In Good Company

Jack London and I share the 12th of January.

September 2 Prompt ▶︎

Prompt for: Sept 2, 2015 (Fyn)
Subject or Theme: Find a celebrity or historical figure (a well known writer, for example) who was born on your birthday (day and month). Either use a quote (in author's note) by that person or connect you to that person in some fashion. Put person/birthday in author's note. Use the person's name in your poem.

Word(s) to Include: (or any derivatives of these words) Inhabit, realm, vibrations
Forbidden Word(s): (or any derivatives of these words) person, birth, date, history.
Additional Parameters: free form or verse, 25 lines exactly.
Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description.

I’m in good company…
http://www.famousbirthdays.com/january12.html

In Good Company

January runs cold in the north
Inhabited by adventurers of all kinds
Men and women seeking their fortune
Jack London explored his world
And trekked his way into this realm.
He observed and wrote
Picking up the vibrations of life
As he shared his stories of daring and survival
In this difficult land.
Tales told and retold
His White Fang
And The Call of the Wild
Will live on.

Life began as John Griffith Chaney
Son to an unwed mother
And a father he never met
He called himself Jack
And took the name of London from his stepfather
Living poor made him sympathetic
An activist to the underdog
Fighting for the cause
For workers
And animals
Using his words and his stories
To bring their plight to the world.

25 lines





Note: ▶︎

Jack London
Born: January 12, 1876
Died: November 22, 1916

Jack London Credo
I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London