The Poetry Stash: 07Feb2024

Today’s poem is “I Went Out to Hear” by Lela Chatti, the Academy of American Poets, Poem-a-Day

I Went Out to Hear

The sound of quiet. The sky
indigo, steeping
deeper from the top, like tea.
In the absence
of anything else, my own
breathing became obscene.
I heard the beating
of bats’ wings before
the air troubled above
my head, turned to look
and saw them gone.
On the surface of the black
lake, a swan and the moon
stayed perfectly
still. I knew this was
a perfect moment.
Which would only hurt me
to remember and never
live again. My God, How lucky to have lived
a life I would die for.

Prompts:

1.	Make the first line of your draft the title and then drop down into the poem.
2.	Step outside with a notebook and pen. Record what you hear, see, smell, etc.
3.	Begin a draft with “On the surface…”
4.	Describe a perfect moment.
5.	The poem uses the literary device of enjambment, which is the continuation of a sentence/clause over the line ending/break:

“I heard the beating
of bats’ wings before
the air troubled above
my head, turned to look
and saw them gone.”

Write a draft in which sentences wrap down to the next line without punctuation.