Hathi Room

Today’s prompt was to find a poem and write one that maintains the shape of the original where every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem. I decided to use the feature on Poems.com, but the April 5th feature was structured like prose so went back a day to April 4th. The piece is called When I Am the Only One in the Room by Terri Ellen Cross Davis (which was a fantastic).

The dance of the motherland is
marvelously enchanting, yet rugged bona fide

In the West, it is a stranger to many
that platters in concert, unease and curiosity

What mysterious garb, draping across shoulders
drifting in lockstep with each rotation

It evokes a perpetual energy, universally felt
It is a faithful truth with no concern of locale

in high school gyms and city parks
for the admiring eyes and armchair critics alike

in church chambers and community centers
of course we will twelve step through the night

how to describe such an adaptation you wonder,
there is no better way than trying.