Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt challenged me to find a poem, and then write a new poem that has the shape of the original, and in which every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem. I selected Dylan Thomas’s poem Do not go gentle into that good night and created a new poem that explores the chaotic cultural movement that included protests, riots, law-breaking, and partisanship during 2020.
Sacred Cow Rustlers
Dauntless zealots canceled the need for a remembered past,
Occultist erasing unlearned history for their best present;
Revealed is the iconoclast.
To the streets, they bellowed, “Liquidation at long last”,
Belittling their own intertwined inalienable Rights;
Did partisans let reason be outcast?
Good men did nothing as self-righteous fires grew vast,
Touting principles without action while fear reigned;
Revealed is the iconoclast.
Wistful voices of sanity downed out as lies amassed,
Among the criers lurked those smilers with silver tongues;
Did partisans let reason be outcast?
Gone are the enlightened creators of self-evident contrast,
Buried under the boot heels of angry woke mobs;
Revealed is the iconoclast.
A great nation once stood while freedom held steadfast,
Cut down in its prime by looters embolden with power;
Did partisans let reason be outcast?
Revealed is the iconoclast.
#napowrimo #napowrimo21 #napowrimo2021
Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash
