It’s that time of the year again, and already we’re twenty-four days into writing a poem a day. This year I got a late start and didn’t write a poem a day until Day 4, and I’m still a couple of poems behind. But never mind. Knowing me, I’ll catch and finish on time. Plus our prompt maven Robert Lee Brewer, poetry editor at Writer’s Digest, gives us a month or two to catch up and polish our poems a bit before selecting a few and submitting them as chapbooks.
Right now I don’t have any favorites. Hopefully after I finish them all and edit them I’ll find some submit.
Here are some samples accompanied by the prompt.
Prompt 2: On Tuesdays we get a choice of two prompts. The first Tuesday prompts were:
- Write a worst case poem. What’s the worst that could happen?
- Write a best case poem. Take the worst and reverse it!
Writing a poem like I’m doing now
Is the worst case.
I’m tired, it’s late in the day
But I have to catch up.
Today is Day 5 of the April poem a day challenge
And I’m only up to Day 2.
As you can tell, mine is a little tongue in cheek.
Prompt 4: Pick a painter, make him or her the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible painters include Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, or Pablo Picasso. Of course, you don’t have to go with the big names. You can use more obscure painters or more contemporary ones.
Titian
An old master
Of the Venetian School
Who painted in the 16th century
Could put paint on canvas
Without even a hint
Of a brush stroke showing.
I went especially
To see his Lady in White
At the Norton Simon
Two weeks ago
Just days before
The lady had to go home.
She was elegant, wide-eyed
Her reddish hair drawn back
And swept high off her neck.
She wore a form-fitting white
Dress, accessorized with
A white pearl necklace and earrings.
But why did she carry
A little flag in her right hand?
Maybe to signal to Titian
To give her a little break.
Prompt 11: Write a dedication poem. This is a poem dedicated to a person, an animal, or an organization. Or hey, objects work too–like a poem to a rock or paper bag. Put the dedication in the title or in a line under the title (“for Mother” or “to the heart-shaped rock between the creek and the tulips”). I dedicate today’s prompt to all of you!
I just wrote a dedication
To be published in my new novel
for my grandparents,
Isidore and Myrtle Tasky,
Who emigrated to small-town America
From a tiny shtetl in Poland called Sokolow.
I wanted to let people know
How much I admired their bravery and willfulness
In making that journey in the early 1900s
Even though I had the audacity
To make a complete fictionalized chaos
Out of their life stories.
It’s probably best they aren’t around
To read the book.
They certainly wouldn’t recognize
What I turned them into.
Prompt 15: Write a prediction poem. Make a prediction. Write about another person’s correct or incorrect prediction. Or, you know, be unpredictable.
I predict Mr. Trump will lose
The reelection for president
In 2020.
That during his second bid
All the investigations about his
Finances, whoring, and crooked dealings
Will come out to bite him
I have to think this way
It comforts me
It helps me live and enjoy
Each day from now until
January 21, 2021.
If I thought he could win again
I know for sure
I couldn’t make it through.
Thanks for reading these, even though they are very rough drafts. And I hope you’ll join the challenge with me next time – in November. It’s a lot of fun.
Speak Your Mind