Wockyjabber

Got me a vorpal sword today,
Hip-hip-hip and a hoo-hoo-ray.
I'm off, a wockyjab to slay.
Lay out the good china, Marlene.

The wockyjab’s no match for me.
Ho-ho-ho and a he-he-he.
I’ll snicker-snack it to a tree.
Put the pot on to boil, Marlene.

Slimsy-mimsy-goves, here I come!
Rum-tum-tum and tiddly-um-tum.
Beware, you wock! Fee-fi-fo-fum!
Some tea cakes and crumpets, Marlene.

Snicker-snack—who’s on the attack?
A whoosh and a whoosh—whack—whack—whack!
And here’s our hero safely back.
Let’s sit down to supper, Marlene.

NaPoWriMo24 day 30 – prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt hosted by Muri at A Different Perspective, to write a Utenzi, a Swahili form of narrative poetry from Kenya. The required theme for this kind of poetry is epic battles, heroism, or feats of valor.

Getting through poetry writing month is a mini epic battle in itself. My thanks to Muri, Maureen, and Jane for their prompts, and to all who read and commented on my poems, both this month and throughout my time on WordPress. For much of the past year I’ve been ambivalent about maintaining my site, and I’ve decided to take down Serendippity at the end of this week. Peace to your!

The Balloon Man + 2 more

NaPoWriMo24 day 29 – “The Balloon Man” (a lune, an American verse form) and “No Signore” (a Ferskeytt, an Icelandic verse form) were prompted by the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt hosted by A Different Perspective. “Just Your Average Joe” was inspired by an idea in my poem starter notebook. For those who might not be familiar with the idioms, coffee in the U.S. is sometimes called a “cup of joe,” and “average Joe” means an ordinary man, as “plain Jane” means an ordinary woman. Plain Jane is featured in today’s extra poem from NaPoWriMo16. The prompt was to write a poem that mixes fancy and unfancy words. I started off with effervescent but bubbly worked better both in sound and appearance. Peace to your!

Personality Theory

Mitzi Marie
has a bubbly personality
because she drinks champagne

while water-loving Jane’s
(just “Jane”)
is plain.

Love Came on Wings + 2 more

NaPoWriMo24 day 28 – three poems today, the first in response to a prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective. “Love Came on Wings” is a Chueh-chu, a verse form from China. “I Need the Sun” is a toddaid, a Welsh form. Jane Dougherty invited us to try it in this post. 

Love Came on Wings

love came on wings / and it made
       the meadow swoon / its wings played
           a summer tune / like green rain
             they held the sun / glowed deep jade

    an autumn dawn / in the glade
       I found love’s wings / worn and grayed
      on a thorn bush / and felt torn
      as one honored / yet betrayed
I Need the Sun

I need the sun like a swift needs the sky:
One sunny ‘hi!’ and my spirits lift.

When the blue yonder is clear, life’s a breeze,
All ‘pretty please’ and ‘thank you, my dear.’

But when thunder clouds move in like a blot,
Right on the spot my mood goes under.

It’s really SAD, depending on weather
To see whether I’m bummed out or glad. 
The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Many come through the tunnel
And are blinded by delight,
Unable to see, beyond
Relief, the tracks in plain sight.

Today’s bonus poem is from NaPoWriMo19. The prompt was to write a poem that is specific to a season, uses imagery that relates to all five senses, and includes a rhetorical question. Peace to your!

Juana
 
There beside the lilac bush
Where the ground is warm from the sun,
Juana has spread a blanket out,
A pink and yellow one.

There she sips her lemonade,
She nibbles on gingerbread cake,
She watches white-hulled clouds sail by
And tries to stay awake.

What does Juana dream about
As the bees buzz hither and yon?
Gingerbread clouds, lemon sun,
Bees on a lilac lawn.

Apology to William Carlos Williams

Sorry
this is so too late.
I’ve taken liberties for years
with your plums,
red wheel barrow, and white chickens,
perhaps over-depended
on them.

I trust
you will forgive me.
You did, after all, eat the plums.
They were sweet,
as is forgiveness. They were cold,
as I’m sure your heart isn’t
wasn’t.

