Today we have Bryan doing a guest prompt for us.

Bryan lives in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. He has been writing poetry for about 3 or 4 years now and still has a lot to learn. He and his wife are parents to 3 very energetic boys. When not writing poems or chasing his boys, he works as a dispatcher for a trucking company

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In the music industry, if an artist wants to show his admiration for another musician, he will often “cover” one of the tunes that he admires.

The beauty of a cover is that it pays tribute to the original artist, while at the same time showing the unique style of the new musician. As a bonus, it may also introduce the fans of the covering musician to the music of the original artist.

Sometimes, in my opinion, a cover might even improve on the original. For example, although I’m not a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix, I absolutely love this cover of “Purple Haze” performed by the Kronos Quartet

As you can see, if you watched the video, covers are not constrained by genre. Classical melodies have been covered by rock musician, rock tunes have jazz covers, jazz melodies have even been covered by country artists!

It’s easy enough to take a song and change the rhythm and instrumentation while keeping the original melody intact. I’ve been wondering, though, if the same can be done within the medium of words? Is it possible for one poet to cover the work of another? Of course, you can’t simply copy the words of Byron or Yeats and call it a cover…but is there a way to use or incorporate their words into our own poems in such a way that we stay true to the theme while still adding our own flavour?

Today I would like you to “cover” a poem by a poet whom you admire. Honestly, I don’t know what this might look like, therefore this prompt is fairly open to interpretation.

If you are completely stuck, consider a cento or glosa to cover the words and/or expand upon the words of a favourite poet.

When you have written your cover, put it on your blog, link it up below and participate in the discussion below. Also remember to show your appreciation by reading and commenting on other poems.

Have fun and don’t forget to refer back to the poet you “cover”