Tag Archives: NaPoWriMo

NaPoWriMode

Trial Mode

Next up, an ode to NaPoWriMo. Uh-oh.
Attempt number two (dum dum dum).
Perfect—ly awful.
Okay, third time’s the charm (dumb dumb dumb).
What a crock!
Ready or not,
It’s high time—no
Maybe about it—
One of these (30) days,

I’ll write NaPoWriMo a poem of praise.

—–

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serendippitysays
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A must-have!
Reviewed on April 30, 2022

If I had to spend one month on a deserted island
and could take only one book, it would be National
Poetry Writing Month and an empty notebook.

NaPoWriMo22 Day 30 — Prompt #7 from murisopsis’s poetry scavenger hunt, to write an irregular ode–or in my case, a highly irregular ode. (I tried to make the color of the five stars darker for an easier-on-the-eyes contrast, but no go.) This seems like a good way to end the month. It’s been an incredibly enjoyable and satisfying 30 days, and I’m sending a big thanks to all who contributed to making it that way. I’ll be back next year for more inspiration and fellowship. Take care, and peace to your ♥!

P.S. I’ll be gone for the weekend and will respond to comments when I return. Then it’s back to posting once or twice a week.

Seasonal Blues

Winter:
It’s cold. Bitter-bone-cold.
Better bundle up—brrr.
Old bones can’t take the cold.
All bundled up—brrr, brrr.

Summer:
It’s hot. Sticky-hot hot.
Fan going round—whirr, whirr.
Beer’s chilling, but I’m hot.
Fan spinning round—whirr, whirr.

NaPoWriMo22 Day 29 — Through murisopsis’s poetry scavenger hunt, I was introduced to the bob and wheel and blues stanzas forms. Here I’ve combined them. Peace to your ♥!

P.S. I’ll be going away for the weekend and may not get around to addressing comments until Monday. Also, I want to share a piece of good news: I learned yesterday that a sijo I submitted to the 2022 Sejong Writing Competition placed second. Yippee! It comes with a generous prize of $750. It was last April that one of Maureen Thorson’s napowrimo.net prompts was to write a sijo. She included a link to the Sejong Cultural Society’s guide to writing sijos, and that’s how I learned of the Writing Competition, which is open to Canadian and US residents only. The Society also sponsors an international sijo competition, open to all nationalities, that offers cash prizes. If you have any interest in the sijo form, I encourage you to enter one of these competitions. I’ll share my sijo once the winning entries have been posted to the Society’s website.

Hear! Hear!

NaPoWriMo22 Day 28 — Prompt from napowrimo.net: Write a shape poem. Perhaps not quite a shape poem, but it’s what I’ve got for today! I use canva.com for my graphic poems and upload them as images. It’s easier than trying to create something in Word. Peace to your ♥!

Hear! Hear!

Your comments are music to my ears:
Wonderful! Great poem! Well done!
I want to add a D.C. al Fine to every one.
And even if I’ve heard it all before,
Would you mind composing more?

Jonah

As you wait in the belly of the whale, 
The first wonder is being eaten alive,

       And the second wonder is surviving
       Being eaten alive by stomach acid.

You know acid tends to corrode
What it touches—your bare skin—

       Yet your skin is smooth in the dark.
       You feel on faith it’s as it ever was.

You hug to yourself this dark faith:
You were saved from certain death,

     Preserved for an uncertain future.
     Who are you to fathom God’s ways,

You who cannot fathom night or day
As you wait in the belly of the whale?

NaPoWriMo22 Day 27 (but posted on day 28) — Prompt from napowrimo.net: Write a duplex, a variation on a traditional sonnet. I needed time to think about this and spent most of last evening working on the poem. Peace to your ♥!

Three à la Nash

NaPoWriMo22 Day 27 — Poems written in a Nash-ian frame of mind. Peace to your ♥!

Antisocial Lubricants

Guests who are unctual
And ultra-punctual
Arrive annoyingly oily.

Thrashin’

Ogden Nash’s
parents gave him
twenty lashes
then forgave him.

What an act of
sweet compassion
after all that
nasty thrashin’.

