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The Doldrums

A prompted poem

By Ash TaylorPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 1 min read
The Doldrums
Photo by Mishal Ibrahim on Unsplash

I found a post by Joseph Fasano, showing a letter a woman had wrote to him with a poem written by her mother who struggled with dementia.

Joseph had created a writing prompt, designed to help children express themself with poetry.

This is the prompt:

There are so many words in my head sometimes, that it can be difficult to untangle them into something that lets me understand my feelings. I find writing helps. I wanted to give it a try, but of course I strayed a little bit from the original prompt (not by much though, sometimes its safest to keep within view of the beaten path). So here is My Poem, The Doldrums:

Today I feel like a ship lost upon an endless sea,

Lacking a heading.

Sometimes I am a sailor

Sometimes I am an anchor

But always I am melancholy.

I ask the world, “Is it over?”

And the answer is lost in the waves.

how tosad poetry

About the Creator

Ash Taylor

He/Him

Bachelors of Media and Communications, currently battling my way through a Masters in Journalism. Working in radio telling stories, and writing on the weekend. Making my way through my 400 odd backlog of books.

Reader insights

Outstanding

Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!

Top insights

  1. Compelling and original writing

    Creative use of language & vocab

  2. Easy to read and follow

    Well-structured & engaging content

  3. Heartfelt and relatable

    The story invoked strong personal emotions

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Comments (5)

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  • Gina C.2 years ago

    Oh, I love this. You penned such a sense of longing into this prompt - a sadness that is also beautiful. Wonderfully done!

  • Ian Read3 years ago

    Beautiful work! I feel the listlessness and uncertainty turned to sadness. It is a very relatable feeling.

  • R. J. Rani3 years ago

    You've given us a truly beautiful poem, Ash. And thank you for sharing the prompt as well! I've bookmarked this prompt so I can come back to it sometime and try Fasano's prompt for myself sometime!

  • Grz Colm3 years ago

    What a cool prompt and you’ve executed it perfectly. 🌊

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