EXERCISE: drowning the poet

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 04:35:35 -0400

"...Ch'u Yuan, China's first known poet and a councilor to a Ch'u prince. Ch'u Yuan was falsely accused by one of his fellow councilors and this led to his banishment in disgrace.  From exile, he wrote a poem to the prince, declaring his innocence.  But the prince was unmoved.  So the hapless poet drowned himself in the Milo river, while wearing his dragon pendant.  The search for his body gave rise to the Dragon Boat Festival, which has continued to be held in his memory."

Winds, July 2000, p. 21, "Enter the Dragon" by Cyril Bracegirdle

What a wonderful little story!  What did that poem say that he thought would sway the prince? And can you imagine the scene with the poet drowning himself?  What about that search for the body? 

Or perhaps you would like to write about a festival that commemorates the suicide of a poet, exiled falsely?  The lying councilor and the prince are all but forgotten, and Ch'u Yuan is remembered every year -- there must be a poetic irony in there somewhere!

Go ahead and let yourself drift down the river of thoughts rippling from this little story, and tell us something of the trip you take,

Write?