Inner Demons

The Dead Poem Challenge

Chris B. Writes invited me to take the Dead Poem Challenge. Here’s what he had to say:

The Dead Poem Challenge was created by mary beth kaplan🪶since April is National Poetry Month, and I’m just along for the ride!

What is the Dead Poem Challenge?

Take one line from your dead (old) poem and let it spark a new one.

And/or

Black out words in your dead poem to create a new one.

SHARE your poem! Tag 3 to 5 other poets to do the same. As well as mary beth kaplan🪶and me!

~

I took one line from an old poem and let it spark a new one!

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So I decided to take the Dead Poem Challenge today.

My dead poem, a poem I wrote somewhere between eight and ten years ago, starts with—

Should we cast out our demons?
What if we reconciled with our demons instead?

Here is my new poem inspired by my dead poem:

Inner Demons

Is casting out our demons the answer?

Is there no reconciliation?

What if we’ve misjudged them?

Are they really the villains we made them out to be?

What about their backstory?

What if we offered love and compassion instead of judgment and condemnation?

Do they continue to haunt us because they’ve been exiled?

What if we gave them a seat at the table?

Photo by Kristina Ray

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Would you like to take the Dead Poem Challenge? Anyone can participate, but if you take the challenge, please remember to tag me, mary beth kaplan🪶 and a few others who might want to play! Bear Sage Carlos M. Tangled Words Dorie Snow/雪多丽 Brooklyn Crane

Read Mary Beth’s post here

Read Chris B. Writes post here

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