The dVerse Poets Pub publishes prose and poetry prompts several times a week, and I love that! I’ve learned a lot about different poetry forms, and from reading the excellent contributions from other writers. I haven’t had time to participate for the past couple of months for various reasons, but today’s prompt was something I could respond to quickly – so I did.
The prompt was For the Love of the Broadsheet, asking participants to write a poem in any form about newspapers. Easy peasy! Before I became a Mom 27 years ago, my husband (at the time) and I subscribed to three daily papers: The Houston Chronicle, The Houston Post, and The Wall Street Journal. I had no idea what a luxury it was to have time to read three papers, but I was very well-informed! I mostly listen to news during my hour+ commute these days, but I still love a newspaper, especially when I travel – on the plane, in the airport lounge, at restaurants when eating alone, in my hotel room in the evenings.
newspapers (a stream of consciousness poem)
yesterday’s news
world in my hands
(what’s slanted? what’s real?)
ink-stained fingers
from crackly paper
with its scratchy feel
provocative
op-ed writers
(heroes or heels?)
lifestyle section
real people stories
food critic’s meals
investigative
reporting, digging dirt
(shocking reveals)
love me a paper
that challenges
speaks truth to power
that enlightens
teaches and delights
(those words i’ll devour)
Thank you to Punam for this prompt, and for getting me back into the swing of poetry-writing. It was also fun to dig up a few of my “newspapers while traveling” photos, although I have many more!
Check Out dVerse
If you’d like to read other poems, just go to dVerse’s Mr. Linky, where you’ll find pointers to all of the other poems. And if you write poetry (no matter how polished or how amateur), I encourage you to sign up on the dVerse Poets Pub page to get the prompts, and join the poetry party. It’s a very welcoming group.
One More Thing: AI for Fun
Thinking of my good times reading newspapers in restaurants while traveling, and before I remembered that I had real photos from my trips, I played with my AI image generator tool. I chose the Charcoal style, and my prompt was: please create an image of a woman reading a newspaper in a crowded fish and chips restaurant, with several other newspapers next to her waiting to be read.
It’s a little cloogy, especially the thumb on her right hand, which isn’t holding the paper… but it was the best of the lot, alongside the one I used as the post header, which also has wonky fingers. AI is not great at fingers, yet. Still, it’s a fun tool to experiment with, although poetry is MUCH more fun. (No AI was used in the creation of my rambling poem.) 😊
© 2025, Glover Gardens
Wonderful, Kim!
your stream of consciousness is so well ordered – lovely tight lines and rhymes
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your stream of consciousness poem … a favorite “form” of mine. You nailed every section I must say. Cheers to you and Happy New Year.
So much is similar so much is different…. but the sense of holding a paper still is a good feeling.
Lovely post and poem, Kim!
Happy to read you …
Love the flow of your poem, moving from one section of the paper to the other! I am delighted that you could join us, Kim. Those photos are priceless.
What a pleasure to read, Kim! And the photos and art complement it all the more.
~Dora
It’s funny how things change over time. The youth of today would probably question why you’d ever need a newspaper given it’s yesterday’s news, let alone subscribing to three per day! Newspapers have sadly become a bit obsolete with an ever-present ability to see news at our fingertips.
The photos are fun though! They make for good props! You’ve also reminded me of a fun sculpture in Sydney of a man reading a newspaper in the business district which was pretty cool to see.