The Hall

The Hall

For

the first

time, my foot

pressed upon the

floor. It softly creaked

With the cry of stories

untold. Unspoken tales of

those who had first glided down this

hall. I was not the first. Gazing up

toward the slightly chipped wall, I wondered,

who they were, these firsts. Children growing a

little older with each step? Maybe

someone’s grandparents, still holding

hands after fifty years. They

all lived, whoever they

were, they lived, they all

breathed, loved and lost,

and walked down

this same

hall.

-Melissa Lynne Moody

I love the idea that most everywhere that I have been, someone else has been there too. There is so much life! Everywhere! And I just find that wonderful.

Although, in writing this poem, I honestly was at a loss for what to write about. Our assignment was to write a Double Etheree, (Just so you know, a regular Etheree is a 10 lined poem, and the syllable count follows the line count. So, the first line has 1 syllable, the second line has 2 syllables, the third line has 3 syllables, and so on. A Reversed Etheree is a Regular Etheree only… in reverse! So the first line has 10 syllables, the second line has 9 syllables, the third line has 8, and you get the idea. A Double Etheree is a 20 line poem that follows the structure of a Regular Etheree for the first 10 lines, and then follows the structure of a Reversed Etheree for the last 10 lines. And… now you know.)

 I was experiencing writer’s block of a most severe sort. I had NO idea what to write about! I was texting one of my friends, and I finally decided to use someone else’s creativity, so I asked them, “Give me a random noun? Please.” They replied with, “A hall.”. My first thought was, “That has got to be the oddest noun I have ever heard of in my entire life. Why?...” My thoughts were not very happy with the situation, and continued on, sounding something along the lines of, “Uhh… A hall… how do you write about a hall?... That’s such a dull thought…. They just stand there! ….Getting passed. All the time. By people…. So. Many. People. And they just.. Are! Watching! People just walking right on by... How many people must’ve walked through the hall of... of... a really old house? That’d be so cool to know…OH MY GOODNESS!!!! POEM! NOW!” And with that, along with a couple hours of work, this poem was born!

I also realized through writing this specific poem that I pretty much hate syllables… In a rather passionate way... in case if you were curious.