Out of Standard - Remember, Remember

Guy Fawkes mask. Image courtesy of photobucket

Greetings Garden Dwellers!

Welcome back to Out of Standard, where I will set before you a challenge to defy the conventions of a particular theme.  I will call upon you to write out of the standard and find new places in the everyday.  It is in that spirit in which I present November’s challenge...

REMEMBER, REMEMBER

For those not in the know: on the evening of November 5, 1605, a small group of rebels attempted to assassinate King James and his advisors by placing a cache of explosives under the House of Lords.  The plot was not successful, and the man caught guarding the explosives , Guy Fawkes, was immediately arrested and soon executed.  

Ever since England, and other countries across the globe have celebrated November 5 as Guy Fawkes Night.  Sometimes thought as a precursor to Thanksgiving, bonfires are lit on the evening of November 5 and effigies of Fawkes are burned as a way to celebrate all the things that never happened. 

Fawkes is a somewhat derisive figure.  Many activists embrace him as a symbol of change.  Others have branded Fawkes and his collaborators as terrorists.  Worry not, toads, for today’s challenge is not about Fawkes himself, but the centuries old holiday that has sprouted up in his name. 

THE CHALLENGE

In the spirit of Guy Fawkes Night, I call upon you to write a poem which celebrates something that never happened.  I’ll let you interpret that however you want.  Feel free to get as creative as you want...maybe even have yourself a cheerful bonfire to boot! 

KEEP IN MIND 

Like every challenge, your poem must by newly written for this challenge and not one which you have previously written which conveniently fits the theme.  

So go now, my muddy buddies, and bring us back something shiny and new.