fourteen years and one month

once upon a summer’s day,
searching for a group of friends
and a place to post—

I found you.

you wore a different name
but I wanted you for Stories
and you were a bargain—
a free account went
further then and

you caught me.

my first static
I posted at work
between help desk queries and
memos,

and when people saw it,
their praise enveloped me
an electric blanket
against office chill.

I escaped in you.

you were simpler then—
or perhaps I was.

I remember item numbers
rolling over to two hundred thousand
you’ve passed two million now

every morning
when I logged in
your yellow background welcomed me

skins were something
you didn’t wear, yet.

and look what you’ve become.

fourteen years later
I’m still caught up in you.

not a fly in a web—

a kite, floating free
because you’ve given me anchor
and the wind to soar.

Author's Note: I joined in August, fourteen years ago--but because that's slightly more than fourteen years, I guess I needed fifteen stanzas, even though that feels strange.

Prompt ▼

Prompt for: Sept 1, 2015 (Ren)
Subject or Theme: How has WDC changed you since you first joined?
Word(s) to Include: blanket, yellow, fly, bargain (or any derivatives of these words)
Forbidden Word(s): join, change, anniversary, author, birthday, grow, better, write, writer, poet, poetry, prose, fiction, non-fiction, novel, NANO, book, read (or any derivatives of these words)
Additional Parameters: For each year and partial year (if you have been here 5 & 1/2 years you will round up to 6) that you have been a member of WDC, you must write the same number of stanzas (it doesn't matter the length of the stanza, so if you have only been here one year, it may be a single long stanza or if you have been here ten years it may be broken into stanzas of one or two lines). Please list the number of years at the bottom of the poem, especially if you have left WDC and returned, like myself.
Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description.