It did come from the prompt, honest. I was thinking forgetfulness, remembrance… and then got taken over by, well, silliness…
Why can’t everyone think like me?
That way there’d be
no need for red poppies.
Nobody would look
with laser beams of lust
over next door’s wall.
No need for word salvoes,
everybody deafened
by listening.
And if there was no need
to stop right there, there’d be
no need for embargoes.
No need for trade-offs.
In fact, no need
for parliament
or law.
No need to compete.
No need to get on.
No need, at all,
to get out of bed.
Only the need to be.
So why don’t you want
to be like me?
Drop the final couplet and replace it by the first two lines!
Mmmm… I can see what you’re getting out but I think it needs more revision than that!
I like the final couplet – shuffle it up above the stanza that begins “only the need to compete” so that your poem ends “Only the need to be.” Lots of fun reading something new and off the cuff. I am giving myself an hour at the most to do a poem – less if possible – and even though I am behind I am going to plod on. Thanks Martin for the prompts. I really enjoyed reading /listening to this prompt by Billy Collins.