NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 30

Today is the last day of National Poetry Writing Month, but the writing will go on! My final poem for the month was inspired by the triolet form (though it’s not a triolet) and Maya Angelou’s “On the Pulse of Morning,” which was in the prompt from Adele Kenny’s poetry blog.

Praying for a dream

lift up your faces
you have a piercing need
which will not be moved
despite its wrenching pain

lift up your faces
but seek no haven
a bordered country
armed for slaughter

lift up your faces
for a new beginning
clad in peace
you have a piercing need

 

 

 

These irises were a gift from a neighbor. Thanks for reading!

 

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NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 29

I’ve been writing but haven’t had time to post. The poem for today’s prompt from Adele Kenny’s poetry blog is “The Hedgehog” by Paul Muldoon. I love his line breaks and how the last stanza takes the reader somewhere much more serious than the rest of the poem portends.

Reasons to Write Poetry, No. 427

Sometimes you start writing
a poem as it comes to you
line by line, and it turns
suddenly in a direction
you didn’t expect.

 

 

Here is a gorgeous iris to thank you for reading.

 

 

NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 20

A line from Mary Oliver’s “Why I Wake Early” caught my ear, thanks to the prompt at Adele Kenny’s poetry blog: wake.

Not a morning person

(after M. Oliver)

even the miserable and the crotchety
must wake, however early or late,
to the sun’s relentless cheeriness
and radioactive optimism

 

 

Some tulips and grape hyacinths would like to thank you for reading.

 

 

NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 6

The last couple days’ drafts have been, well, a bit too drafty to post.
But here is a derangement of Elizabeth Bishop’s “I Am in Need of Music,” inspired by a prompt at Adele Kenny’s poetry blog: Music.

Harmonic intervention

(after E. Bishop)

Sleep; the moon floats
forever still in the sea,
fading, sinking; deep
through the heart
of cool, quiet rest
breathes a spell
made of melody.

Limbs flush, glow
and quiver in dreams
of water, falling
dead-tired to rest
in the sway of some old
song, low and liquid.

Oh, for the healing!
Clear lips, trembling
melody, bitter fingers
feel the frets
of tainted music:

I am in need.

NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 3

This is a very loose derangement of Yeats’ “When You Are Old,” inspired by a prompt at Adele Kenny’s poetry blog: Aging.

Time and sky
(after W.B. Yeats)

Stars cloud his face, hidden overhead
amid mountains that glow with the bend
and change of sorrow. The soul seeks
false love, true beauty, and grace
of moments deep in shadow. Soft eyes
dream of looks read slowly and taken
by fire, nodding and grey with sleep,
at once old and full.

NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 2

Taking a cue from my September writing challenge success – and Adele Kenny’s Tip #4 – I may not post every day this month, but I will definitely draft a poem every day. Some drafts simply aren’t ready for public viewing. 😉

Today’s poem resulted from a prompt at Adele Kenny’s poetry blog: The color red.

The next morning

Very few notice
dried blood
on the sidewalk
as it no longer
appears red.

NaPoWriMo 2021, Day 1

Welcome to National Poetry Writing Month (in the U.S. and Canada) and Global Poetry Writing Month (in the rest of the world)!

My first poem resulted from a prompt at Adele Kenny’s poetry blog: Remembrance.

Failure of memory

Year after year the magnolias bloom
too soon, and their thick creamy
petals liquefy in the late spring
freeze then drip from upturned branch
tips, hundreds of candles burnt
clear down to the socket.

Day 25, LexPoMo 2020

I carry a notebook with me at all times, and the back page is reserved for recording lines or phrases that catch my fancy, usually because they are strange. This poem developed from one such line.

https://lexpomo.com/poem/untitled-286/

Day 24, LexPoMo 2020

I love ekphrastic poetry, especially writing it, so when I saw Adele Kenny’s prompt in my inbox this morning, I knew what I’d be writing today. Besides, who can resist Munch?

https://lexpomo.com/poem/up-too-early/

http://adelekenny.blogspot.com/2020/06/prompt-355-painting-to-poem.html

The prompt is the poem

More inspiration from a Lightning Droplets prompt:

https://lightningdroplets.wordpress.com/2020/05/27/shelter-and-write-prompt-27-good-news/

Redirecting

Find a headline or story that is good
news, a very small silver lining.
Dive deep into the possible
implications; imagine all the neighbors
were helping. What happens
when this explodes into goodness?

It changes the course of everything.

 

Tradescantia ‘Sweet Kate’