- Begin with the prompt “if” and imagine the possibilities in life, both now and in the future.
- Any word can follow the word if, the most common being “I”.
- But challenge yourself to find another word, especially a noun, i.e: if pigs flew; if the world; if dolphins; etc.
- Use your imagination.
- Be silly or serious.
- Here are a few examples of IF poems. Use YOUR BLACK NOTEBOOK TO work out your poems, which should probably be at least 4 TO 6 STANZAS OF 4 TO 6 LINES EACH.
-
'if' by rudyard kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will, which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
“if” by Donna Moreau
If I were 100 years old
My hair would be thin
My teeth would be gone
My mind blown apart
By all the strange wonders and evil things
I’ve seen in my long, lonely, and lovely life
If I were 100 years old
I would be too old to enjoy
My food
My kitties
My man
Maybe they’d be waiting for me somewhere in the clouds
If I were 100 years old
I’d lose my walker
Toss out my glasses
Throw off my granny gown
Strap on my leathers for
ONE LAST TIME
Hop on my Harley
Rev up the engine
Throw it in 6th and for
ONE LAST TIME
RIDE MY WAY INTO
ETERNITY
