Tag: poetry

Poem 20150416

crow

Man. Really?

#NaPoWriMo is trying to kill me.

And now for our (as always, optional) prompt! Today, I challenge you to write in the form known as the terzanelle. A hybrid of the villanelle and terza rima, terzanelles consist of five three-line stanzas and a concluding quatrain. Lines and rhymes are chained throughout the poem, so that the middle line of each triplet is repeated as the last line of the following triplet (or, for the last triplet, in the concluding quatrain). The pattern goes like this:
ABA
bCB
cDC
dED
eFE
fAFA or fFAA.

You can use any meter or line length, though you may want to try to have all of your lines in the same meter.

—–

there are sounds that the heart makes
not when it pounds and beats in the chest
not when someone reaches in and takes

the last feeling you have as a test
or some kind medieval fealty oath
not when you hide your secrets in a chest

of drawers; there are sounds, both
warm and calm, that only another heart
can hear; a sound that whispers as an oath

is whispered, a sound that is only the start
of other more concrete things; a simple touch,
a hand trickling down like water over a heart

beating soft and slow, secure with such
a gentle fire that there is no need
for any other kind of passion; one touch

one touch is all you need
and you will hear the sounds a heart makes
when it is finally freed
from doubt and a thousand aches

Poem 20150415b

crow

I missed day two of #NaPoWriMo, and also I wasn’t that happy with my dialogue poem of yesterday (here if you want to read it–it’s kind of a downer). But here’s a poem that fulfills the dialogue prompt and also the prompt from day two, which is as follows:

And now, our (as always, optional) prompt, provided to us by NaPoWriMo participant Carla Jones. Today, I challenge you to take your gaze upward, and write a poem about the stars. You may find inspiration in this website that lists constellations, while also providing information on the myths associated with each one, as well as other salient information. Your poem could be informed by those myths or historical details, by the shapes or names of the constellations, or by childhood memories of seeing them. Any form or style will do.

—–

i say, roll over onto your stomach
pretend you’re going to get a massage
and like those women in the brochures
put your hands under your face
turn your face to the side
and smile

you say, those brochures are bullshit
it feels great after the massage
but during
it hurts like hell
fingers driving into your muscles
trying to split the fibers apart
imagine doing that to a roast
with your bare hands

i say, just do it, and let your hair
cascade down. i want to draw
on the small of your back

you ask, what do you want to draw?
nothing embarrassing
nothing in ink

i say, no, no, i’m just going
to use my finger
i’m going to draw the night sky on your back
in the hollow curve
just above your tailbone
i’ll only include the stars
with better names
sirius, procyon, rigel, and betelgeuse
castor, pollux, and deneb
altair, antares, and arcturus
none of the stars with only letters and numbers
for names
i don’t want designations.
i want them all to have names

you feel my finger tracing a spiral
stopping and dropping a star with each
name

you say, this is going to take awhile, isn’t it?
why not draw the universe while you’re at it?

i feel you sinking into the bed
the weight of all those stars
pushing you down
you’ve put your hands under your face
your hair spills down and
you turn your face to the side and smile
like the women in those brochures

i’m not that ambitious, i say
adding a thousand more stars
making up names as i go

Poem 20150415

crow

Today, we talk to our words. From #NaPoWriMo:

And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Today, I challenge you to write a poem that addresses itself or some aspect of its self (i.e. “Dear Poem,” or “what are my quatrains up to?”; “Couplet, come with me . . .”) This might seem a little meta at first, or even kind of cheesy. But it can be a great way of interrogating (or at least, asking polite questions) of your own writing process and the motivations you have for writing, and the motivations you ascribe to your readers.

—–

metaphors, i am glad
to have met you
you let me remake the world
let me shape it softer or harder
than it is

o, simile
i quite like you
so like a smile
but in secret
you suggest more gently
inviting the reader to agree
but always implying the opposite
giving the reader the option
that maybe
things
aren’t
the
way
you
say
they are

but words
this poem is just words
and what are words worth?
i’ve had it thrown back to me, a ball
in a game of catch
like a potato
in a game of hot potato
it’s only words, was said, using,
ironically
words
to express just how little the words meant
but don’t they mean everything
the whole world
ex nihilo
fiat lux
and it was good

Poem 20150414

crow1 Comment

Day 14 of #NaPoWriMo, and here us the prompt:

And now for our optional prompt! Today, I challenge you to write a poem that takes the form of a dialogue. Your conversant could be real people, or be personifications, as in Andrew Marvell’s A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body, or Yeats’ A Dialogue of Self and Soul. Like Marvell, and Yeats, you could alternate stanzas between your two speakers, or perhaps you could give them alternating lines. Your speakers could be personifications, like those in Marvell and Yeats’ poems, or they could be two real people. Hopefully, this prompt will give you a chance to represent different points of view in the same poem, or possibly to create a dramatic sense of movement and tension within the poem

