Tag: NaPoWriMo

Why I am Not an Accountant

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My Triolet on Day 1 asks “where does the time go?” and we only wish we had the answer to that question. But, time does move on and our mighty leader Maureen Thorson at NaPoWriMo gives us our prompt for day 3.

She writes: “Time keeps marching on, and so does Na/GloPoWriMo. And so, lo and behold, we find ourselves three days into our poem-a-day challenge. . . and here’s the optional prompt:

Following O’Hara, today we challenge you to write a poem that obliquely explains why you are a poet and not some other kind of artist – or, if you think of yourself as more of a musician or painter (or school bus driver or scuba diver or expert on medieval Maltese banking) – explain why you are that and not something else!

Check out the poem O’Hara wrote Why I Am Not a Painter as you muse upon why you are a poet (if you are) or another kind of artist as above. Now, this one is a HUGE challenge! We must do some deep diving within.

So, my poem turned out this way as I contemplated why I am not an accountant, but instead, a poet.

Grapefruit on the Table, watercolor by the poet

Why I am Not an Accountant

I look at grapefruit & sunflowers on the table &

see constellations of stars from the button-center blooms.

I think about what goes unsaid & see cars

in a junkyard that started with an old Buick in1956.

I dream up rhymes about a naiad rising

from the rippling moon & how she made a sad &

broody lad glad on a most mad & moonly night.

I move back into memory starting with 25:

25.       It was only 25 years ago the world split open

24.       when it did, words spilled

23.        from mouths like blood.

And end with lines about my birth.

2.         Thankfully, I still remember

1.         the joy of being born.

                                    Jacquelyn Markham (April 3, 2025)

It’s April & so begins 2025 National Poetry Month!

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In the same way that Earth Day is everyday, poetry month is every month. Still, we do some extra special things in April, like attempt to write a poem a day and sometimes we use prompts from those who encourage us along the way!

Azaleas in bloom on April 1!

There are several sites who encourage us this way, and my favorite is: NaPoWriMo

Here’s what the guru behind NaPoWriMo had to say today on the start of the challenge:

Happy Tuesday, all, and Happy April 1. Today marks the start of another National/Global Poetry Writing Month!

“If it’s your first time joining us, the process is quite simple. Just write a poem every day during the month of April. 30 days means 30 poems. We’ll have an optional prompt every day to help you along, as well as a resource. We’ll also be featuring a participant each day. And if you’re interested in looking at other people’s poems, sharing links to your daily efforts, and/or cheering along, a great way to do that is by clicking on the title of each day’s post. That will take you to a page with a comment section for the day.” (Maureen)

I enjoyed the prompt for today found here: April 1 prompt:

I found a musical term that was new to me: the Rescue Opera, defined on the Naxos.com website like this: “The term ‘rescue opera’ has been used to describe operas such as Beethoven’s Fidelio, dealing with the subject of rescue, particularly, after 1789, from political victimisation.”

I think it an extraordinary time to write a poem about rescuing people from political victimisation. So, I have made note of it and will circle back around. In the meantime, I offer a triolet (one of my favorite forms because it is only 8 lines). Not to be fooled, however, (even tho it is April Fools Day) as it is not as simple as it seems with two refrains and two rhyme schemes. Here the Academy of American Poets defines the form for you: Triolet. It is a short poem with two refrains which gives it a kind of song-like rhythm and in fact is related to the rondeau.

So, because my time was short today on day 1, I’m sharing my Triolet and holding on to that first prompt for another day.

Enjoy your month of April as time does fly!

Time: A Triolet

Where does the time go?

I can certainly fritter it away!

If I knew the answer would I show

where does the time go?

Or, would I stop the clock or make it slow?

As if by doing that I could hold the day.

Where does the time go?

I can certainly fritter it away.

Jacquelyn Markham (c.2025)

Day 30 Heliodora: Gift of the Sun

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What a wonderful time I have had with Maureen Thorson’s final prompt for 2024 poem-a-day challenge: “And now for our last prompt of the year – optional, as always! Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem in which the speaker is identified with, or compared to, a character from myth or legend. . .” Partly because I have revisited one of my all time favorite poets, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), modern American poet. Partly because I have learned more about Heliodora, the first known woman astrologer, ca. 2nd or 3rd century.

