Have you read today's poem that I posted on this very blog? If not, get thee to it--Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle into that good night" is an iconic poem. In it, he commands/soothes/memorializes with his father who is dying. Thomas himself, a hard-partying Welshman, died a year after this villanelle was first published, at the age of 39. His theatrical readings of his poetry did a lot to popularize poetry; these readings also brought him to America four times, and he became great friends with Shirley Jackson while here (this is one of my favorite factoids about writers!).
Thomas' poem has little to do with this week's prompt, although the poem is a must-read. We will, however, take from it the Do Not Go . . .
Your writing prompt for this week is to imagine a place, person, or thing you wish to warn readers (i.e., the general, unsuspecting public) about--you should really avoid death as your topic because Thomas' very famous poem. Be fanciful, dark, funny, pleading, spooky, authoritative--whatever. The speaker's tone in this type of poem is very important.
So, what do you need to warn the rest of us about? Where are you telling us not to go? What awful thing do you think we need to be wary of?
Rome?
Your ex-husband?
Dragons?
TV shows that feature dragons?
Glamping?
Online gambling sites?
Hair plugs?
So many possibilities! Have fun!
