Done in Vain

Okay, Word Daddy is missing in action. He must be on another one of his cross-country road trips. I hope his motorcycle breaks down and leaves him stranded in Tucumcari. Sorry, I shouldn’t be mean. I decided to hang out with the Golden Shovel Poems in October. What can I do with a missing muse and so many great poets in the world? I’ve used William Blake, Robert Frost, and Amy Lowell for inspiration. He was an interesting man. He proposed to Maud Gonne four times, and she repeatedly turned him down. When that didn’t work, Yeats proposed to her daughter. She also turned him down. Yeats was the first Irish person to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Therefore, this new poem will be titled Done in Vain.

 Terrance Hayes invented the Golden Shovel style of poetry. This form of found poetry allows the writer to take a favorite poem and use it to make something original. I experimented with found poetry last year when I wrote Blank Verse poems. Now, I am having fun writing Golden Shovel Poetry.

The rules for writing a Golden Shovel Poem and Done in Vain

While researching this style of poetry created by Terrance Hayes, there seem to be four simple rules. You can use as many lines of the poem as you want, and the poem will end with you being your creation. I find this idea interesting. Written below are the three simple rules.

1). Choose a poem that you like. Currently, I will use poems by William Butler Yeats.

2)Use each word in the line or lines as the end word in your poem. Make sure they stay in order.

3) Construct an entire poem around them. The meaning doesn’t have to be the same.

4) Give the original poet credit who wrote the line or lines you used.

Now that I’ve finished using Yeat’s poem, The Circus Animal Desertion, I plan to play with this poem to create my next Golden Shovel Poetry. Many of the images in this poem are taken from Irish folklore and mythology. Things could get complicated before I finish creating from this one, but I never like to back down from a challenge. I will title this poem Done in Vain .

Done in Vain 

This hectic life I wander through
Unable to stay up until three
And sleep as if I were enchanted
On billowy, slumber-shaped islands
That becomes so much more allegorical
When my mind enters the mist of foggy dreams
I realize I’ve done it all in vain
Even living in such gaiety
Knowing that it is all done in vain
I see no reason to engage in battle
I attempt to lumber past the vain
And slip into something meaningful and repose

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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