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Hello everyone !   Grace here to introduce you to our guest blogger for today’s Poetics, Jennifer Wagner !

bros

Bros.
My two youngest boys a couple of years ago.
Photo © Jennifer Wagner

Bug you, take your stuff, embarrass you, rat you out. Brothers can be so pesky, but they can also have your back when it counts. I’m the mom of four boys and have a front row seat for this thing called brotherhood—the good, the bad, the wet willies—in this special relationship.

There are some superb poems written for and about brothers. One such poem was written by Robert Frost for fellow poet Edward Thomas, whom he considered to be “the only brother I ever had.” (Click link for quote source and to read more about their relationship).

To E.T. By Robert FrostI slumbered with your poems on my breast
Spread open as I dropped them half-read through
Like dove wings on a figure on a tomb
To see, if in a dream they brought of you,

I might not have the chance I missed in life
Through some delay, and call you to your face
First soldier, and then poet, and then both,
Who died a soldier-poet of your race.

I meant, you meant, that nothing should remain
Unsaid between us, brother, and this remained—
And one thing more that was not then to say:
The Victory for what it lost and gained.

You went to meet the shell’s embrace of fire
On Vimy Ridge; and when you fell that day
The war seemed over more for you than me,
But now for me than you—the other way.

How over, though, for even me who knew
The foe thrust back unsafe beyond the Rhine,
If I was not to speak of it to you
And see you pleased once more with words of mine?

Do you, like Frost, have a poem to write about someone you were close to like a brother? Or do you have a humorous, or tender, or heartbreaking, or disastrous story to relate about brothers (your own or otherwise) in a poem? There are a number of notable brothers in history that can tickle the muse as well: The Wright Brothers, Frank and Jesse James, Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, to name just a few.

So that’s our prompt for the day: brothers/brotherhood—from any angle. I’m looking forward to reading what you talented group of poets have to share.

Thanks Jennifer!

If you’re here for the first time, here’s how to participate:

  • Write a poem inspired by the post of Jennifer Wagner
  • Post it on your blog
  • Click on the Mr. Linky button, insert your name and direct URL to your poem (not your blog).
  • If you use social media, use the tag #dversepoets or @dversepoets so we can find you and help with promotion.
  • Read and visit others that have taken the challenge as well.   We appreciate courtesy visits and comments from each other.
  • Have fun!

See you on poetry trail ~  Grace

About our guest blogger:  Jennifer Wagner is the wife of a firefighter and mother of four sons. She lives with her family in Washington State and shares her poetry on her website www.poetlaundry.com.