Tag Archives: NaPoWriMo

April 2 Writer’s Digest PAD Challenge poem

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napo2013button2

Today’s poem is written to the prompt from Robert Lee Brewer on the Writer’s Digest Poem a Day blog challenge. It’s Two for Tuesday, to write a dark poem or a light poem, or both. I followed Robert’s example and combined references to both in this short poem. It riffs off a poem by Katy Ellerman, a fellow classmate from ModPo.

http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2013-april-pad-challenge-day-2

 

The Dark OutsideMarch 2008 Poetry Reading and NC backup copy032
   after Katy Ellerman

Struggle.  Darkness of senses.
Fight fog-blur, sightless.

Before, there was light. Before the blinding of eyes.
There is no turning-away. In this place
I make my peace with where I am.

Enfolded. Enveloped. Silence. I stand
against the dark outside this circle. Remember light.

Inside the heart, a flutter of doves.

Carol A. Stephen
April 2, 2013

Sagrada Familia doves

Sagrada Familia doves (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

April 1st Poem for National Poem Month

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Prompt #1 from NaPoWriMo is to write a poem beginning with a first line from another poem. Here is my poem, which inspired the title of my chapbook, Above the Hum of Yellow Jackets, that starts with a first line from Yusef Komunyakaa‘s You and I Are Disappearing.

I’m told that posting poems on a blog is considered by some publishers to be published work, so this is my offering instead. (For the record, though, I DID write a poem. Not only does it begin with the first line of another poem, but coincidentally is an arrival poem, which goes to the prompt over on the Writer’s Digest PAD Challenge   

I didn’t look at that one till after the poem was already done, but since it starts “She simply arrives one day”, a line from Imagining Cassandra by Rhonda Douglas, it is so appropriate to the prompt.

bigstock_Yellow_Jacket_8341897Here’s my poem:

It Changes the Hour

The cry I bring down from the hills
spills upon the surface
of a stone skipping the pond
on a morning in summer.

It bleeds into the sound of the day,
an octave above the hum of yellow-jackets.
It is scented with limes and olives.
Children dance in its tremolo.
The cry I bring down from the hills
waits to be heard.
Light bends into the songs it sings
inside our heads.

It changes the hour,
perfumes it with mountain air
the colour of hummingbirds
the taste of strawberries.

 the first line is from a poem “You and I Are Disappearing —
                Bjorn Hakansson”  by Yusef Komunyakaa

photo: nrpphoto.BIGSTOCK.COM

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National Poetry Month April 2013

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Poster from the League of Canadian Poets for National Poetry Month

English: Wild daffodils at Donnington Wild daf...

English: Wild daffodils at Donnington Wild daffodils beside the footpath across a field to the north of Nurdens Farm, Donnington. Early April (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I love April!  First of all, it’s my birth month, so I always have at least a small celebration to look forward to. And it’s Poetry Month. National Poetry Month, in both Canada and the USA. So there is a lot of focus on poetry this time of year. I know in Ottawa there are numerous readings as well as some fantastic workshops coming up at the Ottawa Public Library. You can read about those in my CAA-NCR weekly listing.

Right now though, I wanted to share a few other links with you, ones that relate to poetry challenges inviting poets to write a poem every day. This is by no means an extensive list. I am sure there are many others. These are the ones  I will be looking at and writing to.

First up is NaPoWriMo, short for National Poetry Writing Month: http://www.napowrimo.net/  which has some fantastic prompts for quite a variety of challenges. It begins officially tomorrow. To participate, you can register your blog, put up your daily poem and that’s it. Or you can simply write a poem to the prompt.

Second comes from Writer’s Digest Poetry Editor, Robert Lee Brewer. For this one you can post your poems online or you can keep them private, then at the end of April select the best per the rules and submit to the contest: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2013-april-pad-challenge-guidelines  

Then there is a Found poetry one that I just learned about yesterday. It is restricted to 85 already registered poets, but if you can access the source material, no reason why you can’t follow along and write your own poem. It is based on Pulitzer Prize winners: http://www.pulitzerremix.com/   To see how to write a found poem, if you haven’t done one before, visit the sponsor, The Found Poetry Review for guidelines: http://www.foundpoetryreview.com/category/blog

Another new one is this, just discovered yesterday: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/psh/a-poetry-writing-prompt-a-day/

And an interesting twist on the idea here: Write one poem on April 1st (or start it) and each day revise it. i.e. one poem, 29 revisions.)

http://anexerciseindiscipline.com/

Ok, I am sure there are others out there, and you can always google poem a day challenges for April 2013. Choose the best one that works for you. Or more than one.

One year I attempted three challenges and ended up with 80 or so draft poems. Some good ones too. One I really enjoyed in April 2011 was the Not Without Poetry one, which has not run since but the prompts are still there, starting with Day 30 and working backward. The prompts are so good, I am glad they haven’t yet been taken down.  http://notwithoutpoetry.wordpress.com/ 

So, there you go! Rev up your poetry engines. And drop a line to let me know how you are making out, or share a poem if you wish. Remember, though that some publishers will consider it published if you post online!

Carol

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Day 30 NaPoWriMo Remembering

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Day 30 NaPoWriMo

And now, the final prompt. Artist and writer Joe Brainard is probably best remembered for his 1970 poem/memoir I Remember. The book consists of multiple statements beginning with the phrase “I remember,” including:

I remember my first erections. I thought I had some terrible disease or something.

I remember the only time I ever saw my mother cry. I was eating apricot pie.

I remember when my father would say “Keep your hands out from under the covers” as he said goodnight. But he said it in a nice way.

I remember when I thought that if you did anything bad, policemen would put you in jail.

Today’s prompt asks you to write a poem incorporating at least three “I remember” statements. This invocation of memory seems a fitting way to end our month together.

Good luck, and happy writing

So here is my attempt:

Youths playing the Red Rover game.

Red Rover game Wikipedia

I  Remember Being Ten

I remember the first taste of plums, bitter black
skin shielding  the sweetness in the flesh.

I remember winters in childhood, the temperature  sub zero,
the toboggan swift over snow, slam of spine against hard impact.

I remember the flash and flicker of black and white test patterns that filled
the television screen, dartboard geometrics, Indian head in full dress

I remember street games, the call and response, Red Rover, dibs and eeny
meeny counts, the sewer grate chosen as  first base, impatient warnings: CAR!

I remember Granny:  whispered warnings agains  opening the door to strangers,
Scotch mints in her pocket, her conspiratorial shush, finger firm against lips,

her sensible Oxford shoes.

Carol A. Stephen
April 30, 2012