Tag Archives: National Poetry Month

Where is Your Crown?

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National Poetry Writing Month, Day Two


From http://www.napowrimo.net/
“Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that similarly resists closure by ending on a question, inviting the reader to continue the process of reading (and, in some ways, writing) the poem even after the poem ends.

Happy writing!”

Where is Your Crown?

Do you know that you descended from kings and queens?
Can you see that you are regal?
How will you realize that you will inherit the Kingdom?
Do you know how much you are worth?

 

Do you know that you are a survivor?
Can you see that you are strong and brilliant?
How will you recognize that beauty that lives inside you?
Do you know that you are loved?

 

Do you know that your dreams are valid?
Can you see that you are on the way up?
How can I help you see your value?
Can you please put back on your crown?

How to Write a Poem

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Day One — National Poetry Writing Month http://www.napowrimo.net/

“For our first (optional) prompt, let’s take our cue from O’Neil’s poem, and write poems that provide the reader with instructions on how to do something. It can be a sort of recipe, like O’Neil’s poem. Or you could try to play on the notorious unreliability of instructional manuals (if you’ve ever tried to put IKEA furniture together, you know what I mean). You could even write a dis-instruction poem, that tells the reader how not to do something. Happy writing!”

 

How to Write a Poem

Sit down.

Scribble ideas.

Scratch the surface—

Pen to paper.

Miss the mark.

Pause.

Stand up.

Walk away.

Go outside.

Rake leaves.

Talk to neighbors—

Witty exchanges,

Clever words,

Flowing.

Remind yourself

That you

Were searching

For meaningful words.

Go inside,

Return to task—

Poem-planning.

Dig deep

For expert expressions,

Figurative phrases,

That tell

A secret

Or celebrate something.

Try for a metaphor that

Falls flat,

Like a

Scanty simile.

 

Scratch.

Scratch it out.

Start again.

Stack short sayings

One upon another—

Expressions

That may

Topple over because

There

Is

No

Meaningful

Foundation

On

Which

The

Blether

Blather

Babble

Gabble

Prattle

Chatter

Jabber

Can

Stand.

Parcel

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Today’s Napowrimo.Net prompt is to write a haibun, which combines prose and haiku.  

 

Sliding out the side door, you step onto the deck to smell spring.  Worn wood tells the tale of quiet days reading in the sun. Summer soon shows up.  Before you set up the patio furniture, tulips have come and gone.  Lilies crowd around each other comparing their outfits and gossiping.  Before the sunburn cools, a brisk autumn breeze rustles the foliage and reminds you how quickly time flies.

Overfilled fire-pit
Branches, grass clippings, leaves and
No promise of s’mores.

Response to “Waiting”

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The beautiful and brilliant Nikki Grimes wrote the following poem today:

Screen Shot 2018-04-09 at 10.17.51 PM

While I know it was not about me, it hit home so hard.  Hard.  After crying, I put my warrior pen in hand and wrote this response:

Julie no longer plays into the big hand,
     The heavy hand, the upper hand,
The hand that silences, shames, smacks.

She used to plead, “Pick me! Pick Me!”
     In a rush, she’d cast her heart into pools of abandonment—
Pearls to swine, like clockwork.

They could count on her to bear the secrets,
     The stains, the scarlet paragraphs and
Chapters that chronicled cries and crises.

But in the hour of need, past half the darkness
     The second hand clicked into place. . .
Safe hands and second chances surfaced.

This is her day in the sun. Love won.
     Flourishing, fostering freedom and hope,
Counting on truth—not time—to heal her wounds.

THE MAN WHO SEES THINGS

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist
The Day 5 prompt from NaPoWriMo.net was a wild one.  I clicked on each link and counted to 23 in order to randomly select the image and the poem.  This is what I found:
Screen Shot 2018-04-05 at 11.40.38 PM
DE GEBRUIKER VAN DIT LICHAAM
Vliegangst is het scherpste protest tegen CO2: thuisblijven en
pissen in de pompbak, gedistilleerd drinken tegen waterschaarste
schepje rijst per dag. Kluizenaar met wilde haren wist het
stilzitten is de beste bescherming tegen pijn. Blijf binnen.

Isolatie is het beste antwoord op hitte, kou, geluidsoverlast en
information overload. Keuzeverlamming wordt lifestyle. Gelukkig is
een leven niet groter dan het blikveld van een oude kat die zich
oppervlakkig ademend steeds kleiner oprolt tot ze in zichzelf verdwijnt.

