Having now seen today’s NaPoWriMo prompt, in addition to my tanka in my earlier post, I decided to join in with the challenge over on the website - to take a well-known poem and rewrite each line, replacing as many words as possible with words that mean the opposite. I chose the first of T.S. Eliot’s preludes, and then ‘flipped’ it as much as I was able to, whilst maintaining the basic sense and following his format and rhyme scheme.

Preludes (I)

T.S. Eliot

 

The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.

Six o’clock.

The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

And now a gusty shower wraps

The grimy scraps

Of withered leaves about your feet

And newspapers from vacant lots;

The showers beat

On broken blinds and chimney-pots,

And at the corner of the street

A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.

And then the lighting of the lamps.

 

 

My ‘opposites’ version

 

The summer morning stirs and wakes

With sound of cows who low and graze.

Six o’clock.

The fresh rebirth of longed-for days.

And now a gentle breeze makes wag

Each cheerful flag

Of lime-green leaves above your head

And insects drone their news from grass;

The breeze a thread

Of joy to new-fledged birds who pass,

And in the meadow – flower spread –

Companion colts kick up their heels.

And now the early church bell peals.

I’m pretty pleased with how this came out, and strangely, it didn’t take that long. Perhaps I should have saved it for tomorrow!