Today's prompts from Write Better Poetry and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a "from where I'm sitting" poem (i.e., include only things you can see from where you're writing), and (2) write a poem about the meaning or origin of your first or last name. These two prompts seem to conflict a bit, and my poem does concentrate more on the second one, but I was able to at least include something from my immediate surroundings at the end of the poem.
Niedt
The origins of my name are murky,
but they are German, for sure.
There's a town called Nied in Hessen,
so my family may have come from there.
There's also the middle German word "niet"
which means enthusiastic, eager, zealous.
That doesn't exactly describe my personality -
I'm no cheerleader, no firebrand,
though occasionally something may excite me.
My family came here in the late 1800's,
and some of our story has been lost
after generations, but there is this apocryphal tale
of an ancestor of noble birth, who one day
decided to run away with the downstairs maid,
leaving his title and fortune behind.
What a romantic story, you may say,
or what a fool for love. He must have been eager
or enthusiastic, even zealous, to walk away
from all that privilege and power for someone
so dear to his heart.
I didn't have to make that choice. The love of my life
sits upstairs working from home, not in a castle
but a humble three-bedroom Cape Cod,
while I try to tell my story at this computer,
with loads of laundry looming to my right.
but they are German, for sure.
There's a town called Nied in Hessen,
so my family may have come from there.
There's also the middle German word "niet"
which means enthusiastic, eager, zealous.
That doesn't exactly describe my personality -
I'm no cheerleader, no firebrand,
though occasionally something may excite me.
and some of our story has been lost
after generations, but there is this apocryphal tale
of an ancestor of noble birth, who one day
decided to run away with the downstairs maid,
leaving his title and fortune behind.
What a romantic story, you may say,
or what a fool for love. He must have been eager
or enthusiastic, even zealous, to walk away
from all that privilege and power for someone
so dear to his heart.
sits upstairs working from home, not in a castle
but a humble three-bedroom Cape Cod,
while I try to tell my story at this computer,
with loads of laundry looming to my right.
2 comments:
Very nice! I especially love the "loads of laundry" detail.
For some reason I expected the meaning of "nest"... Nido is nest in Italian. I love it how you bring it home. Home is where the laundry is. :)
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