NaPoWriMo24 day 27 – prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective, to write a cameo (England). For an example of liberties taken, see the NaPoWriMo19 poem below. The prompt was to write a poem about an animal. Peace to your!

This Is Also Just to Say
with apologies to William Carlos Williams
 
I meant to
put away
the red wheel
barrow

in the space 
you saved
for it
but the chickens

Forgive me
they were pathetic
so bedraggled
and so wet

Hors d’Oeuvres

They’re fine for soirées,
Say, or garden fêtes.

Fancy tidbits—"Ah!
Foie gras! Escargot!"

I host cookouts where
There’s horseshoes and beer,

Not bands and liqueur.
You’re more apt to hear,

“Oh, man! I love these
Cheese and bacon things!”

NaPoWriMo24 day 26 – prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective, to write a Raay (or Rai, from Thailand). Having written this poem, I’m slightly more confident in my ability to spell hors d’oeuvres (at least in knowing where the apostrophe goes–I misspelled the second half of the word as I typed this). The poem below is from NaPoWriMo19. The prompt was to write a poem that incorporates the argot of a particular profession or job as a metaphor that drives the poem. Peace to your!

Blue-Plate Special
 
I hoped you might dine on poetry fine,
Something à la Wolfgang Puck;
Did my mise en place but made no progress;
I’m sorry, you’re out of luck.

I need to 86 all the chef’s picks,
The foie gras and the soufflé,
‘Cuz I’m slinging hash (care for succotash?),
Composing like Rachel Ray.

---
blue-plate special: a low-priced meal that usually changes daily
mise en place: “everything in its place,” referring to the set-up of the ingredients needed for the dishes on the menu
86: to remove an item from the menu because the kitchen is out of it
slinging hash: serving food in a cheap restaurant

Somewhere There’s a Place for US

I’d like to sail across the sea
In search of a democracy

Where politics as usual
Isn’t the same as void-and-null.

Where seeking first the common good
Isn’t veneer but solid wood

And every day’s joint session ends
With all the parties shaking hands.

For here the middle finger rules.
Too gladly do we suffer fools.

NaPoWriMo24 day 25 – prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective, to write Knittelvers, a form from Germany that was often satirical, comical or vulgar and was effective in political satire and parodies. I’ve lifted (and tweaked) my title from one of the songs in the musical West Side Story, which sets Romeo and Juliet in mid-1950s Manhattan. The title of the poem below was what prompted me to choose it as an appropriate poem for today’s extra. The NaPoWriMo17 prompt was to write a poem inspired by, or in the form of, a recipe. Peace to your!

Recipe for Disaster 

A brother yelling “Faster!”
As his sister tries to master
Her fear of biking down a long, steep hill;

The brother, quickly passing,
Turning ‘round and sassing,
“Slowpoke!”— 
	 Just before he takes a nasty spill.

Biolets from the Portuguese

NaPoWriMo24 day 24 – prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective, to write a biolet, a Portuguese verse form. I seem to be copping out a lot by writing poems about the poetic forms themselves. Oh well.

Biolets from the Portuguese

Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned
The Sonnets from the Portuguese.
Ah! Love poems! What about these 
Biolets of mine? Do they transcend
The Sonnets from the Portuguese
Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned? 
Significant Others

To you, my one-and-only Bess,
I dedicate this biolet.
(I wrote one once for Violet.
And also Flo—but I digress.)
I dedicate this biolet
To you, my one-and-only Bess. 
Disappointment

It was a major dis. 
She was a poet.
I wrote her a biolet.
She said, “What’s this?”
She was a poet!
It was a major dis.

For a different kind of dis (my dissatisfaction with survey forms), I offer the NaPoWriMo17 poem below. The prompt was to write a poem that incorporates neologisms (made-up words). Peace to your!

Satisfraction

I lied.
I was “satisfied”
But knew if I selected Box 3,
The next question would be,
What can we do to make you choose “highly”?

It’s only fitting,
If your survey insists on hair-splitting,
I tweak my honest reaction
A fraction.

