What If?

What If?

If the sky cracked open
and I was swallowed up
Would you miss me?
If the moon one night
refused to shine its light
Could you still see me?
 
If the coast was swallowed 
by an angry ocean’s rage
would you care?
If all the fabled stories
of Aesop were burned
Would that be fair?
 
If one day I floated
away like a balloon
Would run after me?
If the sun ever fell
From the sky
Would you let it be?
 
If the venturesome
Lost their nerve
What would occur?
Would it be natural
to give up?
If that’s what they’d prefer
 
If we had all the answers
To hypothetical questions
What would that indicate?
That we care enough
to ponder, what if?
and persistently formulate
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©
 
In response to the following prompts:

Hélène Vaillant's Photo Prompt What Do You See

National Poetry Writing Month

And now, for our (optional) prompt. Today, we’d like to
challenge you to write a poem of the possible. What does
that mean? Well, take a look at these poems by
Raena Shirali
and
Rachel Mennies. Both poems are squarely focused
not on what has happened, or what will happen, but on
what might happen if the conditions are right. Today, write
a poem that emphasizes the power of “if,” of the woulds
and coulds and shoulds of the world.


Word Prompts:

Fab or variations 
Venturesome
Coast
Natural
Personification in Writing

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  25 comments for “What If?

  1. April 9, 2019 at 10:31 pm

    Such deep questions! And you wove in all the prompts beautifully. 💞

    • Christine Bolton
      April 9, 2019 at 11:14 pm

      Thank you so much Punam 🙂💕

  2. April 8, 2019 at 10:08 pm

    This speaks to my sense of trying to care, trying to attend and be aware.

    • Christine Bolton
      April 9, 2019 at 8:55 am

      Yes Paul. It is so important to remain aware of our surroundings. It’s so easy to become complacent and just worry about ourselves 😔

  3. April 7, 2019 at 6:20 am

    some questions are so deep Christine, feels like we need to live another lifetime to figure it out. I feel your words and allow it to wash over me, questions sometimes don’t need answers, they just need to be said. one of your truly memorable ones this!

    • Christine Bolton
      April 7, 2019 at 9:29 am

      You are too kind, dear Gina. How right you are, these questions are unanswerable. It was those questions we always asked as a child, yet the sty with us, don’t they? 🙂💕

      • April 7, 2019 at 9:32 am

        yes they do Christine, i appreciate your gentle probing through poetic verse

  4. April 7, 2019 at 6:14 am

    We deal in so many hard cold facts, it was a pleasure to take a fanciful moment, and spend it with the what if’s..

    • Christine Bolton
      April 7, 2019 at 7:41 pm

      Thank you Violet 🙂💕

  5. April 7, 2019 at 1:22 am

    A brilliant poem. Covering all the prompts very well.

    • Christine Bolton
      April 7, 2019 at 9:29 am

      Thanks Sadje. I think I was just lucky today. Some days I have nothing! 🙂💕

      • April 7, 2019 at 9:55 am

        👍😉

  6. April 6, 2019 at 10:27 pm

    I do love the rhythm here. I find myself in “what if” mode sometimes, too.

    • Christine Bolton
      April 7, 2019 at 1:10 am

      Thanks Laura! I think many of us do 🙂💕

  7. April 6, 2019 at 10:26 pm

    What if ?? those eternal and infernal questions…. Maybe time for a song

    https://youtu.be/ol3avOZHtRA

    • Christine Bolton
      April 7, 2019 at 1:10 am

      You always have the right answer Ivor 🙂

      • April 7, 2019 at 1:14 am

        Always my pleasure 😃😉

  8. April 6, 2019 at 7:42 pm

    <3 Beautiful! Asking "what if" breaks through the jaded adult consciousness and reaches back to recapture childhood wonder. Or attempt to, at least, find some pre-jaded idealism.

    • Christine Bolton
      April 7, 2019 at 1:12 am

      Ahh yes! I remember those days! 🙂💕 Thanks Judy!

  9. April 6, 2019 at 7:01 pm

    You wrote an interesting poem, leaving me with much reflection. What if? Many questions unanswered, if, they were all answered, we would always find more to ask. Then we could also say, what does it matter.

    • Christine Bolton
      April 6, 2019 at 7:41 pm

      Ha! Yes Hélène! I should have called it “Who cares” 🙂 lol 💕

  10. April 6, 2019 at 4:13 pm

    Made me nostalgic for some reasons. Beautiful!

    • Christine Bolton
      April 6, 2019 at 7:42 pm

      Thanks so much 🙂

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