Welcome to day 30 – the final day! And if you find you can't bear for it to end, don't worry: Poem a Day may be finishing, but come back tomorrow and you'll find heaps of resources and ideas to keep on poeming!
Today's prompt, in honour of Oxford's beloved Daily Info, is an idea of what to write about: a Wanted Ad. Whatever you want, whatever you're hankering for right now, write an ad specifying your exact requirements, and in the magical-realist parallel world of poetry, your ad will be placed in the magical-realist parallel-world Daily Info and will, of course no doubt be magical-realistly parallel-worldly answered. It can be a real thing that you're hankering for, or an impossible thing, or a completely non-existent thing, whatever you want.
If you're looking for inspiration, you could flick through the Daily Info's Wanted Ads, browse these vintage classifieds ads, read my examples below, and then ask yourself: "What do I really really want right now?" Then write an ad requesting it.
WANTED ADS
WANTED: point-of-view translator. Two headsets minimum; ports for extra headsets if possible. Must have full context settings, including background, previous experience, mood, and current situation (as transmittable, not emoji shortcuts). Separate empapthy and humour controls, not a single slider scale. Tone adjustor desirable. New or used. Seller must be willing to demonstrate functionality while negotiating price.
WANTED: Apologizomator 300 or above. Must replace all instances of “if” with “that”. Automatic detection and deletion of defensive explanation, self-focused emotion, and excessive self-flagellation. Built-in uncircumventable prompts for empathising and future planning. Passive-aggression detector. Remote handset to control apology length, empathising length, and listening length, for apologisee’s use. Urgently required, any price. (Asking for a friend.)
WANTED: Mood synchroniser, with settings for activity level, calm / excitement, conversation, and arousal. Must control for respective personality strengths and desire-to-please quotients. Automatic overrides for aggression and depression, non-adjustable. 9 amp boredom fuse. Two transmittors for personal use; plus room-ambience input / output broadcast capacity with option to cap arousal and sleepiness levels. Arousal cap must be able to cope with larger groups, unlike earlier models.
For a type of poem, a wanted ad is its own form already, so I'd suggest sticking to that, and maybe giving yourself a strict word-limit for added realism. (You're paying by the word, remember!) Alternately, if you want an extra constraint to shape your thoughts and steer your words this way or that, why not try a wreathed poem? To wreathe a poem, instead of rhyming the words at the end of the line, each end-word has a rhyme somewhere in the next line (anywhere except the beginning or the end of the line). That’s it! You can combine this with any other form of poetry as well – wreathed sonnets, wreathed golden shovels, etc. You can read more about wreathed poems here. And before you kiss Poem-a-Day goodbye, don't forget to add your details below, so you get tomorrow's list of ideas for how to keep going with your newfound momentum!
The Meddling with Poetry course explores a host of different poetry forms as well as the musicality of language, poetic imagery, and other aspects of the poetic. It's 8 weeks long, one evening a week, and absolute beginners and experienced writers are equally welcome. You can read more details and book a place here.
