Tag: moon

Joy for What I Learned

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The prompt from NapoWriMo for Day 22 took me back to a time when I learned to play the flute.

Having come from a rural one-room schoolhouse with few resources and moving to a small town highschool as a 7th grader, I arrived without any musical background. The kids at the “city” school started music in 5th grade, so my band director (if only I remembered his name) was kind enough to try to bring me up to speed along with another student who learned the French Horn! That band director surely has received his reward in heaven!

Poet with Flute Serenading the Moon

In any case, below is the prompt and my poem for Day 22 of the poem-a-day challenge, “Joy for What I Learned.”

Also, I highly recommend you read Diane Wakoski’s poem that is embedded within the prompt, too.  It is lovely!

Prompt: “In her poem, Thanking My Mother for Piano Lessons, Diane Wakoski is far more grateful than I ever managed to be, describing the act of playing as a “relief” from loneliness and worry, and as enlarging her life with something beautiful. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem about something you’ve done – whether it’s music lessons, or playing soccer, crocheting, or fishing, or learning how to change a tire – that gave you a similar kind of satisfaction, and perhaps still does.”

Joy for What I Learned

In gratitude for having learned to play the notes on this silver

miracle, a tube with keys & springs & holes—a flute.   

My notes carry on the wind, reach the wren & chickadee who join

in when I play my tunes.  Pastoral silver sound travels far to

neighbors ‘round & curious avians who dip and flutter. When my

lips pull embouchure & fingers tap the keys just right, trills like

crystal ring the air.  Up and down the scales, a half century or

more, still bringing joy to me and the birds above. When my breath &

fingers bring to life the anthem of Ukraine, I send sound waves on

prayers across the seas to the other side of the world.

                        Jacquelyn Markham ©2025 (April 22)

You can listen to the Ukrainian anthem and download the flute sheet music (courtesy of flutetunes.com)

And below, a moving rendition of the Ukrainian National Anthem by students at Berklee College of Music.

Day 12 A Tall Tale

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Jacana-image credit: wwwthespruce.com

The Woman Next Door: A Tall Tale

There once was a woman who lived

on a street called Bob O’Link

just beyond an avenue named Jacana

after the bird who walks on lily pads.

She stayed in a small Cape Cod of red brick

with no distinctive architecture, but

neat windows up high, & a room to paint the moon,

overlook for neighbor’s trimmed

& landscaped yard. Her house sat on a grassy lot

with two twig dropping maples, a semicircle of

dwarf hollies & a spindly rhododendren.

The little brick house appeared nothing unusual,

but inside, a river ran through the basement,

rising high after the rain.

The witch woman in a flowing gown,

or priestess if  you prefer, molts

in cycles with the seasons & phases of the moon.

photo by poet

She chants, burns sage in an Abalone shell,

raises energy & draws down the moon

to make her good magic.  Ancestors

visit her in dreams & visions.

She paints & writes her own mythology.

Shaman Jacana transforms, hopping

from lily pad to lily pad, always

searching her next home.

You see, she’s got gypsy in her soul.

            Jacquelyn Markham (4/12/24)

And, the prompt that started all of this!

Napowrimo.net: “And last but not least, our optional prompt. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that plays with the idea of a “tall tale.” American tall tales feature larger-than-life characters like Paul Bunyan (who is literally larger than life), Bulltop Stormalong (also gigantic), and Pecos Bill (apparently normal-sized, but he doesn’t let it slow him down). If you’d like to see a modern poetic take on the tall tale, try Jennifer L. Knox’s hilarious poem, “Burt Reynolds FAQ.” Your poem can revolve around a mythical character, one you make up entirely, or add fantastical elements into a real person’s biography.”

Day 22 The Moon is Sister to the Sea              PAD 2023

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Ocean Moon, photo by the poet

The Moon is Sister to the Sea

after Emily Dickinson’s “The Moon is Distant from the Sea”

The moon is sister to the sea,

with amber hands she leads the

seeming docile sea along appointed

sands. The sea never

misses a degree, obedient

to her sister moon’s eye, she

comes just so far toward the town &

just so far goes away.

Oh, yours, the amber moon &

mine, the distant sea, obedient

to the least command

the seas impose on you & me.

Hello readers! Have I stolen Emily Dickinson’s poem? No, today’s prompt requires it. You will see the prompt below as well as the original poem. In the original by Dickinson, she made the sea male and the moon female. Although both entities in nature are without a specific gender, I couldn’t imagine the sea as male, so I revised it to make the moon and sea sisters! (poetic license!) Jacquelyn

“Today’s prompt. . .is a variation on a teaching exercise that the poet Anne Boyer uses with students studying the work of Emily Dickinson. As you may know, although Dickinson is now considered one of the most original and finest poets the United States has produced, she was not recognized in her own time. One reason her poems took a while to gain a favorable reception is their slippery, dash-filled lines. Those dashes baffled her readers so much that the 1924 edition of her complete poems replaced some with commas, and did away with others completely. Today’s exercise asks you to do something similar, but in the interests of creativity, rather than ill-conceived “correction.” Find an Emily Dickinson poem – preferably one you’ve never previously read – and take out all the dashes and line breaks. Make it just one big block of prose. Now, rebreak the lines. Add words where you want. Take out some words. Make your own poem out of it!”

The Moon is distant from the Sea – (387)

By Emily Dickinson

The Moon is distant from the Sea –

And yet, with Amber Hands –

She leads Him – docile as a Boy –

Along appointed Sands –

He never misses a Degree –

Obedient to Her eye –

He comes just so far – toward the Town –

Just so far – goes away –

Oh, Signor, Thine, the Amber Hand –

And mine – the distant Sea –

Obedient to the least command

Thine eye impose on me –