NaPoWriMo Day 7 - "Hunt"

Today's prompt:

And now, for our (optional) prompt! There are many different poetic forms. Some have specific line counts, syllable counts, stresses, rhymes, or a mix-and-match of the above. Of the poetic forms that are based on syllable counts, probably the most well-known – to English speakers, at least – is the Japanese form called the haiku. But there are many other syllable-based forms. Today, I’d like to challenge you to pick from two of them – the shadorma, and the Fib.

The shadorma is a six-line, 26-syllable poem (or a stanza – you can write a poem that is made of multiple shadorma stanzas). The syllable count by line is 3/5/3/3/7/5. So, like the haiku, the lines are relatively short. Rather poetically, the origin of the shadorma is mysterious. I’ve seen multiple online sources call it Spanish – but “shadorma” isn’t a Spanish word (Spanish doesn’t have “sh” as a letter pairing), and neither is “xadorma,” or “jadorma,” which would approximate “shadorma” in sound. But even if this form is simply the brainchild of an internet trickster who gave it an imaginary backstory, that’s no reason why you shouldn’t try your hand at it. Every form was made up by someone, sometime.

Our second syllabic form is much more forthright about its recent origins. Like the shadorma, the Fib is a six-line form. But now, the syllable count is based off the Fibonacci sequence of 1/1/2/3/5/8. You can  link multiple Fibs together into a multi-stanza poem, or even start going backwards after your first six lines, with syllable counts of 8/5/3/2/1/1. Perhaps you remember the Fibonacci sequence from math or science class – or even from nature walks. Lots of things in the natural world hew to the sequence – like pinecones and flower petals. And now your poems can, too.

I have tried Fibanacci poems before and enjoyed them, so I decided on a Shadorma today as I hadn't heard of them before. I enjoyed the form, probably more than a Haiku as there is more for you to work with, so I may do some more of these in the future. The poem probably speaks for itself, so here it is:

Hand drawn map
An Easter egg hunt
Excitement
Brimming kids
Overflowing emotions
House turned upside down

Joy; Delight
At uncovered eggs
Wrapping ripped
Melting bite
Faced smudged with chocolate
A brief calm descends

NaPoWriMo Day 6 - "Questions"

Today's prompt:

Finally, here’s our daily (optional) prompt. Our prompt yesterday asked you to take inspiration from another poem, and today’s continues in the same vein. This prompt, which comes from Holly Lyn Walrath, is pretty simple. As she explains it here:

Go to a book you love. Find a short line that strikes you. Make that line the title of your poem. Write a poem inspired by the line. Then, after you’ve finished, change the title completely.

I have to say that this was a bit of a tricky prompt. We don't have a huge amount of books at home, as we tend to borrow from the library. We have far more children's books than adult books and so I chose one of those, one of the favourites in the house, "Superworm", but I won't tell you the line that I chose as I think it somewhat defeats the object. Anyway, here's the poem:

I stopped believing in the magic
I grew up and it went away
The world became hard and real
There was nothing to do or say

As if the spark was bundled up
And chucked into the bin
Wizards, witches, all the spells
The hope that lay within

But I was mistaken, it was always there
And I'd just failed to see
All of the amazing things
That this fantastic world could be

The magic is now rekindled
Right there, in my children's eyes
In all of their questions
The what's, the where's, the why's

NaPoWriMo Day 5 - "Craft"

Today's prompt:

This prompt challenges you to find a poem, and then write a new poem that has the shape of the original, and in which every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem. If I used Roethke’s poem as my model, for example, the first line would start with “I,” the second line with “W,” and the third line with “A.” And I would try to make all my lines neither super-short nor overlong, but have about ten syllables. I would also have my poem take the form of four, seven-line stanzas. I have found this prompt particularly inspiring when I use a base poem that mixes long and short lines, or stanzas of different lengths. Any poem will do as a jumping-off point, but if you’re having trouble finding one, perhaps you might consider Mary Szybist’s “We Think We Do Not Have Medieval Eyes” or for something shorter, Natalie Shapero’s “Pennsylvania.”

I chose a poem by Dylan Thomas. Ever since hearing Under Milk Wood, I have enjoyed his words, rhythms and word-pictures. One of his more accessible poems I think is In My Craft Or Sullen Art, and this is the one I chose for today's poem. I've even managed to write a poem which seems to follow a similar idea to the original. Here's the poem:

Inciting the dance of words
Each syllable is counted
Waiting for a perfect line
Agony at the blank page
When the phrases die at source
Inspiration a fleeting flame
Nothing but accomplishment
Our reward for scribbling thoughts
Observations and feelings
Babbling the consciousness
Of a million dreamers
Never taking for granted
Fires that spark the creation
Offered in depths of defeat
Neither do we nervously
Wait for joy and happiness
Before taking up our pens
Rich we are to invoke truth
Wish, desire, though it leaves us
Naked in front of the world

NaPoWriMo Day 4 - "Renovations"

Today's prompt:

In honor of the always-becoming nature of poetry, I challenge you today to select a photograph from the perpetually disconcerting @SpaceLiminalBot, and write a poem inspired by one of these odd, in-transition spaces. Will you pick the empty mall food court? The vending machine near the back entrance to the high school gym? The swimming pool at what seems to be M.C. Escher’s alpine retreat? No matter what neglected or eerie space you choose, I hope its oddness tugs at the place in your mind and heart where poems are made.

