Beneath the Mango Tree: A Spoon River Verse*
My heart hasn’t beaten, lungs didn’t breathe even. No one knows my fragile body was laid beneath the mango tree, behind a house that’s shabby, where she lived— my unknown mommy.
It was war time when she was raped, a faceless man brought her early grave. In split second, I felt the magnitude, of her pain, and love, her motherly attitude. But I am weak and I gave in, away from her arms towards hundred years of solitude.
—
©2016 Rosemawrites@A Reading Writer. All Rights Reserved.
Photo credit: Unsplash
In response to May Book Prompts – by Sarah Doughty and MahWrites.
Today’s prompt is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
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*Spoon River Verse is a subgenre of Mask or Persona poetry. The term is inspired by the Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, American Poet (1869-1950). The anthology is a series of poems written as if each poem was being spoken by the dead. The setting is a cemetery in an imaginary western town, Spoon River. The voices make up a ‘history’ of the town’s past residents and their relationships.
The Spoon River poem is a poem of voice. The poem speaks from and for a person, not necessarily the poet. The subject, diction and imagery should reflect the character who is speaking through the poem.
Spoon River Verse is:
- framed at the discretion of the poet.
- dramatic.
- written in the voice of a character of a particular time and place. Usually the voice comes from the grave. The person, the era, the location should all be heard through the words of the poem.
WOWZA, that last line is spectacular, Rosey–which is beginning to seem like your “trademark”!
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Hmmm. Thank youuuu! 😀 I kinda agree with you my sister Stella. I am really working hard on making my ending line memorable. In every piece. So thank youuu! ❤
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I read somewhere that the first and last lines are most important…don’t remember who said it, maybe Hemingway??
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ooh. i haven’t read that yet. 😀
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Probably said by many authors, I’m guessing 🙂
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oh. thank you for sharing! 😀
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Sure 🙂
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🙂
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The ending is amazing!
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yay! thank you! The book you chose is amazing in itself. 🙂
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It is! 😊
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🙂
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wowza is right. What a tale of woe! The poor dears!
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Yeah! Thank you very much, Mel!
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You’re welcome 🙂
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❤
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This is wonderful Rosey! I love how the poem is speaking for the dead – rather, the dead is speaking through the poem.
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wow! you got it so right, PJ! Thank you very very much!
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A beautiful poem, and the novel is another favorite of mine.
Gorgeous~~
Dajena ❤
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yay! thank you my well-read darling friend! 😀
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Oh boy! It’s like reading one happy poem and then one sad one… what a way to incorporate the book title!
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Oh sorry about the sadness dear NJ! ❤ I think the book title somehow asked for it.
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Such imagination in creating this voice. So viable and so sad. Moving under the skin of the heart, like under the ground beneath the tree.
Truly innovative and loving work, Rosema.
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thank you very much! There goes your insightful words again. 🙂 Thank you! ❤
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