https://www.napowrimo.net

…”And now for our (optional) prompt. This one is a bit complex, so I saved it for a Sunday. It’s a Spanish form called a “glosa” – literally a poem that glosses, or explains, or in some way responds to another poem. The idea is to take a quatrain from a poem that you like, and then write a four-stanza poem that explains or responds to each line of the quatrain, with each of the quatrain’s four lines in turn forming the last line of each stanza. Traditionally, each stanza has ten lines, but don’t feel obligated to hold yourself to that! Here’s a nice summary of the glosa form to help you get started.”

For my poem, I used an alternate description of the glosa here https://www.johnwheway.com/?p=4:

and the first stanza of a poem by Vita Sackville-West, found here:

https://poets.org/poem/land

Storm Front

April. A bitter night we drove along the coast,

Lake Huron, a white-capped dark sea,

as a distant beacon flashed its dire message, solitary eye

keeping the watch. You turned to the window,

mile upon mile, a prisoner in your own silence,

a lonely world bereft of light.

There’s a sadness when shared space yields no warmth,

where two people sit, together but alone, where

there’s nothing to say, try as you might.

That was a spring of storms. They prowled the night.

The road shone wet, swept by a blur of wind, rain,

and branches torn from newly-budding trees.

Soggy foxes trotted across our path, in search

of shelter from the wet. I kept an eye out

for sudden deer looking to cross to the other side.

You took no notice, not in the least.

Was this a punishment for things not said, or

words not held back? Too difficult to tell.  

Outside the pounding rain had ceased,

though low-level lightning flickered in the east.

I wondered if that night would ever end:

your accusing silence over there, the storm still hovering

to the left, and animals that roam at night just off stage.

I felt a quiet sense of rage at helplessness

to bring this drama to its final scene. Or was it me

that was the drama queen, swimming in some extreme

pantomime? Just in time, the rain began again.

Time to concentrate on getting home,

leave behind this thunder dome to play its ominous theme,

continuous. The white pear-blossom gleamed

just beside the door as we arrived at home. White petals

scattered across the grass, and up the front steps, formed

a welcome mat put out for us by the storm.

I might have smiled. Would have if the drive had been

less fraught, even so it dissipated the chill

I’d felt from the other side of the car, the storm outside

fighting with the inner storm you carried with you,

like that cartoon character under a cloud.

In the last of the lightning, no cry of whip-poor-will

motionless in the flashes; birds were still.

Carol A. Stephen

April 3, 2022

Day Two On April 2, 2022

…”And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem based on a word featured in a tweet from Haggard Hawks, an account devoted to obscure and interesting English words. Will you choose a word like “aprosexia,” which means “an inability to concentrate”? Or maybe something like “greenout,” which is “the relief a person who has worked or lived in a snowy area for a long time feels on seeing something fresh and green for the first time”? https:www.napowrimo.net

Here’s my effort for Day 2

Glacitate, Crocitate, Cucubate, Never Pupillate

This vernality, I wish
to be multiscious on the ways animals
voice their concerns and welcomes.

As the goose glacitates, and the ravens crocitate,
I listen for the owls, hope to hear them evenings
as they cucubate in the tall trees along the way.

Early mornings, in years past, my open window
welcomed in the sound of a nearby rooster, as he cucuriated
to welcome the rising sun. These days, by the feeder,

there are sparrows, juncos, grackles and mourning doves
none of them chelidonizing nor glocidating like swallows or hens.

Hereabouts peacocks only pupillate in scary movies.

This spring, I wish
to understand the ways animals
voice their concerns and welcomes.

As the goose honks, and the ravens caw,
I listen for the owls, hear them hoot
in the tall trees by the river.  Early mornings,

before the new houses were built, I’d hear a rooster
call his greeting to the rising sun. These days,
our feeder welcomes sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, grackles

and mourning doves, none of them chirping like swallows
nor cackling like hens. In the distance, at evening, from river’s edge,
the simple serenade of Canada Geese, as they settle for the night.

They tell me all is right in their corner of the world.

Carol A. Stephen

April 2, 2022