PAD Day 20: The Darth Side

Today's dual prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a poem about "dark", and (2) "write a poem grounded in language as it is spoken – not necessarily the grand, dramatic speech of a monologue or play, but the messy, fractured, slangy way people speak in real life." I must admit I "stole" the idea for this poem from Poetic Asides host Robert Lee Brewer, who gave as an example of a "dark" subject the fact that when he was a kid he thought Darth Vader's name  was "Dark Vader". I was too old to make that mistake, one that still makes a certain logical sense (there's a word for that: "eggcorn"). So I did a sort-of stream-of-consciousness conversation between a dad and a young son - one I could have had with one of my own kids - kind of in the style of the poem by Diane Seuss, which NaPoWriMo's Maureen Thorson used as an example for her prompt. Okay, too much talking. Poem:

"after seeing Star Wars"

after seeing Star Wars he says why is Dark Vader so bad and

I say you mean Darth Vader no he insists it's DARK Vader and

his young pink brain can be so set sometimes as he explains

he wears that black suit and he's so mean and he went to

the dark side so he's DARK Vader okay okay I concede you can

call him DARK Vader and anyway he says I just heard about

black holes and I'll bet Dark Vader lives in a black hole because

they say it's so black nothing can get out not even light but

I say if he went in he could never come out like a roach motel

what's a roach motel he asks never mind I say but maybe he says

he lives in a cave like Batman they call Batman the Dark Knight

so why can't there be a Dark Vader I can't dispute this flawless

five-year-old logic so I say you've got a point he goes on I'll bet

it's dark in the Batcave like a black hole except Batman can

come back out in his Batmobile why doesn't Dark Vader have
a Darkmobile let's go get ice cream I say