2013 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 29

Look: I know what today is: It’s “Black Friday,” and there are all kinds of sales all over–people getting into fist fights over the most popular toys and deeply discounted…

Look: I know what today is: It's "Black Friday," and there are all kinds of sales all over--people getting into fist fights over the most popular toys and deeply discounted hotdog rollers and stuff. I get it, I understand. But if you want to get an amazing gift for friends and family without leaving the comfort of your home, why not order a copy of my debut poetry collection, Solving the World's Problems? Click here to learn more.

Also, look below: I have a few more writerly gift ideas beneath my prompt, poem, and bio today. Speaking of today's prompt...

For today's prompt, write a commercial poem. This prompt makes me think about the commercialism decried in Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown, but there are any number of ways to attack a commercial poem. I have complete faith in everyone here being able to take this prompt in wild, new directions.

Here's my attempt at a commercial poem:

"Dayton"

The commercials proclaim, "Tell a buddy,
bring a friend... Don't you dare miss it." I've heard
it my whole life, it seems. Happy hunters

and knife throwers skip hand-in-hand to buy
and sell. As much a part of the landscape
as Tom Raper's RV's and Marion's

Pizza, Bill Goodman's Gun & Knife Show brings
friends and buddies together--a comic
convention forged of black powder and steel--

if only for a moment, paranoid
theories are exchanged, big purchases changed,
and exploits shared of time spent on the range.

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Robert Lee Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer's Digest Writing Community and was born in Dayton, Ohio, in the shadow of the Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and, yes, Bill Goodman's Gun & Knife show. He's also the author of Solving the World's Problems, which makes a great gift for friends and family (see above). Robert is married to the poet Tammy Foster Brewer, who helps him keep track of their five little poets (four boys and one princess). Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.

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Here are some other great gifts:

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.