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Jumpstart in Meter
By Ken Delpit
I wonder if it makes good sense, to do Jumpstart in meter.
I mean, what’s the point, masking oneself, like a blindfolded trick-or-treater?
It all depends, I suppose, on the prompts that we are given.
It could turn out to be mere folly, or crazier still, madness-driven.
Marlene always says, “Just write,” so just write is what we will do.
We will contemplate the prompts, one at a time, and stir them into our stew.
Time will tell us, as our words spill out, no need to pre-distress.
We’ll know soon enough if we’ve got a yummy meal, or just some metered mess.
Prompt one says: What bothers me…, I don’t care…, I’m tired of dot-dot-dot.
So, right away, we must gaze inward, and put ourselves on the spot-spot-spot.
One thing that can be tiresome is overuse of ellipses.
But truth be told, I’m as guilty as most, oft’ with the “and so on” tipsies…
Or, maybe I can find a rhyme in things I care not about.
But then again, who wants to take in some testy writer’s careless blowout?
Or perhaps, fluency may lie in what bothers me the most.
Though, it surely would confuse, were I to make a bouncy meter morose.
Prompt two asks, innocently enough, what it is that’s nagging.
It’s hard to answer, when there is so much, but might I be humble-bragging?
Or, what I really want to do might spark a burst quite wordy.
Though, honestly, I’m just plugging away, trying to get to ten-thirty.
Prompt three wants to know about those who might be my role models.
It’s a marvelous idea to ponder, but a thorny prompt to coddle.
For, were I to list those who’ve inspired, and cite them in report,
I could not possibly do them justice, and I would come up stupid short.
So, what am I to make of this, this Jumpstart done in meter?
Well, if I’m real, I’m surely no Ogden Nash, but more like Walmart greeter.
Ken Delpit is, in chronological order, a son, a brother, an Argonaut, a Bruin, a software engineer, a husband, a father, a technical writer, and, Ta-Da!, a grandpa (aka “Poppy”). But hold the phone: Now that he is retired and freed from the odious burden of doing real work and being responsible, he has embarked into the wide-open adventures of creative writing. Ken welcomes the freedom and spontaneity of Jumpstart workshops, the inspirations that they inevitability evoke in participating writers, and the warm camaraderie of all.
