NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #30

free poetry: a blog contest bop

novel written in verse
a collection of sestinas & sonnets
can’t imagine a better way to celebrate
national poetry month with my literature students
than to read poems and become proficient at two forms.
“keesha’s house might be too much, parents might complain”


Didn’t you know I was waiting on you
My face turned to stone when I heard the news

seems like blaspheme to send the books back
sitting in brown packaging, waiting for hands and eyes.
I can’t banish them to a warehouse bookshelf where they
will never inspire anyone. who will have these written words?
Other poets like poetry. every poetry reading I’ve ever attended
there are just as many poets on the panel as in the audience.
Casting my net to capture you, but you slip right through.
Changing the lure to one you might at least nibble at.

Didn’t you know I was waiting on you
My face turned to stone when I heard the news

Blogging in hopes that the bard family will come by helping me
to remove the dandelions out of my napowrimo garden.
Not difficult to see the bad, but a haze of uncertainty
clouds my perception when looking for poetic
sunflowers, see and smell my harvest
of poetry. [hello, is my mic on?]

Didn’t you know I was waiting on you
My face turned to stone when I heard the news

* * * * * * *
Check the post that inspired this poem.

* * * * * * *

Aww, it's the last day of National Poetry Month.
*sad face*
I really am having a blog contest though. You should enter, your chances of winning a free book is high.

And another thing, the refrain in the bop comes from Kanye West's song "Bad News".

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #29

(Not so) Weird News

In Pennsylvania
a fifth grader leaves a note
in a library
book, listing names of people
he (or she) would prefer dead.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #28

"When I remember my "a-ha moment" from my past,
I understand the place I am meant to go
with my words and poetry today is..."

nowhere

I don't remember this moment
this moment is missing

this moment is hiding underneath
a 31 cent mint chip ice cream scoop

this moment is tweeting on Twitter

this moment is looking at the treadmill
and shaking it's head "no"

this moment is waiting to see ANTM

this moment is not very poetic.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #27

Sepia

Sadness
Enters uninvited
Pushes, pulls passively
Inching it's way up my feet
Antibodies surface and suffer.

* * * * * * *
Check the post that inspired this poem.
* * * * * * *

Dictionary.com's definition of sepia and origin...

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #26

Dear Poetry: a bop

Dear Poetry,
I am under your feet
crushed like autumn leaves
watching, wondering if you know
how many times I’ve written your name
next to mine in tattered composition books

I want you, the right way
I want you, but I want you to want me too

Admirers,
you have many, more than
all the sonnets Shakespeare could scribe
dedicated and deeper than the darkness at midnight
I am on the margins, invisible on your spectrum
Can I just be the contrast color
in your black & white
photo?

I want you, the right way
I want you, but I want you to want me too


Poetry, if you learn to love me, I’ll be on your skin
the beauty mark people always compliment
the blank space between your stanzas
the simile you are searching for
like feathers, I hope you
get this letter

I want you, the right way
I want you, but I want you to want me too

* * * * * * *
Check the post that inspired this poem.
* * * * * * *
The refrain of this poem is borrowed from Marvin Gaye's song "I Want You".

Happy Birthday Miranda: a Triolet

It's fun to celebrate your birthday
Miranda, while you are in your twenties
I wrote you this triolet to say
It's fun to celebrate your birthday
You can relax, play or go far away
you're still young, so you can do plenty
It's fun to celebrate your birthday
Miranda, while you are in your twenties.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #25

what will it take -

ten years of silence
or twenty?

having a tumor the size of a lime
or a grapefruit?

chemotherapy treatments
or surgery?

- for you to mend this fence?

I want to have a blog contest

I've seen other blogs have contests and it looks like a lot of fun. I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to run one, so be gentle.

Let me explain my reason for the contest.

I planned to have my students read Keesha's House in celebration of April being National Poetry Month. I gave them a choice of four different books that were all novels composed strictly of poems, and Keesha's House was the one they selected. Out of the five classes that I teach, they are my favorite Literature class, so I thought I'd surprise them by buying them each a copy.

