NaPoWriMo day 1, poem 1/30. Today's prompt was to write a poem using the first line of another poem. I flipped through the index of first lines in a few of my poetry books so I could steal a line without being influenced by the context. I ended up choosing the beginning of Yeats' "The Wild Old Wicked Man": "Because I am mad about women." I wrote three fairly distinct drafts and then decided to combine them, so hopefully there's not too much Frankenstein going on.
Madness
Because I am mad about women
I take two white pills in the morning.
They help with the madness
not the women. Because
I am mad about women I said
words I could not understand
that unlaced her fingers
from my hair. Because I am mad
about women I laugh with my mouth
too open, hoping someone
just as mad will crawl into me
and stay. The day I went
from one white pill to two
I turned into a swan, couldn't quiet
my wings. Because I am mad about
women I say in the dark
I love you madly
I love you madly.
Fabulous! And not just because I am mad about women.
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