April 29, 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 29 – mercurial

By Kat Myrman 
mercurial 
(a trip to market gone horribly wrong!)

how swiftly casual conversation may
turn ugly in these troubling times
a simple “hi, how are you” may devolve
into a hateful, caustic diatribe

“I’m awful, things are terrible, right now
you know exactly what I mean!”
I regret I even asked, backing away
trying, but failing, to make a scene

it’s too late once the switch is flipped
their anger bursts into an ugly rage
I smile, say “I’m sorry” while turning 
cautiously, I try to get away

regretfully, I failed to see his MAGA hat
before exchanging pleasantries 
this is a dog you should never poke 
don’t smile, avoid eye contact, let them be!

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 29 Challenge: And now for our optional prompt. If you’ve been paying attention to pop-music news over the past couple of weeks, you may know that Taylor Swift has released a new double album titled “The Tortured Poets Department.” In recognition of this occasion, Merriam-Webster put together a list of ten words from Taylor Swift songs. We hope you don’t find this too torturous yourself, but we’d like to challenge you to select one these words, and write a poem that uses the word as its title.

Mercurial

Song Title/Album: “illicit affairs” / folklore

Lyric: “Take the words for what they are / A dwindling, mercurial high”

Definition: very lively and quick, or changing moods quickly and often

This entry was posted on Monday, April 29th, 2024 at 4:20 pm and tagged with , , , and posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, napowrimo, Poetry, Rhymed Verse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

11 responses to “NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 29 – mercurial”

I love feedback...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.