Silly me, it didn't even cross my mind that I should run the book by administration first to make sure it was okay. It wasn't. So now I have a class set of books that I don't feel like returning. Might as well give them away to poetry lovers, eh?

In order to win the book, this is what you need to do:
*You have to read my NaPoWriMo poetry and tell me which poems are the good ones.
*Pick five (or more) of them.
*Tell me why you selected those particular poems.

At the end of the contest...May 15th, I'll have a random selection and pick a winner. Uh, yeah, I think that's it. Oh, leave your email or I'll have no way to get in contact with you.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #24

How the saying goes

'Ah, all things come to those who wait'
but when is the waiting complete?
does that mean we leave it to fate?
'Ah, all things come to those who wait'
for a good poem to create.
Should I save, edit, or delete?
'Ah, all things come to those who wait'
but when is the waiting complete?

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

* * * * * * *

Note to self: This triolet is for the one you didn't write on Thursday.

Note to you: The first (fourth and seventh) line in the poem was written by Violet Fane, in her poem "Tout vient ß qui sait attendre."

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #23

Pecola met Black-is-Beautiful for a moment

Staring at her reflection in the window
of the penny candy store
Pecola imagined saffron hair
that could blow in the wind
and eyes clear and blue like the sky

Behind the reflection
Black-is-Beautiful
pressed her young face against the glass
her smile organic
her umber colored skin
softer than a chocolate bar in the summer
and for a moment, Pecola's hunger for blue
melted

Until the sound of high heels
caught her attention
and she saw Video Vixen switchin'
thirty years ahead
with a lace-front and colored contacts
and Black-is-Beautiful was forgotten.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

* * * * * * *

Pecola is a character from The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison about a young girl who associated beauty with whiteness.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #22

Out of the Dust
(inspired by Karen Hesse)

The fields have been decimated by dust
The sky remains dry, farmers hope for rain
The lack of wheat causes financial strain
The dirt stalks through town leaving a hard crust
Trees look sickly, branches crumble like rust
Pretty soon there won't be anymore grain
Families move west, but some still remain
Pa watches the weakened crops with disgust
Ma's mood is sullen, darker than a crow
My only happiness comes from the band
Playing fierce piano is what i know
Until that accident messed up my hand
Ma's death and skin cancer, fill Pa with woe
I've got to get out, I must make a plan.

* * * * * * *
Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #21

imperfections: a cinquain
my flaws
have developed
imperfect bulldozers
tearing down self-esteem houses
inside

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #20

hero poem

when you look at me
it's the only time
i feel like sunshine

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #19

late hours correcting the papers
weekly lesson planning
entering grades
middle school mood swings
parent-teacher meetings
insomnia on sunday nights
little or no appreciation
the "why do we have to"
and the "i don't know how"

it's all so i can afford to be
a poet

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem

Cave Felem

Will they let a cat lover join a community of dogs?

****record scratch****

Let me start over.

I was over at the Cave Canem website and dreaming about getting in (again), and I decided to do a freewrite of the 500 word cover letter you must complete to be accepted in the program. Now keep in mind that the selection process doesn't start until December 2010/January 2011...so this is super in advance, but it will probably take me that long to get through this process, because personal essays are difficult. I'd rather do a research paper than a personal essay. Yikes.

In the cover letter you need to include what you expect to get out of the retreat and what you hope to achieve. Through the freewrite, I came up with four expectations/goals that I feel I can achieve with such a wonderful community of poets.

Perhaps I can polish the cover letter part this summer and try to figure out which 8 poems will speak for me.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #18

calico, cuddly, and cute: a triolet

in my next life, i'll be a cat
calico, cuddly, and cute
sleeping all day, is where it's at
in my next life, i'll be a cat
claws sharpened for play and combat
responsibilities? minute!
in my next life, i'll be a cat
calico, cuddly, and cute.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #17

underlife (or kerning): a cento
for January Gill O'Neil

each grain becomes a moment
an hour before sunrise

falling from their stems
into the floor like roots

and look at the big sky
the bruise colored sky

because it wants your attention.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

* * * * * * *

The lines from this poem all come from January G. O'Neil's collection Underlife - which initially, was going to be called Kerning - specifically from these poems (in order): Sugar, Morning Poem, The Ripe Time, At the Subway, Cow Logic, Permanent, and Discipline.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #16

four minutes is too long

i remember the smell of the smoke
i remember the smell because it still lingers
slid the windows open
but it stays, unwelcome
after sleep and a morning shower
it sticks to my skin
maybe spraying perfume will block the stink...

next time, remember to push the "popcorn" button on the microwave.


* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

National Poetry Writing Blog Tour: Mari Evans

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? Of course! I bet you have been writing a poem each day to celebrate, right? Another way to participate in this poetic party is to read the poetry of professional poets.

The poets of the Black Arts Movement have been my inspiration for this month because the poetry of this decade is “easy to enter” – a term originally coined by Billy Collins. This type of poetry allows the reader access to its meaning without being purposely ambiguous.

Mari Evans was a popular poet during the Black Arts Movement, but she also published plays, served as an editor for an anthology of Black women’s writing, and she even produced her own television show. Her poetry explores themes of loss, liberation, and love. Her collection I Am a Black Woman was first published in 1969 and has appeared in many anthologies, including the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. The following poem, shares the title of that collection. Enjoy.

I am a Black Woman

I am a black woman
the music of my song
some sweet arpeggio of tears
is written in a minor key
and I
can be heard humming in the night
Can be heard
humming
in the night
I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea
and I/with these hands/cupped the lifebreath
from my issue in the canebrake
I lost Nat's swinging body in a rain of tears
and heard my son scream all the way from Anzio
for Peace he never knew....I
learned Da Nang and Pork Chop Hill
in anguish
Now my nostrils know the gas
and these trigger tire/d fingers
seek the softness in my warrior's beard
I am a black woman
tall as a cypress
strong
beyond all definition still
defying place
and time
and circumstance
assailed
impervious
indestructible
Look
on me and be
renewed

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #15

Imitating Emily

I'm Annoyed! How about you?
Are you--Annoyed--too?
Then you're also friends with Irritated & Fuss.
Do tell! They'd cuss us out--you know.

How weary--to be--Overjoyed!
How rambunctious--like a child
To keep smiling-- all day, everyday--
To an optimistic crowd!

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #14

Latitude

this attitude is an imaginary line
drawn between us like the latitude of the earth

if you acknowledge it, it will appear
imagine something else. redefine.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #13

Poem Starting with a Line from Norman Dubie

We drank our lemonade in silence
the sound of our voices might
spoil the sweetness
the taste of harmony
too delicious.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #12

It's an emergency


Dusk stalks the sun
In secret
Allegiance to the
Lurking moon

9 more minutes
1 more mindless tragedy
1 more muted eternally

* * * * * * *

Check out the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #11

dear self-confidence,
i miss you
we met once before

so long ago, i
am afraid
it never happened.

i want you, need you
in my life
where can i find you?

maybe you have a
twitter page?
i'll start with google.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inpired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #10: MFA Musings

Not really one for personal celebration
but let me get accepted at Indiana U
it would be quite a different situation
I'd be jumping up and down like a kangaroo
the news magically appearing in every conversation
a smile staying permanently on my face like glue
keeping it in my pocket, I'd carry the letter
a reminder of the day my poetic life got better.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #9

I.

The marionette's body is limp
stowed away on the bottom shelf
of the book case
her name is Muse.

II.

Befriended by dust bunnies
Muse hasn't flapped her arms
since the winter
the cantaloupe fringe on her dress
has faded like paper and dreams.

III.

Resting uncomfortably on a tome
she is startled by her author's
entrance
the unfinished manuscript
a bruise unabled to be concealed
with foundation.

IV.

Muse watches as her author
avoids the manuscript
and scans the book shelf
selecting the latest collection
of Alice Walker poems.

V.

