Everybody says/Nobody Says

November Pad Challenge

Prompt #1: Take the phrase "Everybody says (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make that the title of the poem, and write the poem.
Prompt #2: Take the phrase "Nobody says (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make that the title of the poem, and write the poem.


Everybody says Hello

I remember getting letters
scrawled on torn notepaper
delivered to a camping site
in wet, wild rural Holland

How are you, sisters wrote
dutifully filling in lines and space
Hope the tulip picking is good
Hope you are having a good time

They didn't say some things
what they were doing today
who they were seeing today
where were they going.

Just mainly hi, and of course
everybody says hello
everybody misses you
come home soon, when you can.


Nobody Says Hello

Nobody says hello,
when you are a stranger
living among people, on your own.

No one asks you,
how was your day today?
what did you do, and with whom.

Nothing says home,
like a neighbour nodding,
saying hello with their friendly eyes.

1.