This was another interesting prompt as it gives me a chance to evaluate something visual as per the early bird poem. I have chosen a picture that maybe looks a little hopeless and forlorn, a little how I feel myself - but perhaps there is some hope in it. Anyway, here's the poem:

I am in need of renovation
Of resurgence
My mood is run down
Puddled and chipped away
But unlike that building
I still remain open

    

    (Though I wish I could repair myself in peace
    Rebuild my mind in solitude)

I am on a busy thoroughfare
I am still play centre, restaurant
Library and office
Lights remain on. though dimmed
Through dusty windows
I see hope in that picture
That improvements will be made
    

    (Scaffolding can be erected
    And the sun sparkle once again)

I am in transition

Between darkness and light
Between night and day
Movement is slow, painful even
But I will manage
And inch by inch
I will be ready to welcome the world again

NaPoWriMo Day 3 - "Disturbance"

Today's prompt:

And now for our prompt. This one is a bit involved, which is why I’m giving it to you on a Saturday. Today, I’d like to challenge you to make a “Personal Universal Deck,” and then to write a poem using it. The idea of the “Personal Universal Deck” originated with the poet and playwright Michael McClure, who gave the project of creating such decks to his students in a 1976 lecture at Naropa University. Basically, you will need 50 index cards or small pieces of paper, and on them, you will write 100 words (one on the front and one on the back of each card/paper) using the rules found here.

Don’t agonize over your word choices. Making the deck should be fun and revealing, as you generate words that sound “good” to you. The fact that the words are mainly divided among the five senses should be helpful in selecting words that you like the sound of, and that have some meaning personal to you. For example, my deck contains “harbor,” “wool,” “murmur,” “obsidian,” and “needle.”

Once you have your deck put together, shuffle it a few times. Now select a card or two, and use them as the basis for a new poem.

This sounded like an interesting idea to me, however as the father of three young children I was never going to get the chance to cut out fifty pieces of paper, let alone cover them with 100 thoughtful words and then write a poem after that. But I'd like to think that it's something like I'd like to visit in the future.

Instead I used this random word generator to give me some random words and I worked from there. The words I got were Disturbance~Shift~Return. So here's the poem:

Everybody asks
When will  life return 
to normal?-But I ask
What can we learn 
from this disturbance 
in our lives? Will priorities change?
Can we curb
Capitalist pressures to consume
Has the pandemic taught
The importance of family
The importance of friends
and those who care for us?
Or will we fail to shift
Our values
Go back to forgetting the gift
Of being home with our loved ones

NaPoWriMo Day 2 - "World"

Today's prompt:

In the world of well-known poems, maybe there’s no gem quite so hoary as Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about your own road not taken – about a choice of yours that has “made all the difference,” and what might have happened had you made a different choice.

This was a tough prompt as it is very easy for me look back and wonder what if about all sorts of choices that I have made in life. But I guess one watershed was when I left a steady job to spend a few months travelling across Canada. It gave me confidence in a way that I find hard to explain, but it definitely gave me a different viewpoint on life and the world. Here's the poem:

Would I have known a river

If I had not seen those falls

Tumbling, rushing, cascading water

A deafening roar in my ears

Would I understand the land

If I had not seen that expanse

Flat, featureless, a home to crops

A sunset that warmed my eyes

Could I contemplate a hill

If I had not seen those mountains

Snow-capped, rugged, majestically rising

A view thrilling to my eyes

Would I have seen the woods

If I had not walked those forests

Dappled and dense, trees tall and strong

A fresh resin scent in my nose

Could I have gained a friendship

If I had not met those people

Friendly, welcoming, eager to chat

Filling a place in my heart

Would I have known the world

If I had not taken a chance

Was I brave or stupid, I didn't know

But wisdom fills my senses now

NaPoWriMo Day 1 - "Fools"

Day 1 Prompt:

And without further ado, our daily prompt (optional, as always)! Sometimes, writing poetry is a matter of getting outside of your own head, and learning to see the world in a new way. To an extent, you have to “derange” yourself – make the world strange, and see it as a stranger might. To help you do that, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem inspired by this animated version of “Seductive Fantasy” by Sun Ra and his Arkestra. If you don’t feel after watching it a little bit like the top of your head’s been taken off, and your thoughts given a good stir – well, maybe you are already living in a state of heightened poetic awareness!

With it being April Fool's Day, I've tried to think about pranks made in the news on this day, alongside today's prompt. Here's the poem:

Upside down and turned about
All mixed up and inside out
Spinning yarns and swirling words
Flying pigs and grounded birds

A day for blending truth and lies
To play the fool and cheat the wise
To imagine, to wish, how the world could be
With waffle toasters or spaghetti trees

Are we fools to dream for more?
To wonder what our lives are for
Who wouldn't swap that which constrains
For coloured light shows in our brains