#NaPoWriMo: A Poem A Day 1 – 4

Hi everyone! Apparently, April is National Poetry Month, and NaNoWriMo has launched a 30 day poem-a-day challenge. I kind of missed the start, and am coming in on day four. So you get four poems in one day from me … phew! That’s some creative energy from me, but a joyful penance so that I can say I’ve written a poem for every day. Hopefully, that will hold true by the end of the month! Anyhooo, without further ado, here are my entries for April 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and today …

 

DAY ONE:

[Instructions:] Write your own prose poem that, whatever title you choose to give it, is a story about the body. The poem should contain an encounter between two people, some spoken language, and at least one crisp visual image. …

The prompt is based on Robert Hass’s remarkable prose poem, “A Story About the Body.”

 

The Stranger Who Came Before My Husband

 

He stalked me online. Wanted to discover all of me. The trouble is, we’re more than words on a page. At last, we met for coffee and pastries. “She said you were an amputee,” he told me with a look dominated by awe-widened eyes, which shone then and shine still now. “I thought she must be mistaken. You do so well.” A rare warm-self-love started low in my belly. I could love this man.

 

DAY TWO:

[Instructions:] Write a poem based on a word featured in a tweet from Haggard Hawks, an account devoted to obscure and interesting English words. Will you choose a word like “aprosexia,” which means “an inability to concentrate”? Or maybe something like “greenout,” which is “the relief a person who has worked or lived in a snowy area for a long time feels on seeing something fresh and green for the first time”?

Here is the Tweet I chose:

The ‘ped’ in words like BIPED and PEDICURE derives from ‘pes’ or ‘pedis’, the Latin word for foot. The same root appears in PEDESTRIAN (literally, someone who walks on foot), IMPEDE (which originally meant to shackle the feet), and EXPEDITE (which meant to unshackle the feet). (URL: https://twitter.com/HaggardHawks/status/1508472280183152641)

 

Solely Me

 

often

on the wrong foot

shackled

thoughts impeded

 

I have one foot

not in the grave—

yet

almost, but not quite

 

I have time

to free myself from

health’s limitations

and expedite my forward motion

 

freed from

fog’s shackles

I leap among dust motes

and float in sunbeams

 

I couldn’t resist the play on words with “Sole”! 🙂 

 

DAY THREE:

[Instructions:] This one is a bit complex, so I saved it for a Sunday. It’s a Spanish form called a “glosa” – literally a poem that glosses, or explains, or in some way responds to another poem. The idea is to take a quatrain from a poem that you like, and then write a four-stanza poem that explains or responds to each line of the quatrain, with each of the quatrain’s four lines in turn forming the last line of each stanza. Traditionally, each stanza has ten lines, but don’t feel obligated to hold yourself to that! 

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/glose-or-glosa-poetic-forms

 

 

The poem I chose from is Auguries of Innocence BY WILLIAM BLAKE

 

And the quatrain …

 

A Truth that’s told with bad intent

Beats all the Lies you can invent 

It is right it should be so 

Man was made for Joy & Woe 

 

 

Ends and Means

 

tell it

like it is

your life’s motto

and creed

no matter

whom

or what

your words lead

only to lament—from

a truth that’s told with bad intent

 

some folks will cheer

your honesty

while others will sigh

shake their heads

at such folly

and ignorance

that at the root of good

and evil

is one’s basic intent—which

beats all the lies you can invent

 

the ends

do not

justify

the means

the universe

revolves

on attitude

what you offer

is what you’ll reap

it is right it should be so

 

secrets and lies

truths told

and truths hid

only we can know

what we did

no state can last

forever and aye

for that is not the way

of us mere mortals—when

man was made for joy & woe

 

TODAY’S POEM:

[Instructions:] write a poem . . . in the form of a poetry prompt. If that sounds silly, well, maybe it is! But it’s not without precedent. The poet Mathias Svalina has been writing surrealist prompt-poems for quite a while, posting them to Instagram. You can find examples here, and here, and here. 

**I couldn’t access Instagram without an account, so I went searching online and found this on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/dreamdeliveryer/status/1472552835460046852

Here’s a screenshot of one example prompt poem …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEASONS OF CHANGE

 

Summer, Autumn, Winter, & Spring

Oh the myriad differences they do bring

Not only without

But also within …

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That’s the end of my poetry marathon for today. I need to go sit down with a strong cuppa now, lols! I’d love to know what you think, and thanks for sticking with me!

If you fancy adding a line or verse or whatever to my poetry prompt, I’d love to see what you come up with in the comments …

Have a wonderful day, everyone, and I’ll see you tomorrow with Day Five on the NaPoWriMo 30 Day Poetry Challenge 🙂 

 

© Harmony Kent 2022