Home › AmWriting › #NaPoWriMo: A Poem A Day – Day 26 and #TankaTuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 271 #Colleen’s #THEMEPROMPT #TankaProse @ColleenChesebro

#NaPoWriMo: A Poem A Day – Day 26 and #TankaTuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 271 #Colleen’s #THEMEPROMPT #TankaProse @ColleenChesebro

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Hi everyone! Today is day twenty-six of the national poetry month competition, and also Colleen’s weekly Tanka Tuesday challenge #271. Today, I’ve combined the two challenges into one.

Here’s my offering >>>

DAY  TWENTY-SIX:

[Instructions:] From NaPoWriMo Day Twenty-Six … And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). A couple of days ago, we played around with hard-boiled similes. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that contains at least one of a different kind of simile – an epic simile. Also known as Homeric similes, these are basically extended similes that develop over multiple lines. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they have mainly been used in epic poems, typically as decorative elements that emphasize the dramatic nature of the subject (see, by way of illustration, this example from Milton’s Paradise Lost). But you could write a complete poem that is just one lengthy, epic simile, relying on the surprising comparison of unlike things to carry the poem across. And if you’re feeling especially cheeky, you could even write a poem in which the epic simile spends lines heroically and dramatically describing something that turns out to be quite prosaic. Whatever you decide to compare, I hope you have fun extending your simile(s) to epic lengths.

And from Colleen’s Weekly Tanka Tuesday challenge … This week’s form: Theme Prompt. This challenge explores poetry based on the theme of ENDINGS & BEGINNINGS. Yvette M Calleiro provided the theme for this month’s challenge.

 

 

Scattered Like Leaves

 

leaves

scattered

in the streets

the green all gone

camouflaged beneath

the stains of life and death

that continuous cycle

of beginnings, middles, endings

are we no more than mulch of dead growth?

squishy return to that from whence we came?

once vibrant hues muted, faded to greys

not any thing as it was stays true

where gone?—promises of dances

in spring’s jade-speckled palaces

storms come, cover our land

thunder, flame, and blood

fallen bodies 

fill streets like

scattered

leaves

 

Today, I’ve chosen a double (stacked) Etheree with a syllable count of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The cyclic, wave-like form of this seemed perfect for the theme. An Etheree is usually titled.


With the first blush of teasing green in our hedgerows, my mind went to when they will turn and fall, and—perhaps unsurprisingly, at the moment—to fallen heroes and loved ones.  I’ve used SodaCoffee Syllable counter so that we’re all on the same counting tool for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge.

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

 

© Harmony Kent 2022

 

54 Comments on “#NaPoWriMo: A Poem A Day – Day 26 and #TankaTuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 271 #Colleen’s #THEMEPROMPT #TankaProse @ColleenChesebro”

  6. This is lovely, Harmony, and it has inspired me for my own poem for this theme.

  10. What a great way to combine both challenges, Harmony. Very powerful ending.

  11. Hey Harmony. I read your poem at the airport yesterday but couldn’t leave a comment. Love the cyclical treatment (history repeats itself) and the crescendo the lines carry–as you said– like a wave.

    • Arti, that’s wonderful. Thanks so much! Hope your travels went smoothly. Hugs 💕🙂

  16. Grim is the first word that comes to mind. You did a great job of combining the two challenges.

  21. Harmony, this is beautiful! I love how you worked with similes. That last stanza is powerful in imagery. Your words flow with a beginning, middle, and an ending. Excellent! <3 P. S. Can you see Mr. Linky now?

    • Fantastic! Thanks so much, Colleen! 💕🙂

      P.S. … I can see Mr Linky now! 😁

  23. I love the way of your beginning and ending of this lovely etheree, Harmony. The words stand as bookends to the cycle of life. Thanks for sharing. xo

  24. Harmony! It’s amazing how you managed multiple forms without your poem sounding contrived. It’s a wonderful piece. Congrats!

  25. I love that you were not only able to fulfil two prompts, but also use (I agree) such a fitting poetic form ANNNND not let it constrain your work but complement it! Hat is off to you 😉 well done!

  26. Beauti- and powerful, Harmony! Thanks for taking part, and have a beautiful week! xx Michael