Poetry Thursday: Totally Optional Prompts

A new project from refugees from the Poetry Thursday group: Mike at Word Anger and Tiel at Knocking From Inside are hosting a new Thursday shared poetry event.

This weeks prompt was from a Japanese poem written in 730 AD.

The salt girl reminded me of the year I wanted to be the Morton Salt Girl for Halloween.

"When It Rains, It Pours"

The halloween I turned nine, I went
as the Morton Salt Girl. My scowling sister,
costumed in teenage disdain, refused
to walk me to our neighbors'
doors. She stood just out of reach
of the flashlight, four c cell heavy
in one hand. My candy bag
sagged from a spindly arm. Fifth
grade girls practiced being beautiful,
stuffed tissues in tube tops beneath
hand me down cheerleader outfits. Boys
from my class roamed our streets in self
conscious packs, dressed tough,
but not yet knowingly cruel. In yellow
rubber boots, I hoped for rain that never came
from a too clear sky, my raincoat
the color of egg yolks; the perfect target.

--LJCohen, 2007