THE DELIGHT OF THE TWERK

Much peace. Today’s poetry prompt is:

Today, we don’t challenge you to write all of a long, dramatic, narrative poem, but we invite you to try your hand at writing a poem that could be a section or piece of one. Include rhyme, include unlikely and dramatic scenes (maybe a poem about a bank robbery! Or an avalanche! Or Roman gladiators! Or an enormous ball held by mermaids, where there is an undercurrent (hee) of palace intrigue!) Basically, a poem with the plot of an opera (evil twins! Egyptian tombs! Star-crossed lovers! Tigers for no apparent reason!)

This is my poem:

THE DELIGHT OF THE TWERK

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2026

I.

It was on dark summer nights,

when the maidens stopped their work,

They’d put their aprons down,

loosen up and start to twerk.

Utterly intrigued,

passersby would start to smirk;

Some would even join them,

do the wop, or do the jerk.

II.

It was through this dance

that oppression went to sleep.

Black culture is expensive,

although some believe it’s cheap.

“Be not weary in well-doing,

for in harvest, you shall reap.

Be a lion at night, but in daytime,

act like sheep.”

III.

That advice of old

does not fly with new Gen Z.

They refuse self-sacrifice

for advancement of the “we.”

They not only twerk at night,

but do it proudly in the day.

Living life out loud,

being bi and being gay.

IV.

Then the night returns,

fireflies show off their light.

Tired bodies rise,

and with their moves, start to excite.

Asses get thrown in circles,

laughter echoes through the night.

Transmuting pain into joy,

is both resistance and delight!