Gnashing of Teeth

Do you dread your shredder
With its tiny slicing teeth
And the tiny strips of paper
In the bucket underneath
That no matter how you try
Will escape and fly bye-bye?

There’s very little you need fear
Save that you keep your fingers clear.
A little slip, a largish jerk—
Now you have gummed up the works!
And sadly you’ll be cleaning more
Than strips of paper off the floor.

The Dame

She had an epic smile
bright as a lighthouse
& nearly as automated
that she flashed every-
where she turned. One
million candle power of
artificial cheer. It might
mean welcome—more
likely, don’t approach.

NaPoWriMo22 Day 26 — Prompt from napowrimo.net: Write a poem that contains an epic simile. I didn’t do the day 24 prompt, to write a poem in which you describe something with a hard-boiled simile (channeling your inner gumshoe), but this one would work! Peace to your ♥!

Sun and Moon Poems

NaPoWriMo22 Day 25 — I don’t recall when I first came across the Kinbourg quote, but I do know I’ve wanted to write a poem inspired by it for years, and I knew I wanted the poem to be as beautiful as the quote. After a few clunky attempts a few weeks ago, this elegantly simple two-liner came to me, and I decided to put it into picture form. I’m really pleased with the result. The poem below is similar in that it’s a streamlining of an idea I was fiddling around with and that also benefits from being illustrated. Peace to your ♥!

Two for Ukraine

Hope for a Broken World

Hope is the thing with broken wings
That lurches in the soul,
And sings the dirge with Slavic words,
And waits for night to fall.

But lest we give in to despair,
Recall that wings will heal,
And many tongues unite in prayer,
And dawn awaits us still.

Playing Along

All those underlings
Doing everything
Putin says.

Simon says
Over all the dead,
There is blame to spread.

NaPoWriMo22 Day 24 — Going my own way today to acknowledge the current state of our world. I’m thinking of and praying for my Ukrainian brothers and sisters, my Russian brothers and sisters as well, and all who are helping those affected by the war. For those unfamiliar with the children’s game Simon Says, here’s a brief description. Peace to all ♥s! Peace in our world!

Rated PG for Mild Bathroom Humor

NaPoWriMo22 Day 23 — Prompt from napowrimo.net: Write a Kay Ryan-esque poem (short, snappy, with a lot of rhyme and soundplay). I fiddled with this theme earlier in the week and scrapped it. I didn’t think I’d be returning to it, but oh well. It’s not the first poem I’ve written on this topic. I might as well come clean and post the lot. The two others are from NaPoWriMo17 day 9, to write a nine-line poem, though I’ve altered the line breaks in the one for a better flowing poem (it’s actually Ryan-esque now!). Peace to your ♥!

When One Door Closes

I wave goodbye
and happy dance
for the chance
to be alone-
alone at home,
which is not
quite the same
as being home
with others quiet.

With the latter
I must be
mindful of my
pees and queues.
The former lets
me pee with
the door open—
not TMI,
I’m hoping?

To Pee or Not to Pee

To pee or not to pee?
That is the question
On cold winter nights
At the first suggestion
Of a call from nature.
Do I answer—yes or
No? Do I stay in bed
Or go? I ponder for a
Minute, often more,
Till the urge becomes
Too urgent to ignore.
(Though I wonder why
I bother with questions
Existential. They’re
Inconsequential when
Your bladder is full.)

The Wee Hours

I’m not one whose sleep
Is wake-up free and deep.
I rarely get enough REM.

As a routine matter
I empty my bladder
Between one and two a.m.

Though the timing is poor,
That’s what wee hours are for:
I’d be a damp fool to ignore them.

Frightmares

Out of the deep, the frightmares creep
(A horrifying number).
Out of the deep and into your sleep
(They’re spying on your slumber).
But they will not dare to scare you
If you stare them in the eyes,
And I tell you if you yell “BOO!”
They will scatter in surprise,
And they will be the ones to scream
While you enjoy a fright-free dream.

NaPoWriMo22 Day 23 — Prompt from murisopsis’s poetry scavenger hunt, to write a poem using the words spy and deep. Peace to your ♥!