Tag Archives: theme

July 30, 2026 · 11:48 am

One-hit Wonder

As a child of the 80’s and a music fan, I know the wonder and addiction of a great one-hit wonder. 

 A-ha, “Take On Me”

Tommy Tutone, “867-5309 / Jenny”

Big Country, “In a Big Country”

To name just a few. I can give you the first few bars of a one-hit wonder and you would be able to identify it… “We can dance if we want to / We can leave your friends behind.” I know you started to sing this outloud.

As a poet, I could live with having a one-hit wonder poem. I have about 300 poems published in books, unknown amount of original poems submitted for the weekly #BornBattleReady poetry challenge. And the scraps of paper, notebooks, that contain rough drafts and poems that just haven’t found a home and I can confidently say I have over a 1000 poems.

The world of poetry is vast, and many poets, like Emily Dickinson, William Blake, and Henry David Thoreau, just to name a few, became famous after they passed away. I would rather have a one-hit wonder than become famous after death.

No one can predicate a one-hit wonder (or any success for that matter). But if I could choose one poem to be my one-hit wonder I would choose one of my earlier poems, “Air Jordans and Big Gulps.”

“Air Jordans and Big Gulps”

i wear

                   AIR JORDANS

when I work

                                           the graveyard shift

                                           at 7-11

                                                                   (24 hour convenience store)

They do not match the Smock

                               (a dull pepper green)

                               Or my name tag

                               (red stickered first name)

“i I.D. it’s my job”

i wear

                   AIR JORDANS

when I work

                                           cleaning the nacho cheese

                                           and chili dispenser

                                                                   (free for your chips or dogs)

They do not match the bottles

                               (40oz. and up)

                               or the cans

                               (lined like a library)

“please have I.D. ready”

i wear

                   AIR JORDANS

when I work

                                           counting cigarette cartons

                                           and filling the shelves

                                                                   (Camels are on special)

They do not match the coffee

                               (freshly made every hour)

                               Or the Styrofoam cups

                               (one lid fits all sizes)

“Must be 21 or older to purchase alcohol”

I think this poem reflects my style the best. There is a form to the poem, but yet stretches the theme creatively through that form. I do use everyday life as a theme to highlight the depth of living, which this poem does. And it is autobiographical. I still have the first draft of this poem on the inside of a cigarette carton I used to write it on during my graveyard shift.

I have better written poems. I have more heart wrenching poems. I have poems about my family, my children. Poems about fate. Poems written in poetic forms from the 14th century. 

But one-hit wonders are powerful, unique, and addictive to listen to… to read in this instant. And I could die happy if this poem was my one-hit wonder.

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May 31, 2025 · 4:46 pm

PAD 2025: Poem 3

On day three of the PAD challenge Robert asked us to write a short poem. Nothing longer than 10 lines. Now, there are quite a number of short poetic forms, Robert provided a few in the overview of the prompt for the day. Creating a poem in a few lines, and with the presented rules of a particular form can stretch one’s creative mind.

Throughout the month I wrote some short poems because of how the prompt inspired me. For day three I specifically wanted to use a poetic form. Without any idea for the poem, I decided to write a Shadorma. I like this poetic form (you can expand the poem by making stanzas from the guidelines).

But I had no theme or prompt word to go with it. So, I had a different hurdle to overcome. Here is the poem I wrote that day. I will discuss how I got the idea afterwards.

My heart is

a candle whose flame –

surrounded

by darkness –

jumps and sparks trying to keep

the light from fading.

Writing in poetic forms has a built-in challenge. Meshing my ideas within the rules of a form can take days, even weeks for me to accomplish. Throw in a short poetic form, and write it in a day for the PAD challenge and I sat there drinking my coffee with my head spinning.

With or without a poetic form, short poetry is not easy. The theme and intensity of an idea has to come through in just a few words or lines. And it has to hit the reader, hard. At least I think it does. Short poetry should be like drinking a shot, full flavor that then sits warm in the reader’s mind.

The idea for this poem started with the candle that sat on our island. We tend to keep a candle on the island that we light at the end of the day. Just a part of our family routine. I noticed the burnt wick, dark and frayed. Then, I started to consider how bad the year had been. I then considered the sayings about a single light against the darkness. In my mind I saw a candle in the middle of darkness, how small the light was. I thought about how fast the darkness would be complete if the fire on the wick sputtered and went out.

I had my idea. 

I used my lunch period to work through the poem. I started with the metaphor, “My heart is a candle…”  I actually had to work line 3 and 4 through a few different versions. These lines are only three syllables long. I wanted the tension of the darkness surrounding the flame to come through, to have that tone of sadness to hit and stay throughout the poem.

Here is where punctuation makes a difference in the poem. I could have used commas. But the emdash created the tone I wanted for the weight of the darkness. I then continued with the imagery of the flame that was fighting to stay alive.

Writing this poem encompassed the importance of punctuation, the challenge of short poetry, and how everyday objects, the candle on the island, can be the spark for inspiration. I think the poem also reinforces the power of writing in a poetic form, it can make you really delve into word choice, theme, and expression that you might not normally do.

Let me know what you think of the poem, or of any of the ideas I discuss in this post. Share your thoughts in the comment section.

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