Flip, flip, flip
the pages turn
none of them written
by her author
if she could
Muse would shake her head
shamefully.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #8 (Triolet #29)

You, my MFA in Poetry love
validating my thoughts, cuddling my dreams
no one could ever be put above
you, my MFA in Poetry love
better than a room full of books (kind of),
to have you, I hope it's as good as it seems
you, my MFA in Poetry love
validating my thoughts, cuddling my dreams.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo ReadWritePoem Prompt #7

racy dance moves morph
into sun salutation
then warrior pose
laughter replaced seduction
the conquest is entertained

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #6

today we celebrate a special day
nyesha's and nika's birthday
later we have cake and ice cream
later we run around and scream
this is the year that we turn four
gift wrappers and party hats on the floor
i wish i could talk to the little me
i'd whisper, "don't give up on writing, see?
you'll be a poet, broke, but glad
other jobs will only make you sad."

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.



P.S. My actual birthday is today...which is the other inspiration for this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #5

Poetry, She Has Many Names

When speaking in front of crowds
call her Stutter

If she is passionate about the subject
call her Sputter

In a regular, low-anxiety situation
call her Utter

Quite often, she's unsure (or speaking to herself)
call her Mutter

Trapped with the thoughts inside her head
call her Clutter

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo:2010 April PAD Challenge: Day 4

The House We Built

arguments stack
like bricks

anger and tears
provide the mortar

creating a
solid foundation

no amount
of conversation

or forgiveness
can bulldoze

* * * * * * *

Check out the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #4

don't peel the onion
deep, less we discover the
stink and sting inside

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo:2010 April PAD Challenge: Day 3

partly pathetic

searching everywhere
except inside your heart for
love and acceptance

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this post.

NaPoWriMo: Poem #3

Sunshine

squinting in the sun shine, harsh and unkind
shading my eyes don't want to go blind
searching for shadows sun/blocking my mind


* * * * * * *

Inside Lighthead, a collection of poems by Terrance Hayes, I saw this unique poetry form. The above poem is my attempt to imitate this form. Not sure what the form is called, but the way it was situated in the book, it gave the poem the ability to be read three different ways: as two separate poems, and then joining together into one poem.

I'm not sure if I explained that clearly. Take a look at the poem “Hide” by Hayes and it should make sense then.

P.S. Read the poem on the left first,
then the one on the right,
and then read the whole thing across.

Edit: I found out on April 14th that this poem form is called a cleave poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #3

this poem quivers
in august
this poem bites
her nails to the nubbins
don't blink your eyes
or
this poem will
hide in the pantry

this poem is scared
that you might reject her
this poem is skeptical
even if you accept her

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

* * * * * * *

Here's a link to a poem I did about my fear of spiders.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #2

RWP

Regular. norm. standard. ordinary. right.
White. black. brown. grey. vapor.
Paper. sheet. stationary. pad. poster.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo:2010 April PAD Challenge: Day 2

gospel: a cento
for samiya bashir

in. past the harbor. past the docks. beyond all ships. further still.
to ice cold water, salt and
liquid lead: floor to ear to inside
here is where we tear the screams
my own staccatoed tongue
a tincture dying each breath blue.

* * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

* * * * * * *

The lines in this poem all come from Samiya Bashir's collection Gospel,
specifically from these poems (in order): Body surfing, Now rise up, and get you over the brook, Just in case, Here. Now., Revelations, I can get through the night alone.

NaPoWriMo: Poem #2

Good Poems

The good ones will speak to you
those others...were written for someone else

MFA Musings: Triolet #28

Who will write me a recommendation?
My professors wouldn't remember me
essential part of the application.
Who will write me a recommendation?
This is bound to cause me some frustration
soon I'll be screaming like a banshee.
Who will write me a recommendation?
My professors wouldn't remember me.

NaPoWriMo:2010 April PAD Challenge: Day 1

haven't needed my voice yet

muffled music from next door
the only sound in the house

and the soft depression
of computer keys

* * * * * * * *

Check the post that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: ReadWritePoem Prompt #1

When I'm alone with you
I love the rain
no flashing lights
darkness surrounds
shadows promise us
anything and everything
sunshine, don't let it end too soon

* * * * * * *

Check the prompt that inspired this poem.

NaPoWriMo: Poem #1

I want you to be able to find me in these poems
I don't want you to get lost in these lines
If I talk about the color of the sky
you might say powder
he might say midnight
she might say cerulean
but sometimes it's just
blue.