The penultimate day of the poem-a-day challenge! I think I say that every year, mostly because I love the word “penultimate.” I may say that every year too.
Because of regular life busy-ness, and the Edmonton Poetry Festival workshop and reading I have tomorrow, all I’ve managed today is another micro inspired by the 30/30 prompt “a slight change of plans.”
the way one slight change can create an opening for a substantial difference
A small thought, seeded by the 30/30 prompt “filled with odds”
a week later clearing your nightstand drawer filled with odds and ends of a life
The NaPoWriMo.net prompt for the day was to write a “duplex.” A “duplex” is a variation on the sonnet, developed by the poet Jericho Brown. Here’s one of his first “Duplex” poems, and here is a duplex written by the poet I.S. Jones. Like a typical sonnet, a duplex has fourteen lines. It’s organized into seven, two-line stanzas. The second line of the first stanza is echoed by (but not identical to) the first line of the second stanza, the second line of the second stanza is echoed by (but not identical to) the first line of the third stanza, and so on. The last line of the poem is the same as the first. Completing this was tough for me, partly because it’s an exciting, but challenging form, and partly because what emerged in the writing was a difficult topic. I’d say it’s definitely not ready, but my opening and closing line to share are:
Some memories are fluid, like water taking the shape of what holds them.
An untitled micropoem after the 30/30 prompt “personal effects.”
the personal effect of carrying your nightgown, glasses, wedding ring, in a plastic grocery bag, still felt in my chest seven years later
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.
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.”
I should know by now
that there’s much benefit
in waiting for them
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.
An untitled micro from the prompt “doodle-filled blackboard.”
So many flowers
on the doodle-filled blackboard.
Spring is a lesson
in hope.
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 —
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.
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