H.D., as a young poet, courtesy Poetry Foundation
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/h-d

Heliodora: Gift of the Sun

for H.D., priestess/poet

Heliodora, gift of the sun,

Heliodora, astrologer, were you

the only one?*

You charted Saturn, Mercury & Venus,

on papyrus positioned Jupiter & Mars. 

Heliodora, you prophesied births &

guided lovers by planets, by sun.

Heliodora, oracle of constellations,

the moon and its phases. You foretold

mysteries of eclipses, solar & lunar.

H.D., you, too, seeker & seer of mysteries,

poet/priestess, you divined

the memory of Heliodora.

Did she speak to you in a dream?

Did she prophesy in your “writing on the wall?”**

Did Heliodora appear in your “overmind?”

Heliodora, the ancient one,

send me a message through the stars,

the planets, the constellations,

Andromeda, Cygnus, Cassiopeia (the Queen)!

What do you seers foresee for me?

Jacquelyn Markham (4/30/2024)

Funerary Stele of Heliodora. Egyptian, 2nd–3rd CE***

*Archeology supports evidence of Heliodora, first known woman astrologer in the Greco-Roman world. **See Notes On Thought & Vision by H.D.

***Image of Heliodora courtesy of Missouri Museum of Art and Archeology

Day 29: I envy you your swiftness

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painting of Mercury by John Woodrow Kelley

Hello poets & lovers of poetry! The penultimate day of our April 2024 poem-a-day challenge has arrived! For this day 29, the prompt asked us as to use as inspiration one of the ten most-used words of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift (really!) in her song lyrics. Her new album Tortured Poets Department hopefully doesn’t represent how we poets feel on Day 29 of the challenge, but we could use some of her publicity!

See the complete prompt from Maureen Thorson’s Napowrimo.net below the poem for more details. I must confess that my use of swift, swiftness, and swiftly was strictly coincidental! After all, I was writing about Mercury!

I envy you your swiftness

If only I were more like you, Mercury.

If only I were more mercurial—in the good sense,

quick-witted, sprightly, clever & ingenious.

Not temperamental, fickle or inconstant,

but swift with missives from the gods!

You wear sandals & a cap with wings

to propel you with a speed that others envy.

Like the planet that bears your name,

you travel lightning fast even escaping

Copernicus by traveling swiftly in the dark!

Not like a tree, rooted in earth,

not like a river running deep & slow,

not like me. I crawl like a caterpillar, a snail,

a turtle from the sea.  My mood sets in like

an overcast day when clouds don’t lift

until the sun burns through near sunset.

Oh, Mercury, though you be the god of tricksters

and thievery, and though the slow and steady

win the race, I envy you your swiftness!

            Jacquelyn Markham 4/29/2024

The Prompt:

From Napowrimo.net: “And now for our optional prompt. If you’ve been paying attention to pop-music news over the past couple of weeks, you may know that Taylor Swift has released a new double album titled “The Tortured Poets Department.” In recognition of this occasion, Merriam-Webster put together a list of ten words from Taylor Swift songs. We hope you don’t find this too torturous yourself, but we’d like to challenge you to select one these words, and write a poem that uses the word as its title.”

Jacquelyn Markham, poet & writer, author of Rainbow Warrior, Finishing Line Press (2023), Peering Into the Iris: An Ancestral Journey and China Baby, among other titles.

Day 28 Amaryllis Pulse: A Sijo

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Happy Sunday everyone! Be good to your muse today! She has been very busy and mostly faithful!

After today’s Sijo, only two more days of the poem-a-day challenge. We are almost there!

Today’s poem is an adventure in counting syllables! And a learning experience.

Mine has 47 syllables, the lines are 16, 16, & 15. This traditional Korean verse form usually has three lines of 14-16 syllables, so I’m within the range. (It is pronounced SHEE-jo.) It’s a little more complicated than just the syllables, so check it out, if you want to know more. I found an excellent guide from Koreanquartly.org—A basic guide to writing sijo, in case you want to try writing one.

