begun to heal
to beat again, even vibrantly,
though it would never be the same —
in the span of those seven decades
Of life
on the lake side
