Down-River
©April 26th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Float down-river, see me shiver.
I see you from afar, O Friend.
Come, draw me clear away from here
Why should I heed you when you plead?
Oh, take me where no one will stare
But if I do, you’ll see me true.
Oh come, dear friend, from out your dream,
And why should I, O voice who calls?
Come float me down this silver stream.
But it will end in a waterfall!
I cannot wait, the hour’s late
I’ll hold a place for you, O friend.
I’ll jump in now, come through somehow.
Then, you will see me at the end.
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My second response to today’s NaPoWriMo prompt (Day 26 )
And last, but not least, our prompt (optional, as always). Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates a call and response. Calls-and-responses are used in many sermons and hymns (and also in sea chanties!), in which the preacher or singer asks a question or makes an exclamation, and the audience responds with a specific, pre-determined response. (Think: Can I get an amen?, to which the response is AMEN!.). You might think of the response as a sort of refrain or chorus that comes up repeatedly, while the call can vary slightly each time it is used …
… The call can be longer than the response, or vice versa. But think of your poem as an interactive exchange between one main speaker and an audience. Happy writing!