April 15th poems
Half. Way. There. That’s where we’re at after you finish today’s prompt. Somehow we’ve made it–huffing and puffing–to the top of the hill and starting tomorrow we’ll be running downhill to the finish line. Soooo…let’s get to today’s prompt, which is a “Two for Tuesday” prompt actually.
Prompt #1: Write an insult poem. There aren’t really any rules attached to the insult poem, but it’s usually done in good fun. If you write one, you can often open yourself up to a retaliatory insult poem. And that can lead to the equivalent of an insult poetry food fight.
Prompt #2: I’ve been trying to avoid mentioning it, but today is Tax Day here in the States. So it’s time to either file them taxes or file for an extension–or just continue procrastinating, I guess (”Whatever floats your boat,” as my father would always say.). Anyway, the second prompt is to write a poem that deals with paying your taxes and/or meeting deadlines.
(Remember, these prompts come from Robert Lee Brewer of Writer’s Digest Poetic Asides)
April 15
Close enough to the Ides of March
to make me shiver
Coming every year sooner
But no. Always the same.
Unrelenting.
It is me who is slower
at culling the unneeded statements
at sifting the golden receipts from the chaff
at adding and re-adding
and,
in end,
subtracting.
–Candace
File It Away
Did I have a good year?
Have I balanced my budget?
Gotten ahead?
Don’t judge me by my tax receipts.
Mere slips of paper cannot express,
The kind of life I lead.
Why is money always the yardstick
By which we measure success?
–Amy
APRIL 15th
An ominous date on the calendar.
Like the Ides of March,
Or December 7th,
Or September 11th.
A date to be held in revulsion.
I am crawling through mud.
It is foul and clinging.
It sucks me down.
My appeals to reason go for naught.
I reach for surcease, but see only
mountains of paper,
and rules,
and penalties,
and threats of retaliation
by a compassionate government.
In the immortal words of Charley Brown,
April 16th, 2008 at 12:13 am“AAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!”