“He Said Waltz with Me” by Angelle McDougallPosted by Rattle
Angelle McDougall
HE SAID WALTZ WITH ME
till the soft cloth
hammers shatter
and no longer reach
the strings
till the metal pedals
wear down to nubs
unable to dampen
the music rings
till the keys turn concave
with decades of use
and middle C warbles
instead of sings
waltz with me, darling
come waltz with me
until we are the last
two things
Prompt: “This was written in October 2022 while attending my local writers’ group. The group organizer gave a writing prompt by playing a few notes on an upright grand piano in the room. I took lessons throughout my childhood on a similar ancient piano. My family didn’t have a lot of money, and dad would often open up the piano front to make small repairs to the hammers when they broke. The prompt gave me visions of the interior workings of the instrument, and I envisioned a couple waltzing together until long after the piano disintegrated from age.”
Angelle McDougall: “Poetry prompts can be the best way to get my mind out of a rut and promote new thinking. Some of the best prompts have come from hearing a few notes played on an old piano, pulling a random card from a tarot deck, touching an unseen object in a dark velvet pouch, and being asked an intriguing question by a member of my local writers’ group. I love the feeling of catching a glimmer, a spark, triggered by a good prompt. It sets my imagination racing, and I have to write or type like mad to keep up. They don’t always result in completed work, but they always add excitement and ideas to build upon.” (web)
Conrad Geller: “For more than 50 years poetry has both sharpened and validated even my most ordinary experiences. Its forms make at least a little sense out of otherwise chaotic experiences. Its forms make at least a little sense out of an otherwise chaotic universe, and its music has always invited me to sing along.”
For years, we’ve been offering a prompt at the end of every Rattlecast episode, to encourage folks to write new poems for the next week’s open lines. At the end of every episode, Timothy Green announced the next week’s prompt. Write yours within the next week to share it on the open lines, and submit it to this category by the end of the month to have it considered. Series editor Katie Dozier will select her favorite poems, which will be published as one of Rattle.com’s daily poems. The winner each month will also receive $100.
Submissions for the Prompt Poem of the Month are not anonymized—we still want to encourage everyone to share their weekly poems on the Rattlecast’s open lines—but choices are still being made solely based on the poem’s merit. Submit as many poems as you’d like to this category, but only poems written for the current month’s prompts. A winner will be chosen after the first week of every month.
Alison Townsend: “‘Burritos in Wisconsin, is part of a series of poems I’m writing about my late brother, who died of kidney failure at age sixty-four in 2019. A doctor himself, he was a model of grace and courage, and had one of the longest lasting kidney transplants in the world. The poem arose from various memories (especially about cooking) of the times he visited me in Wisconsin. Siblings can, I think, become homes for one another in adulthood. The poem articulates my hope that I was that for him, while bearing witness to the difficulty and loneliness of his passing. Grief crystallizes things. This is one of the few poems I’ve ever written that came nearly whole, as if dictated.”
Stephen Cohen: “I am a writer and a performing, recording, and visual artist. I write poetry because it is one of the best ways for us human beings to express our thoughts and feelings. ‘The Closing List’ directly addresses life in these historic times.” (web)
John L. Stanizzi: “It occurred to me that generations upon generations have been ‘practicing’ in one way or another for some terrible ‘thing.’ We have been rehearsing so that we will know just what to do when the unthinkable happens. This is the myth around which my poem swirls.” (website)
Prompt: Write a poem from the perspective of one of your childhood toys.
Note from the series editor, Katie Dozier: “The twirling between the doll and the speaker in Nancy’s poem invites us to get lost in the ruffles of regret. At once exploring our need to cherish and to be cherished, as well as to love and to be loved, the honesty in this poem unboxes a trove of emotion.”
