Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days
They arrive in a whirlwind bearing whiskey and grins
Drinking and promoting an intoxicated haze
Their booze-embellished stories spin a convoluted spin

They arrive in a whirlwind bearing whiskey and grins
Two nights up past midnight setting words ablaze
Their booze-embellished stories spin a convoluted spin
Fabricated stories of our lives rephrased

Two nights up past midnight setting words ablaze
Redundancy, indolence and attempts to chagrin
Fabricated stories of our lives rephrased
Their stay begins to wear swimmingly thin

Redundancy, indolence, and attempts to chagrin
Drinking and sustaining an intoxicated haze
Their stay begins to wear swimmingly thin.
Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.

Brenda Warren 2012

This piece is written for Trifecta’s Trifextra Challenge: Week Twenty-Four. Check it out for a community of writes on the same topic:

This weekend’s prompt is borrowed from Benjamin Franklin, who once said, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” We want you to tell us a story about a guest, invited or otherwise, who begins to smell, metaphorically or otherwise, after three days.

The guests in my piece come and they drink too much, repeating embellished stories that bring them too much delight, due no doubt to alcohol consumption. I used the pantoum form for its repetition, as it suits the topic well.

during a simultaneous loss of consciousness,
humanity sees tomorrow unfold
(a pantoum ripped from television)

once upon a flash we all fall forward and then back
in the pink and yellow morning on our way to where we go
humanity experiences pieces of the future
helicopters crash, and cars drive over bridges

in the pink and yellow morning on our way to where we go
people world round experience pressing premonitions
helicopters crash, and cars drive over bridges
nothing stays the same when everything known changes

people world round experience pressing premonitions
telling stories of their future self through soul
nothing stays the same when everything known changes
every soul awakens changed from memories of morrows

telling stories of their future self through soul
humanity experiences pieces of the future
every soul awakens changed from memories of morrows
once upon a flash we all fall forward and then back

Brenda Warren 2012

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process notes if you’re interested:
I wrote this pantoum after viewing the first eight episodes of FlashForward, a fabulous quirky television series on Netflix, available to watch instantly. It is based on the book Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer.  I had a marathon of the show on Sunday, and cannot wait to watch more. There are 22 episodes total. In this movie, the whole of humanity passes out for precisely 137 seconds during which time people experience flashes of their future on a specific date. It is an interesting premise that changes the relationships people have with one another in a myriad of ways, both positive and negative. The people who don’t experience a future, begin to die before the date. The acting is good, the dialogue intelligent. What else could you ask for in a sci-fi mystery? What really occurred? hmmm…. I’m not sure yet, but I’ll know within two weeks. Addicted, I am.

If you’re addicted to verse, visit dVerse Poets Pub, where dozens of poets post links to their work for Tuesday’s OpenLinkNight.

I did not capitalize or punctuate the poem…what do you think?