It’s a prompt combo day, using the 30/30 phrase “opposite of history” and the NaPoWriMo.net prompt asking for a poem written in the style of Kay Ryan, whose poems tend to be short and snappy – with a lot of rhyme and soundplay. They also have a deceptive simplicity about them, like proverbs or aphorisms. Examples here with “Token Loss,” “Blue China Doorknob,” “Houdini,” and “Crustacean Island,” and my copycat poem below.

Routine

Tomorrow is not

the opposite of history,

but a composite

of moments and things

we’ve done before,

hitting snooze, stretching,

making coffee, putting on shoes,

to enter the world again

and trying not to forget

to look up at the sky

once in awhile, to breathe,

be free to see meaning

in clouds without losing

your head in them.