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Don't Turn Around Challenge - The Prompt: Write a poem about the feeling that something is behind you.

You sense it before you see it. This challenge builds on anticipation and the fear of what stays just out of view. Stay with that feeling of being followed or watched. The presence may never fully appear, but it should shape the poem’s movement and tone.

Think about how the tension sticks even when nothing is proven. What’s left unseen can feel just as strong as anything you show.

One day as I sat on a bench in the park,

I had this feeling that someone was watching me.

It was slowly getting dark

I turned my head to see

who was watching me.

First in one direction

and then the other.

Did I need protection

in the park? Oh brother!

I saw no one, why worry?

I couldn't shake the memory

of another woman

accosted by a man

not that long ago

Good God no!

My imagination...

running rampant

~

Then a revelation

there was an encampment

It was in the trees

all around me and a breeze

revealed a young face looking

down on me. How was I missing

this here. I had never seen

it before. What a scene

direct from a fiction movie

it looked kind of groovy

I'm sure it is not and I'm sorry

but tomorrow I will bring food

Now I will be on my way

This put me in a mood

Time to go and come back another day.