Come Hell or High Water

I won’t wait.
Ma may meddle and Pa preach,
But it’s my future, our fate.

What’s a war
When two are one? Grace given,
The bond’s stronger than before.

Time will tell.
I’m not naïve. I may learn
That I’ve loved, not long, but well.

Don’t, daughter!
I do! Till death do us part.
And come hell or high water.

NaPoWriMo24 day 23 – prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective, to write a treochair, a verse form from Ireland in which substantial alliteration is expected. Today’s companion poem is from NaPoWriMo17. The prompt was to write a poem that explicitly includes alliteration and assonance. Peace to your!

If I Had a Palace in Paris

If I had a palace in Paris
Instead of a house in New York,
I would promenade with a pedigreed poodle
And eat petit fours with a small silver fork.

If I had a palace in Paris
Instead of the house that I do,
I would flash diamond rings on all of my fingers
And flaunt pink flamingos in my personal zoo. 

If I had a palace in Paris
Instead of this house that I love,
I would wear gold-sequined gowns to elegant galas
And wipe away tears with a golden silk glove.

Inspiration / Essential Gear for the Aspiring Writer

NaPoWriMo24 day 22 – a good day to post two new poems, each inspired by a quote from my quote notebook. The first poem fulfills a prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective, to write a Tripadi (Bangladesh).

Inspiration

When inspiration does not come to me,
I go halfway to meet it. –Sigmund Freud

But not rushing. Teacup in hand,
humming softly to yourself, and
pausing frequently to touch a flower.

Pacing yourself. Where halfway lies 
is half surmise and half surprise.
You may wander a week, a day, an hour.

Wondering at all that’s around:
The sights, the sounds from sky to ground. 
Aha may be found in a passing thought.

A moment comes when, looking up,
You discover tea in your cup
and hurry home to drink it while it’s hot.
Essential Gear for the Aspiring Writer

When the writer gets to the mainland,
nobody asks how they got there […] Who 
cares if you got there on the Titanic, or
you paddled with a boat, or you jumped
from lily pad to lily pad? You got to the
mainland, and that’s what counts.
–James McBride

dolphins for a playful nudge
scuba gear for a deeper theme
rowboat for times you can get there
under your own steam

paddleboard when you’re working solo
water skis when you’re part of a team
towboat for times when you feel like 
you’re heading upstream

cannon, but only if the mainland’s near
magic carpet (only in your dreams!)
and for times you’re walking on water,
shoes with waterproof seams

The outdoors is always inspiring. The poem below is from NaPoWriMo16, when the prompt was to write a poem that begins with a line from another poem but then goes elsewhere with it. Peace to your!

What Are You Waiting For?
(opening line from Jane Kenyon’s “At a Motel near O’Hare Airport,” Collected Poems)

I sit by the window all morning
and why not?

The kitchen floor, spattered more
than I care to admit, 
shouts MOP ME.

Clothes I need for tomorrow—
I’m down to my last pair of underwear—
beg to be washed.

A lengthy to-do list beckons
in black and white.

When the phone rings, I cover my ears
like a small child chanting
I can’t hear you.

I sit by the window all morning
listening to the symphony
beyond the glass.

Every day the tickets are free.
Today I decided to claim 
my front-row seat.

What are you waiting for?

NaPoWriMo16 Day 25 – Write a poem that begins with a line from another poem but then goes elsewhere with it.

4-Way Stop

A choreography of cars,
that’s what these intersections are.
A traffic dance.
It’s unrehearsed, and still all know
the steps: the slow advance, the go-
stop-go. Those caught up in the flow
await their chance.

NaPoWriMo day 21 – prompt from the around-the-world-poetry scavenger hunt at A Different Perspective, to write a Burns stanza (Scotland – I used the alternate form). From dancing to sneaking around, here’s a poem from NaPoWriMo18. The prompt was to write a poem based on a secret shame or pleasure. Peace to your!

In the Footsteps of Sacagawea

The challenge is 
to sneak the snack,
fingers fine-tuned, 
rustle-wary,
feet creak-conscious, 
soft-soled, 
to foil the following
of the sharp-eared 
snack-attack tracker.