I had this great idea
for something that felt like
quite the profound verse
as it rolled around my thoughts.

Then things got in my way
to stop me from recording it.
First, my niece and I had to play together.
And then after lunch and games, my eyes
wouldn’t focus; I needed to close them.

Then when I woke, other responsibilities
were commanding my attentions
to rise above the fray of TV and chatter
to get a single sentence at a time written.

And then, a lone moment sneaked in
so I tried to recapture
that elusive, profound, and much desired verse.

I wrote where I thought it started
and then other random stuff
trying to exhort it to return
to my brain so I could record it on paper.

But
after the day’s excitement, adventures, work
and games, my entreating efforts availed nothing.
And then I gave up and just played.

©2009 Shari Lynne Smothers

Prompt: Write “And then (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make that the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

This is my poem for Day 20 of the 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge, from Poetic Asides by Robert Lee Brewer.