This month, I continue writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. I’m continuing this month so that I can experience the entire deck of prompts. Today’s prompt: Begin the writing with “Nothing at all happened.” Or end it that way. I’ve chosen a Nonet and Reverse Nonet today, where each line 9-1 and 1-9 has that many syllables on it. I’ve also chosen a circular ending so that the same line that begins also ends the poem.
Nothing at all happened yesterday.
I did not drink any coffee.
I did not take a shower.
I didn’t brush my teeth,
did not take dogs out,
did not get up ~
stayed in bed
all day
long
but
then my
alarm rang
the day began
like any other,
coffee and shower
and toothbrush and leashes
the residue of a dream
hung thick in early morning air:
nothing at all happened yesterday?


You capture the riddle where absence becomes its own event,a dream’s residue whispering that even nothing is something remembered.
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Thank you for reading today! Sometimes when I try to remember dreams, it feels like residue reflecting.
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Kim, your creative stories and poems are always fun to read. This is a poem format I might be successful with. I like the topic, “Nothing at all Happened.”
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Thank you, Debbie! I read your post today and smiled – – thanks so much for the shout out. Absolutely loved your slice.
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Kim,
This poem echoes the “what did you learn today” question we often pondered when in school. So much happens even when so few things happen. I love poems that come full circle, and the question mark at the end is perfect in its prompting to rethink the nothing happened response. I need to write more nonets. It’s a fun form.
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Thank you, Glenda. I’ve always loved a circular ending – – yes to more Nonets!
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Kim, this is a very creative take on the passage of time and the fluidity of memories and dreams. I read it through, literally, the first time but then opened my mind to all the possible ways to see this in the next reads. Your line, “the residue of the dream” is just a perfect line tucked in the middle to frame your reader’s thinking.
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Thank you, Anita! I loved your post today about the moose. That was my mother’s nickname – – Moosie. Her real name was Miriam, and whenever I see a moose I think of her and laugh a little. She had that effect on people.
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Your reverse nonet/reverse nonet is so clever!
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