The Prompt behind the Poem:

Napowrimo.net: Finally, our optional prompt for the day asks you to try your hand at writing a sijo. This is a traditional Korean verse form. A sijo has three lines of 14-16 syllables. The first line introduces the poem’s theme, the second discusses it, and the third line, which is divided into two sentences or clauses, ends the poem – usually with some kind of twist or surprise.

You could also write a sijo in six lines – at least when it comes to translating classical sijo into English, translators seem to have developed this habit, as you can see from these translations of poems by Jong Mong-Ju and U Tak.

Take a look at this energetic group of women, HerBeat, playing traditional Korean drums! What a pulse of energy like the Amaryllis!!

HerBeat, Korean Women Drummers

Poet, writer, painter, and player of music, I love to express myself and invite your visits and comments to my site. Jacquelyn View all posts by Poet Voice

Day 27 my lover courage: an American sonnet

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Today, as part of the poem-a-day challenge, we wrote an American sonnet. Still 14 lines as the traditional sonnet, but much freer in meter and rhyme.

I used Maureen Thorson’s (Napowrimo.net) suggested prompt & formula from Write253.com (shared below).

It was a welcome prompt on this Day 27 of our challenge. I also tried a new way of presenting the poem on my blog. I am pretty pleased with the outcome. The inspiration from songs or musical genres (part of the process) was the deep emotional song by Melody Gardot (also linked below). Like Frida Kahlo, Gardot was injured in a serious accident at a very young age (bus for Kahlo and bicycle for Gardot). Painting saved Frida and music saved Melody.

poet playing flute from the heart, Penn Center, ca. 2008

The Prompt: And now for our prompt – optional, as always!  Today we’d like to challenge you to write an “American sonnet.” What’s that? Well, it’s like a regular sonnet but . . . fewer rules? Like a traditional Spencerian or Shakespearean sonnet, an American sonnet is shortish (generally 14 lines, but not necessarily!), discursive, and tends to end with a bang, but there’s no need to have a rhyme scheme or even a specific meter. Here are a few examples:

If you’d like more specific instructions for how to get started, Write 253 has a great “formula” prompt for an American sonnet, which you can find here.

Jacquelyn Markham, poet & writer, author of Rainbow Warrior, Finishing Line Press (2023), Peering Into the Iris: An Ancestral Journey and China Baby, among other titles. She offers writing & creativity guidance through Moonflower Mentoring.

Day 26 Tango haiku & Be Brave cinquain

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Greetings poets & lovers of poetry!

Today’s prompt guided us poets to use several poetic sound techniques—alliteration, consonance, and assonance.  I added to that a couple of small poetic forms: the haiku (3 lines of 5, 7, 5 syllables) and the cinquain (5 lines of 2,4,6,8,2 syllables). Fun!

The Prompt from Napowrimo.net: “And now for our (optional) prompt. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that involves alliteration, consonance, and assonance. Alliteration is the repetition of a particular consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds elsewhere in multiple words, and assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. Traci Brimhall’s poem “A Group of Moths” provides a great example of these poetic devices at work, with each line playing with different sounds that seem to move the poem along on a sonorous wave.”

Tango Till: Haiku

Mango, mango, will

you do the tango till dawn?

Tango me all night.

            Jacquelyn Markham 4/26/24

Be Brave: Cinquain

O blue

melancholy

mood melancholy me

sun sparks diamonds on blue river

be brave.

            Jacquelyn Markham 4/26/24

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Day 25 Madeleine Remembrance

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Inspired by the Marcel Proust Questionnaire (see prompt below)

madeleine cake with tea
Art courtesy of http://www.luzyarte.net

THE POEM:

Madeleine Remembrance

so much depends

upon

a Madeleine cake

even a crumb

transports

to memories

once lost

in time

c. Jacquelyn Markham 4/25/2024

THE PROMPT:

You can find all the details about this prompt, at our poetry center for the 2024 poem-a-day challenge linked here at Napowrimo.net: “Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem based on the “Proust Questionnaire,” a set of questions drawn from Victorian-era parlor games, and adapted by modern interviewers. You could choose to answer the whole questionnaire, and then write a poem based on your answers, answer just a few, or just write a poem that’s based on the questions.”

