What a relief to not have to drive an hour to Anaheim and back anymore. I finished my consulting job - which I loved - but I'm very happy not to have to do that stressful drive anymore. So instead, I'm using my time to catch up on my writing work. The first order of business is gathering my November 2012 challenge poems into a chapbook. Robert Lee Brewer's instructions are to submit no more than twenty by January 7 - this coming Monday. I went through them this afternoon and picked out fifteen. I have a little editing left to do, and then I plan to get the document off tomorrow. After that I'm on to the next item on my list. It gives me great joy (there's my word Joy that I picked for 2013) to tick items off my to-do list. Here's a preview of a couple of poems I'm submitting. This prompt was to write about something just beneath my skin. Just Beneath My Skin Unfortunately those miracle creams that are supposed to get rid of age spots fine lines, deep … [Read more...]
The November Poem A Day Challenge is in full force
While I don't intend to post every poem I write during this challenge, I'll start here with Day 1. Here's the prompt: Write a matches poem. The matches could be sticks that make fire. Or it could be matches from a game. Or the verb of to match. Or as in the phrase He's not a good match for you. Or whatever other match you can make. And here's my attempt: At the Match She watches on the sidelines hunched over, her arms, legs fingers crossed for luck. Her head looks left, then right as the ball goes over the net back and forth back and forth. She takes a deep breath when her son loses a point, then her head looks left and right again. His opponent beats his racket on the court when he misses, sneering at his father standing with his nose at the fence. But, calmness prevails. Her son's last shot, his famous backhand down the line, wins, and she knows they'll have a great drive home. Ben, age 14 He had a few tennis trophies … [Read more...]
Get ready for the November PAD with Robert Lee Brewer
During the month of November I'll be again participating in Robert Lee Brewer's November Poem A Day (PAD) challenge. He's changed it up a bit this year. He's asked us to submit a 10 to 20-page chapbook contest in January with poems culled from those created during the November challenge. I'm going enter. And I encourage my poetry-writing readers to follow suit. Robert also sends a great poetry prompt every week on Wednesday (except during November and April PAD challenges). To rev up some interest, here are some of my prompt responses (and the link to his latest prompt.) Remember the poems below are mostly unedited. Write a box poem.This poem is either about a box or includes a box somewhere in the poem (or title). Don't be afraid to poem outside the box this week (sorry, I had to say it). Things in Boxes He left a black canvas box filled with his music recordings next to his bed, the cassette tapes neatly packed in order of performance. And on his closet … [Read more...]