Kluizenaar vergist zich. Een lichaam kan niet niet bewegen
altijd pompter iets in rond: verlangen, verlangen en lucht. Sterven is

stilstand is sterven maar zelfs na het zwijgen van de pompen
het verteren van de cellen het verkleuren van de huid

zelfs binnen het dode lijf is er geen stilstand: sterrenstof werd kind
werd kluizenaar wordt sterrenstof wordt opgevreten, meegedragen
laat los, waait steeds verder van de kern, maar waait, beweegt.

-Runa Svetlikova

THE MAN WHO SEES THINGS

Some say that he is a ghost—man who is spirit, or at least
a man who knows his spirits well.  His boozy breath gets
worse through the evenings when his mind needs escape
from the desperate darkness troubling his bones.  Sadness.

He moves through town quietly, a nod, a smirk, a chortle
when he eyes someone eyeing him.  Aye, to see him
is to question everything—humanity, peace, poverty, power.
He holds these things with fingerless gloves and grace.

Rumors tell of a riches to rags route, a journey he will 
confirm and deny with a shrug of his shoulders.  Chin tilted
sideways, he turns the other cheek while gazing at
the infinite above us.  He sees things that we don’t.

I want to know and understand as he does.  What wisdom, what 
freedom, what calm he seems to know; while I am more familiar 
with clean clothes, new car smell, bills, anxiety, and fear. 

Warning

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

For Day 3 of NaPoWriMo I decided to do my own thing.  This is based on Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem” which can be found at Poetry Foundation.

 

What happens to a voice unheard?

         Does it get lodged
         Like popcorn kernels behind a tonsil?
         Or deflate like a tire—
         And then collapse?
         Does it smell like singed hair?
         Or bubble and fizz—
         Like a chemical reaction?

         Maybe it just whispers
         Like cotton in one’s ears.

         Or does it scream?

 

 

After Words

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Your radiant words—
Shiny, glowing, and full of promise—
Fool me not.

I have witnessed the way
Your warped lies wiggle
Like worms into dark soil.

You speak of liberty,
But captivating chatter rings hollow.
You are fluent in the language of the Oppressor.

Your rancid words—
Slimy, groping, and full of poison—
Fooled me before.

-Day Two of http://www.napowrimo.net

Pectin

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It’s Day One of National Poetry Writing Month and  . . .Screen Shot 2018-04-01 at 10.49.34 PM

I’m
Eating
Jellybeans—
Orange, black, red, green—
Sweet, waxy, non-vegan, non-toxic joy.

 

Today, I chose a short and sweet style of poetry from https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/types-tetractys:

A tetractys consists of 5 lines, each line has a set number of syllables see below:

 Line 1 – 1 syllable
 Line 2 – 2 syllables 
 Line 3 – 3 syllables 
 Line 4 – 4 syllables 
 Line 5 – 10 syllables

 

From the NaPoWriMo.net site:

And last but not least, here is our (optional, as always) prompt for the day. It’s based off of Lauren Russell’s collaborative poetry exercise. Today, we challenge you to write a poem that is based on a secret shame, or a secret pleasure. It could be eating too many cookies, or bad movies, or the time you told your sister she could totally brush her teeth with soap. It’s up to you. Happy writing!

Elfchen (Das Trio)

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The prompt was to write a double elevenie, or Elfchen.  I chose to write 3 single Elfchens that are not related in any way.

 

Sommer-
Frische Luft
Eliminiert die Belastung
Jetzt kann ich atmen
Erneuerung

 

 

Grazia
Amore sacrificale
Elimina la vergogna
Asimmetrico, benevolo, e intenzionale
Libertà

 

 

Oprimido
Marginalizado agora
Além das fronteiras
Último será o primeiro
Afinal

 

 

 

NaPoWriMo.net  DAY 23  “Our prompt for Day Twenty-Three comes to us from Gloria Gonsalves, who challenges us to write a double elevenie. What’s that? Well, an elevenie is an eleven-word poem of five lines, with each line performing a specific task in the poem. The first line is one word, a noun. The second line is two words that explain what the noun in the first line does, the third line explains where the noun is in three words, the fourth line provides further explanation in four words, and the fifth line concludes with one word that sums up the feeling or result of the first line’s noun being what it is and where it is. There are some good examples in the link above.”

Forewarning

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Truth
Self-evident Exactspeak
Illuminating, Vulnerabling, Braving,
There is no grey; there is only gray.
Blaming, justifying, Avoiding
Opaque daggers
Lies

NaPoWriMo.net Day 18  “Today, I challenge you to write a poem that incorporates neologisms. What’s that? Well, it’s a made-up word! Your neologisms could be portmanteaus (basically, a word made from combining two existing words, like “motel” coming from “motor” and “hotel”) or they could be words invented entirely for their sound.”