PAD 2022 – Day 25

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Today’s NaPoWriMo.net prompt is based on the aisling, a poetic form that developed in Ireland. An aisling recounts a dream or vision featuring a woman who represents the land or country on/in which the poet lives, and who speaks to the poet about it. The challenge was to write a poem that recounts a dream or vision, and in which a woman appears who represents or reflects the area in which you live.

Sky-Woman on Suburban Drive

Spéir-bhean arrives at a dawn,

semi-blocked by garages and tall poplars,

50-year-old pines. Walks on winter discards —

gravel, sticks, a slop of grey snow.

Passes each bungalow, eyes which roofs

have shingles curled like night-out eyelashes,

which lie flat and fresh.

She can enter the dreams of those

brains still-at-rest. Bring calm or chaos.

Plant lilies or lay dragon eggs. Show

them how soft and warm it is, the bed

they inhabit. Whisper a reminder

it is just luck that you are where you are

and place a gentle finger on the forehead

that might form as tingle, or headache.

That might last while they have

their first sip of coffee and choose

what blessings to give or take.

Photo by Mian Rizwan on Pexels.com

PAD 2022 – Day 24

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My poemy brain is busy with the final day of CV2’s 2-Day Poem Contest, so all I’ve managed here is a micro/senryu sort of thing for the 30/30 prompt “second thought.”

Second Thoughts

I should know by now

that there’s much benefit

in waiting for them

PAD 2022 – Day 23

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It’s a prompt combo day, using the 30/30 phrase “opposite of history” and the NaPoWriMo.net prompt asking for a poem written in the style of Kay Ryan, whose poems tend to be short and snappy – with a lot of rhyme and soundplay. They also have a deceptive simplicity about them, like proverbs or aphorisms. Examples here with “Token Loss,” “Blue China Doorknob,” “Houdini,” and “Crustacean Island,” and my copycat poem below.

Routine

Tomorrow is not

the opposite of history,

but a composite

of moments and things

we’ve done before,

hitting snooze, stretching,

making coffee, putting on shoes,

to enter the world again

and trying not to forget

to look up at the sky

once in awhile, to breathe,

be free to see meaning

in clouds without losing

your head in them.

Photo by Seda Tekemen on Pexels.com

PAD 2022 – Day 21

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Today’s NaPoWriMo.net prompt is exactly the kind I love, because it got out of my usual poetic paths. Inspired by poet Betsy Sholl, the prompt asks you to write a poem in which you first recall someone you used to know closely but are no longer in touch with, then a job you used to have but no longer do, and then a piece of art that you saw once and that has stuck with you over time. Finally, close the poem with an unanswerable question.

What I wrote is still a work in progress, but I will share these lines:

Have you ever seen Frida Kahlo’s What the Water Gave Me? The scar across the right big toe?

The strange and intricate renderings of life and death? A maze of tendrils and shoots,

invading — the bathwater and perhaps her skin? Sometimes you feel like this to me —

What the Water Gave Me, Frida Kahlo, 1983

PAD 2022 – Day 20

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The NaPoWriMo.net prompt today asked for a poem that anthropomorphizes a food. This may be cheating, but I had already done this a few weeks ago, when I looked over at my fruit bowl, and posted a tweet. Here is a short sorta-poem to go with a photo of what I saw.

Fruit Bowl Family

Loneliness? Sleep deprivation?

Just pure imagination?

Something both comical and comforting in

recognizing an entire family

in the banana-haired honeydew,

her partner, the pineapple

and their smooth-skinned baby pears,

posing for a portrait

on my kitchen counter.

Fruit Bowl Family by Kim Mannix

PAD 2022 – Day 18

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Today I went with the NaPoWriMo.net prompt, based on Faisal Mohyuddin’s poem “Five Answers to the Same Question.” The challenge is to write a poem that provides five answers to the same question – without ever specifically identifying the question that is being answered. I wrote this very quickly, but I think it’s a useful and interesting prompt that warrants a re-visit when I have time, with other questions to answer, and more creative ways to answer them.

5 Answers

  1. Because human brains like to problem solve.
  2. We will tip, tumble, awaken. A collective realization.
  3. The joy in my niece’s eyes when she dips her feet in the cool waters of a slow-moving river.
  4. The conversation is more frequent, louder and as vibrant as it’s ever been.
  5. My Mom squeezed my hand and said There are more good people in the world than bad.

Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com

PAD 2022 – Day 17

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It’s been a busy few days, and all I’ve been able to squeeze out for the daily poems are micros. My hope is to come back to a line or word or even the entire prompt at some point, and take another stab. For now, on this Easter Sunday, I’ve gone with the 30/30 prompt “lost in space.”

The right thing

got lost

in the space

between what

I shouldn’t have said

and the look on your face