Friday, April 1, 2011

Happy NaPoWriMo!

Today is April 1st.  April Fools Day, yes, but also - the start of National Poetry Month!  To all the poets who are penning poems each day throughout this month - big cheers!  WooHoo!

Poetic Asides will be offering prompts for each day during the month, and my responses to prompts from Robert Lee Brewer will appear on that site.  Big Tent Poetry also will be providing daily prompts, but just so you know, poems written to their prompts - along with any other poems I write during April  - will be posted here. 

One of Big Tent Poetry's prompt ideas for this first week was to write about being on a balcony with someone whom we read about in the newspapers.  I kept mine deliberately vague (as to identity) but this Nasher is a true story. [Wink.]

Image courtesy of Fine Art America/Starry Night by Meghna Patil

A Nodding Acquaintance

I stepped out onto the balcony to get a breath of fresh air.
The soiree inside was lively, but at that moment, I didn’t care.
I slid the glass door shut and walked towards the far terrace wall.
I usually don’t like high balconies – a fear of the fall.
I held my wineglass in one hand as I gazed at the stars.
I refused to look down at the tiny people and their tiny cars.
Vertigo.  Dizziness. A genetic abnormality.
But I needed some space from the party’s triviality.
Then I felt, rather than heard, the slide of the glass door pane.
Someone was joining me but I couldn’t ascertain
who it might be.  I knew few people at this chic little get-together.
He quietly came up beside me and I heard him mumble, “Nice weather.”
I sighed.  I really didn’t want company of… well, any kind.
I guess it was luck: he could not read my mind.
Without looking at him, I merely nodded my acquiescence.
Two people…one space.  A parallel, in essence.
Then, somehow I sensed he was staring straight ahead, not at me.
I was relieved.  But, as usual, curiosity
for whatever reason, grew stronger.  I turned ever so slightly.
He nodded politely.
A star of screen, who recently made headline news,
was there on the balcony – next to me – with his glass of Chartreuse.
I guess ‘the famous’ also need a break now and then.
A moment of peace.  A moment of zen.
I turned back around to my stars and my moon.
That was the extent of our attempt to commune.
After a while, he left.  So did I.
My brush with celebrity was (for lack of a better term) ‘drive-by.’
But when you think about it, what were the odds?
Not fodder for the tabloids…just an acquaintance of nods.

###

26 comments:

  1. Nice! Celebrities are just ordinary people who have achieved extraordinary fame.

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  2. Well-penned piece, RJ, but are you going to tell us who it is?
    Happy April 1st, let the madness begin:)wonderful start.

    Pamela

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  3. Oh, this is fun fun fun! I wonder who this celebrity of your imagination is!!

    Looking forward to the rest of April!

    My First Poem of April

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  4. I love the eloquent language that is matched perfectly to the elaborate affair. Are you going to tell us who it is?

    ~laurie

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  5. ...Charlie Sheen? :)

    I like the conversational feel of this one. A good start to the month!

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  6. That was a fun read. I think that celebrities need a break from fame every so often. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie come here often because Brad's parents, brother and sister all live her. I think most people here are used to it and try to give them space. I think that is why they visit so often.

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  7. I love a mystery. Do you? If so, check out my blog...there's something there that might interest you. "Amazing Squares"

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  8. Pamela - thanks! The poem/story is actually an amalgam of several events which occurred back in the 80s when I lived and worked in NYC,

    (If you can't run into famous folk in New York, where can you find 'em?) ha!

    Although not necessarily on a balcony, this story did happen on more than one occasion. With different people.

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  9. Thanks Julie! I'm looking forward to the rest of April. too.

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  10. Laurie - like I mentioned above, that vignette happened more than once, so there are actually several stories in the poem. ☼

    Thanks!

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  11. Joseph - no, not Charlie Sheen. (Cute!)

    If it had been he, I doubt the moment would have been so quiet, but I swear for nothing.

    Ya never know.

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  12. Yes Elaine - I do love a mystery. ☼

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  13. I really enjoyed that, RJ. A mystery in rhyme and a rollicking rhythm. Great stuff.

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  14. Kristen - thanks! What an interesting story. I think that most people who are famous would prefer some anonymity and down-time! ☼

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  15. Viv! Thanks so much! Happy first day of NaPoWriMo! ♫

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  16. This was fun - and how mischievous to keep us all guessing!

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  17. This is an outstanding write! Beautifully told tale in rhyme...not easily done. You've got mood setting and mystery. Bravo! Vb

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  18. OH, so delicious, RJ! And my hope of all hopes is that it was George Clooney! And that is no April Fool (neither is he)...

    With my luck in would be Charlie Sheen and he'd end up ranting at me.

    I'm at Writer's Isle this year, changing it up:
    http://sharplittlepencil.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/the-man-who-became-an-island/

    Love, Amy

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  19. Fun and fabulous. The diction is great, the rhyme scheme lending itself to the mood of the ;piece. Nice write, again, Rj!

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  20. I Love the way you made this rhyme!

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  21. A story well-told. I like that you use language so well about an encounter where virtually nothing is said.

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  22. Enjoyed the feeling of this. I felt that I was sitting in a distant chair on the same balcony, observing the two of you.

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  23. Strangers in the night. Two ships passing in the night. At least you will always have the night.

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  24. you told the story beautifully. :)

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