Character(s) in Action

Let Action Reveal CHaracter: 

*real*fictional*Known*unknown*

"The Death of the Hired Man" by Robert Frost comes to mind when I think of characters in action in poetry.  How I love that poem, especially the dialogue!  Of course, character in action is drama, and any character from drama makes a great action poem.  In the examples below, I feature different types of poems/songs for characters in action. But, before we go there, think: 

if you were to write a poem showing a character in action 

• Who would you pick? 
• Why? 
• What moment in the life?
• Where?

For this prompt, write a narrative poem or ballad, centered on a character in action (3rd person)--OR speak as the character in action (1st person).  In either case, tell a story so we readers can know Who and "What's Going On?"

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harriet

by Lucille Clifton

harriet

if i be you

let me not forget

to be the pistol

pointed

to be the madwoman

at the rivers edge

warning

be free or die

and isabell

if i be you

let me in my

sojourning

not forget

to ask my brothers

ain't i a woman too

and

grandmother

if i be you

let me not forget to

work hard

trust the Gods

love my children and

wait.

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Ophelia

by Elinor Wylie

My locks are shorn for sorrow

Of love which may not be;

Tomorrow and tomorrow

Are plotting cruelty.

The winter wind tangles

These ringlets half-grown,

The sun sprays with spangles

And rays like his own.

Oh, quieter and colder

Is the stream; he will wait;

When my curls touch my shoulder

He will comb them straight.

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Richard Cory

BY EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head.

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Link one poem that is your response to this prompt.  

When you link your poem, please visit other linked poems.  

And please include this link in your post.