Writing Prompt: The Mermaid

Day 1: ‘The Other’ writing prompt

Write a narrative poem in the perspective of someone who is not yourself. A mother. A teacher. A PhD student. Someone of a different class or religion or ethnicity. What do they do in a day of their life. Write a poem about an experience unique to this different perspective.

The Mermaid

Looking up from the glistening sea,
up in the sky where birds fly by.
What is that floating white light
that shines almost every night?
Sometimes curved, other times round.
Sometimes it disappears, nowhere to be found.
I stretched to catch it and if I can’t,
at least let me touch it.

Deep where I stay,
there are shipwrecks with objects sparkly and bright.
Though none are as alluring as the one in the sky.
This gem I can never capture
Reminds me of the one I wondered.

Humans I heard they are called,
they are mysterious and tall.
I saw one the other day,
his hair shorter and has a missing tail.
If I counted my shells right,
the light above
appears on similar nights.
But for the one that I counted,
never appeared after that first sight.