PAD Day 4: The Blender of Marriage

 Today's prompts:

WBP:  Write a “mistake” poem

NPWM: Use Thomas R. Henry’s The Strangest Things in the World as a resource

PSH: “The Assembly Line of Surprise” (From John Wesick)

Step 1 – Choose a subject to write about. This should probably be something about being human such as a mental state, emotion, or social issue. Often this is abstract.

Step 2 – Choose an object to compare it to. It’s best if this is something very different than in step 1. Concrete things like machinery give good imagery. The more outrageous the better. Congratulations! You’ve just created a metaphor.

Step 3 – Make two columns on a piece of paper. List the parts of the subject step 1 in the first column and the parts of the item in step 2 in the second.

Step 4 – Map items in each column to those in the other. Choose the most interesting mappings. These will be phrases in your poem.

Step 5 – Put these phrases together into a poem.

I had a little trouble incorporating the NaPoWriMo prompt with the others, but perhaps I'll try to write another poem later. I did combine the other two, although for the PSH prompt I tried to avoid overusing the "X of Y" metaphor construction, but didn't abandon it entirely.

  

That Time I Bought My Wife a Kitchen Appliance for Our Anniversary
 
It was quite the machine, versatile, in harvest gold,
the trendy kitchen color of the time,
and it cost a week’s salary.
She said she’d like to get one, and when
she unwrapped it on our fifth anniversary,
my excitement melted when I saw
disappointment cloud her face.
She stared at me, and her eyes
could have chopped me to a slaw.
 
“It’s a mixer, blender, and food processor all in one!”
I chimed, but she wasn’t moved, and she minced no words.
“It’s our anniversary, not the house’s,” she said.
She expected flowers, earrings, a romantic getaway,
not a kitchen device. Clearly, this grated on her.
I failed to sense the pulse of the occasion,
But I learned something valuable that day.
 
Marriage is not an easy recipe.
Sometimes you get whipped up in the passion
and blend so well together;
sometimes it’s just a daily grind.
But after so many years and burnt-out blenders,
watching life whirl and churn before our eyes,
we finally know how to make a delicious puree,
the perfect smoothie.