—–

mind,
you think you know what you want?
because you are aware
because a net of consciousness drapes across you
and you open the mouth
and declare, “this!” or “that!”
and yet–
and yet, a small thing derails you
from your tasks
but i will have the final say
in all things

body,
like a captain, i steer this ship
command a thing to be done and it is done
desire to sleep, and i find solitude in dreams
desire to revenge, and i lash out
desire to love, and my words play out sweet
and soft
and irresistible

mind,
you are mistaken
allow me to educate you
though you will deny the lesson
desire to love? you have an urge to touch
and to take, a lust in your loins for the flesh
of another and your words are less meaningful
than a songbird’s plea, marking territory
or begging for a mate
desire to revenge? you have hatred and fear
churning in your guts, and your lashing out
is more oft only played out in fantasies while
the objects of your scorn go unpunished, and just as
well as your perceived slights are petty
desire to sleep? you fear sleep most of all
that analog of death
so close that if your breath stops short
you startle awake, place your hands to your
face
and ask in a trembling voice, “am i here still? do
i yet remain?”
yes, you are the captain, the captain of
a ship doomed to sink
and like all good captains
you will go down with it

Poem 20150413

crow

Today’s suggested prompt from #NaPoWriMo is a conundrum:

And now for our prompt (as always, it’s optional!). In keeping with the mysterious quality of the number 13, today I challenge you to write a riddle poem. This poem should describe something without ever naming it. Perhaps each line could be a different metaphor for the same object? Maybe the title of the poem can be the “answer” to the riddle. The result could be a bit like our Day One poems of negation, but the lines don’t need to be expressed in negatives.

—–

weeping, yet shedding not a single tear,
it bears an unknowable grief
its losses can be counted as eggs
like feathers strewn
across the lawn
or the whistling of wings
when the sun rises
so common, you know it all too well
well acquainted with its grey
bearing

Poem 20150412b

crow

these words come unbidden
slip from fingers without pause
without time to measure
–measure twice, cut once they say–
but the saw of words cuts
again
and again
and yet again

there is no time to clap your hands
and pray
after the ablution
just toss the money in
the box
and hope the
kami
is patient
and kind
and forgiving of your cheapness
maybe she sees the soles worn down
on shoes you refuse to
replace
maybe she knows how you
wait
each day for 11:11
to come around
to make a wish
for free

if only your doubt would break upon
the rocks
like waves
huge and frightening
a wall of water
reduced to spray and foam
and a scattering of birds.

Poem 20150412

crow

Now that that sapphics nonsense is over and done with, here’s the prompt for day 12 fron #NaPoWriMo:

And now for our prompt! Yesterday’s was a doozy, so today’s is much more laid-back (and optional, as always). It comes to us from Dr. Cynthia A. Cochran of Illinois College:
Here is a great prompt for anyone who likes to write descriptive prose but shudders at writing poetry–and it really works:

Describe in great detail your favorite room, place, meal, day, or person. You can do this in paragraph form.

Now cut unnecessary words like articles and determiners (a, the, that) and anything that isn’t really necessary for content; leave mainly nouns, verbs, a few adjectives.

Cut the lines where you see fit and, VOILA! A poem!

who to pick
what to say
favorite person
who to include
who to eschew
how many people offended
how many people alienated
describe them how

obvious physical attributes
smooth white skin
brown hair
arms
legs
ankles
feet
breasts and ears and napes of necks
their movements slinky or awkward
their body language happy or nervous or angry or
stricken

or an approach more ephemeral?
their voices loud or quiet
their laughter
their smiles
the pixie look on their faces
when they’re up to something
the pixie look on yours
when you realize it

Poem 20150411

crow

Today, an attempt at highly structured poem, courtesy of #NaPoWriMo:

Our (optional) prompt for today departs from such concerns, however. Today, rather than being casual, I challenge you to get rather classically formal, and compose a poem in Sapphics. These are quatrains whose first three lines have eleven syllables, and the fourth, just five. There is also a very strict meter that alternates trochees (a two-syllable foot, with the first syllable stressed, and the second unstressed) and dactyls (a three-syllable foot, with the first syllable stressed and the remainder unstressed). The first three lines consist of two trochees, a dactyl, and two more trochees. The fourth line is a dactyl, followed by a trochee.

Rhyming is optional! Ha ha ha.

—–

little yellow finches swarm feeders i hang
high on curved arms. i watch them, fight and play and
jostle for a better spot. all the same. they
don’t know that. silly

birds to fight for seeds. as if i won’t fill it
when it empties. floating like ghosts, they haunt the
yard as long as light still shines, darting, zooming,
singing songs. dusk comes.

—–

Yes, that was hard. Man.

Poem 20150410

crow

Today’s poetic prompt from #NaPoWriMo is a fun one. Well, I say it’s fun, but I haven’t written it yet, so we’ll see.

And now for today’s prompt (optional, as always): Today I challenge you to write an abecedarian poem – a poem with a structure derived from the alphabet. There are a couple of ways of doing this. You could write a poem of 26 words, in which each word begins with a successive letter of the alphabet. You could write a poem of 26 lines, where each line begins with a successive letter. Or finally, if you’d prefer to narrow your focus, perhaps you could write a poem which focuses on a few letters, using words that repeat them.

—–

advice, brilliant conclusions
delivered earnestly for grudging hegemony

inhibit justice
kill literacy
master no one, please
question reversals
sever ties unless visible
waver excitably
yield zero