Welcome poets, to another quadrille Monday! Here we try to say something pithy or something funny, something emotional or something just random in a poem of just 44 words. No form, no syllable counting and no rhyming scheme required.

As most of you may have noticed, I have been away for almost two months. Now when I picked up the pen (to be honest I am using the keyboard but pen sounds more poetic), my, by now, lazy fingers protested against being used to type. My slumbering brain protested by not giving any ideas for the prompt.

So I thought the best idea would be to write about protest. The meaning of the word, protest, has evolved over the years. These days a protest is an expression of strong disagreement, dissent, or disapproval toward an idea, law, or action, often done publicly by individuals or groups to try to cause change, quite often with political motivations. They can be in any form;  individual demonstrations, mass gatherings, civil disobedience, non-violent actions, and sometimes violent confrontations.

One of the most significant protests was a simple act of defiance that sparked the Protestant Reformation. Then there was the Boston Tea Party which was more symbolic than harmful. Then there was the storming of Bastille prison. Who can forget the non-violent protest led by Mahatma Gandhi!

Recently a wave of Gen-Z led anti-government protests have swept across South and Southeast Asia. These protests have been driven by anger over corruption, rotting education system, economic disparity, high rate of unemployment and lavish elite privileges. These have mostly been spontaneous, decentralized, mostly digitally-coordinated movements that have led to major political upheavals and regime changes.

To protest is to assert one’s beliefs publicly and is an integral part of the democratic system. Sometimes public demonstrations are needed to check the overweening politicians,leaders and bosses.

As you may have guessed, today’s word is protest. Write a poem of exactly 44 words including the word protest. You can write about a protest you were apart of, or why you think protests are of no use. You can take inspiration from, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks””(spoken by Queen Gertrude, in Act 3, scene 2 of Hamlet by William Shakespeare)

• If you are new to dVerse,write a poem of 44 words only (excluding the title) on your blog.
• Leave the link of your post and not your blog at Mr. Linky
• Mr. Linky will be open till 29thAug 2.00 p.m.
• Do come back later to read other entries, after all we are hereto encourage each other.
• Tag dVerse in your post, so that your readers can find us.

Have fun!