Brief Bio of Marcel Proust, courtesy of “Light & Art”:

The“madeleine”, with its softness and unique flavor, transports the author of the text,Marcel Proust, to his childhood. This French writer(1871-1922)renewed the contemporary novel and was the creator of the series“In search of lost time”, made up of seven novels, to whose writing he dedicated almost his entire life. Locked in a room, with cork-covered walls, he created the protagonist (his alter ego) and explored his past evoked by a sensitive and disorderly memory whose only law is the association of ideas. (Retrieved from https://www.luzyarte.net/2016/06/la-madeleine-de-proust.html)

Day 23  Grandma K. Saves the Day

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Check out the details of the prompt from Napowrimo.net here: The summary: “Poem about or involving a superhero.”

With the full moon in Scorpio rising, today/tonight was full as well, so I’m a bit late today.

As far as the prompt, most superheroes in popular culture (including the women) target male demographics, so I haven’t been a big fan, but my superheroine comes in a different form–my Polish Grandma and here she is starring in my poem for Day 23.

Grandma K, my Polish Grandma, poet photo

Grandma K. Saves the Day

Batman, Superman, Catwoman,

Batwoman, Supergirl, Spiderman,

Wonder Woman!

None compare to my Superheroine

Polish Grandma K!

Strength, courage, skill & daring

of superheros times ten!

Born in 1896 to parents just arrived

from Poland on a ship to work

in salt mines & on a dirt poor farm.

Superwoman Grandma, a beautiful

young woman, found a job doing

linens, organdy & lace

for fancy ladies in the nearby town

where she met a handsome man

who wooed her & became his wife.

He traveled to Chicago and Milwaukee

and she stayed home to raise the one,

two, three, four, five babies that she had,

number six still in the womb when he “disappeared.”

Now, that’s another story.

The heroine Grandma K always looked as

fresh as the linens she ironed for her ladies.

The children did as well.  When the elders failed,

she sold the trees from off the farm

to keep the land their own,

she cared for elders, sick, and young

with six at home and worked in the

cherry factory.  She waitressed at the new hotel.

Thankful for her life, she recited Polish prayers

for the poor, not knowing she was the one

who received the blessings.

Step down, Wonder Woman,

Grandma K saves the day!

Jacquelyn Markham 4/23/2024

Jacquelyn Markham, poet & writer, author of Rainbow Warrior, Finishing Line Press (2023), Peering Into the Iris: An Ancestral Journey and China Baby, among other titles.

Day 22 Insomniac Fights Sleep

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The prompt for Day 22 from Napowrimo.net: “The idea is to write a poem in which two things have a fight. Two very unlikely things, if you can manage it.” After much thought and deliberation (and loss of sleep), I chose the insomniac fighting sleep!

Insomniac Fights Sleep

The pillow hot,/On both sides/…Haven’t

Slept all night, too late/To dream of sleep. . . (Anna Akhmatova)

Sleep Speaks:

I am so peaceful

I am so kind

I am so healing

Why do you flight me?

Insomniac Speaks:

Oh, I can’t surrender

I have so many thoughts

competing for space in my mind

and some to worry about!

I might miss something

If I go to sleep. I must win &

keep my eyes open!

Sleep Speaks:

Insomniac, close your eyes.

Breathe deeply, surrender.

I demand it!

Insomniac Speaks:

No! No! I must get out of bed,

drink a cup of chamomile,

find my pen & journal,

write this idea I have for a poem!

Sleep Speaks:

Surrender, sleep my poet, sleep.

Insomnia Speaks:

I am counting backwards now.

100 breathe in

99 breathe out

98 breathe in

97 breath out

96 . . .

Sleep Speaks:

Surrender, my little one,

Sleep coos to the counting insomniac.

Insomniac Speaks:

Is that daylight I see on the blind?

I really can’t surrender.

            Jacquelyn Markham 4/22/2024