Photo by Jennifer Regnier on Unsplash
Today’s new word:
ruddle n. a red variety of ocher, used for marking sheep, coloring, etc.
v. (used with object), rud·dled, rud·dling. to mark or color with ruddle.
Today’s word was found in a slightly roundabout way. I started at raddleman which directed me to ruddleman n. a person who deals in ruddle.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Write a poem that “talks.” Write a poem grounded in language as it is spoken – not necessarily the grand, dramatic speech of a monologue or play, but the messy, fractured, slangy way people speak in real life.
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
For today’s prompt, write a dark poem. Cave poems, poems at night, and no electricity poems–these are all appropriate for today’s prompt.
My poem
The Cave Wall
ruddle marks flurry along the cave’s wall
my only message
my only proof of existance
I mark the days, months
at first I doodled to pass the time
flowers, spirals, a cat, a little stick person
but this cough is more urgent
what to say?
not some old quote
someone else’s words
a legacy
meaningful wisdom
what has life taught me
to pass along?
Don’t get stranded
and die in a cave
wouldn’t be helpful to many
nor the next poor soul that sits here
reading my message
I decide
and the ruddle marks the wall
I doodle some spirals
I mark the days
Reading
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is The Rain in Portugal: Poems
Experience Writing 