Photo by Jakob Owens via Unsplash
Today’s prompt asks us to “write a poem in the form of a “to-do list.” The fun of this prompt is to make it the “to-do list” of an unusual person or character. For example, what’s on the Tooth Fairy’s to-do list? Or on the to-do list of Genghis Khan? Of a housefly? Your list can be a mix of extremely boring things and wild things. For example, maybe Santa Claus needs to order his elves to make 7 million animatronic Baby Yoda dolls, to have his hat dry-cleaned to get off all the soot it picked up last December, and to get his head electrician to change out the sparkplugs on Rudolph’s nose.” (Full prompt available here.)
PS–As in past years, most of the poems written this April will remain online for a couple of days, after which they will be replaced by an excerpt, an erasure, or a thoroughly amateurish art piece that will only allow for bits of the original poem to peek through. At least, this is the plan. The reason being that, at some point, in the hopefully not too distant future, these drafts will undergo revision and begin their multiple-year pilgrimage through the slush piles of many a literary journal. So help me, O Muse. (OK, I totally plagiarized my own post scriptum from last year. Why amend something if it’s not broken?)
PPS–The posted poem has expired, but here’s a garden of unearthly delights to keep you company (and a line from my poem as caption). Don’t see any delights, be they unearthly or terrestrial? No worries. They’re mostly invisible, unless you stare them in the eye without blinking.

Dear Romana, here is a little memory from two years ago when I wrote a cento from your and other favourite poets’ verses. Please find it at the end of my today’s post with some poppies:
I wish you a wonderful weekend!
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I came to see what I have missed and now I see nothing! 😮 This one I read in time, and then? Is the expiry date here yet? Or are you writing but not posting? In any case, I hope all is well with you.
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All is well, dear Manja, thanks for asking! I’m finding it difficult to deal with having posted something very fresh—my poems need more time to marinate. Just don’t like how worried I feel about them. So I’ll keep them swaddled until they’re ready to walk. Still writing, though. Or I did today, as the weekend was insanely busy.
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I see what you mean. I wish you happy marinada. 🙂
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Cheering you from the sidelines!💜
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Love you have crossed out lines and that’s what catches the eyes most. Beautifully written.
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Thank you!
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Loved the fun! The naughtiness of [quote deleted by RI] made me smile. But the most important at the last line “Baptize a poet!”
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Thank you so much, Saffron!
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This had me laughing out loud! Droplet’s parent-teacher meeting and Torrent the Teenager! And Wind with his weather jokes! Love!
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I’m so glad you liked it–thank you for letting me know this works!
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I really like these stream of consciousness rants. Just like picking the brain without censoring. (K)
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Thank you, K. Apparently, I like them too!🥰
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Not sure you’ll make it to the last item. 🙂
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Yeah, not sure either!
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Ahhh! This is absolutely brilliant! You always blow me away (no pun initially intended) with your fresh, energetic fulfillment of the prompts that make me go… huh. How do I make a poem from this? Love the humour in the crossed out items and the weather kiddos’ problem behaviour. And the characterization-rich inner monologue. Are you also a writer of fiction?
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Thank you, Alana–so glad you like this! I have some failed fiction attempts, nothing to write home about. I focused mainly on poetry in the past three years. Want to do one thing right(ish).
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I love the effect of the strike throughs
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Note to myself to use it more!
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