My Favorite Writing Prompt so Far This Month

I've been reading the prompts on Robert Lee Brewer's blog, even if I haven't always attempted them. Some of them have been really good ones. Yesterday's was one of my favorites, because it rewards my Inner English Major:

Here's what he writes:

After today's poem, we'll be half-way there. 50% of the way. It's all downhill from here. And other half-way stuff. (For some reason, I've got Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" song running through my head. "Ooooooo, we're half-way there; woooooo-oooo, living on a prayer; take my hand, we'll make it I swear..." Err, or something like that.) ;)

For today's prompt, I want you to take the title of a poem you especially like (by another poet) and change it. Then, with this new altered title, I want you to write a poem. An example would be to take William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow" and change it to "The Red Volkswagon." Or take Frank O'Hara's "Why I Am Not a Painter" and change it to "Why I Am Not a Penguin." You get the idea, right? (Note: Your altered poem does NOT have to follow the same style as the original poet, though you can try if you wish.)

Back to me:

You can go to his blog to see what he did with Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!"

Kelli Russell Agodon also has a great poem inspired by this prompt at her blog.

Ah, the Bon Jovi references . . . I will have a sweet run this morning, with 80's music pounding through my head which will mingle with all the poems I could use as inspiration for this prompt. I remember the song from my Senior year in college, with it blaring out from all the dorms. Of course, if everyone else loved it, I would have to hate it, because that was the kind of perverse punky girl I was. But now, I like it both for its nostalgic value and the sweetness of the lyrics, which I didn't notice back when I was so focused on finishing my undergraduate studies so that I could get to grad school, which I was convinced was where I really belonged . . .