Tag: Poem-A-Day Challenge

But who Remembers Her?

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Homage to a favorite poet!

What a wonderful day in National Poetry Month when a poet gets to revisit a favorite poet in responding to the daily prompt of Napowrimo (National Poetry Writing Month) or as we now call it Na/Glopowrimo (National/Global Poetry Writing Month). You can write on your own sweet time or you can write along with Maureen Thorsen at napowrimo.net, Stafford Challenge (and write a poem everyday for a year!) at this link: https://staffordchallenge.com/ or many others as you choose.

What’s important is to express yourself! In our case, in the form of poetry!

So today, on Day Seventeen, Maureen challenged us to use a poem by a favorite poet as a springboard for our own. Be sure to visit that link to get all the details.

So, I selected a modern American poet I’ve long adored: Hilda Doolittle, known–if known at all–as H.D. Imagiste!

Hilda Doolittle (1886-1961)

If you would like to know more about H.D.’s remarkable literary life & achievements, go here and learn from the “Literary Ladies Guide.”

But to my poem! Late last night after diving deeply into some of my favorite poems in my well-worn copy of the H. D. Collected Poems on my desk, I selected “Evening.” I post it in its entirety below my response to her poem.

H.D. in later years

Evening

The light passes

from ridge to ridge,

from flower to flower—

the hepaticas, wide-spread

under the light

grow faint—

the petals reach inward

the blue tips bend

toward the bluer heart

and the flowers are lost./

The cornel-buds are still white

but shadows dart

from the cornel roots—

black creeps from root to root

each leaf

cuts another leaf on the grass,

shadow seeks shadow,

then both leaf

and leaf-shadow are lost.

            Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)

Hepaticas, credit: https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/plants/flowers/how-to-grow-hepaticas/

Another day in the life of Poet Voice, aka Jacquelyn Markham, poet; “thinking about poetry everyday,“

Sweet Meadow & Orchard of Childhood

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Credit: Artist, Emily Lowe; vareikafinearts.com

Hello out there! It is Day 13 of the Poem-a-Day for April, 2026. How are you doing with your poems, dear poets?

Today, our guru poet prompter, Maureen Thorsen at Napowrimo.net, asks us to try our hand at a prompt about a “cherished landscape.” (Please check out the link for more detail.) Here’s a recap:

“Try your hand today at writing your own poem about a remembered, cherished landscape. It could be your grandmother’s backyard, your schoolyard basketball court, or a tiny strip of woods near the railroad tracks. At some point in the poem, include language or phrasing that would be unusual in normal, spoken speech – like a rhyme, or syntax that feels old-fashioned or high-toned.” (napowrimo)

The “remembered cherished landscape” that I chose takes me back to a meadow & apple orchard in rural Michigan, when I was a mere child and loved to explore there. I used the tiniest hint of a rhyme in the last line of each stanza.

What a sweet memory, especially when our uncle would take us on hayrides through the cherry orchards up north & as a child at home, I would traverse the paths of Queen Anne’s Lace on my own.

Poetry is a wonderful way to revisit memories, or as William Wordsworth called them “spots of time.” Do you agree with this Romantic Poet of the 19th century? He found his memories of great use in his old age, as explained here: “These ‘spots’ are potent memories that can help a person grow and learn something about life and loss. When Wordsworth reflected upon experiences that he had with nature or with other people, he often used them as inspiration for his poetry.” (credit: https://wordsworth250.byu.edu/index.html_p=386.html)

Please feel free to comment. How does your memory serve you in writing, especially poetry?

Jacquelyn Markham aka Poet Voice!

my head is in the clouds

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An antidote to the news, today’s prompt is quite fun! I responded to the Day 8 prompt from Napowrimo.net which is pretty simple: “In your poem for today, use a simple phrase repeatedly, and then make statements that invert or contradict that phrase.”

Check out the sample poem by Jean D’Amerique from Haiti if you need inspiration. https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103-30866_POeTE-NON-MERCI

I’m sharing my poem & more clouds below! Maybe you will enjoy an escape into the clouds today!

photo by the poet

What’s happening, Mother Mary?

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Hi Poets & Lovers of Poetry,

I am here working on the Poem-a-Day challenge for April and the Stafford Challenge as I explained in my previous post. I may not post everyday, but I am writing everyday and that is the goal! How is everyone else doing? Feel free to leave a comment below!

Today’s prompt from NaPoWriMo.net sparked my imagination:

“In your poem today (Day 6), try writing with a breezy, conversational tone, while including at least one thing that could only happen in a dream.” (https://www.napowrimo.net/day-six-13/)

Since there was an element of dream in this prompt, I was inspired by a collage I created long ago from a dream. I will share the dream image here.

Note: Mother Mary in my poem & image is not associated with any particular religion, but more with my understanding of the feminine divine.

National Poetry Month for April 2026 Begins!

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Edna St. Vincent Millay at Work credit https://millay.org/

Poet Voice here, aka Jacquelyn Markham, poet. Welcome back to Poet Voice!!

Already participating in the Stafford Challenge (writing a poem a day all year), I am now overlapping with National Poetry Month, or as we know at Napowrimo.net, it is actually Na/GloPoWriMo (National/Global Poetry Writing Month)! Poets participate from all over the globe! Won’t you join us?

Napowrimo.net founder Maureen Thorson explains: “Each day, you’ll find here a new featured participant and daily resource. We’ll also have an optional daily prompt for those of you who find yourself in need of a little inspiration (or just like the additional challenge).” There are other sites, too, that provide prompts or you can simply begin on your own! Thank you Maureen (who founded Napowrimo in 2003!!) for your dedication to poets and National Poetry Month!

Happy 30th birthday to National Poetry Month, launched in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets! Below is this year’s poster, graced with words by our current U. S. Poet Laureate, Arthur Sze.

Rather than sharing my newly created poem from today, I am sharing a poem I wrote in another year during National Poetry Month.

“Taste of Sun: Eriobotrya japonica” was published by Petigru Review. Proof Poem-a-day can be productive! Enjoy!

https://petigrureview.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/taste-of-sun-eriobotrya-japonica-markham/

Nothing New Under the Sun (Day 30)

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An early rendition of “Deep Purple” –
ca. 1939

For Day 30 PAD 2025, the final day of poem-a-day challenge, Maureen challenge us to “write a poem that also describes different times in which we have heard the same band or piece of music across our lifetimes.” (NaPoWriMo.net)

It was a difficult poem to write for many reasons, but here it is, a poem dedicated to my mother whose birthday is tomorrow.

Music for Weddings in the Wild (Day 28)

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David Adickes”Flutist with Bird” 1975 courtesy of https://www.1stdibs.com/art/painting

Today’s challenge was “to write a poem that involves music at a ceremony or event of some kind.” Click (NaPoWriMo) for all the details about the Day 28 prompt. Only two more days of the poem-a-day challenge and National Poetry Month!

And here’s my offering for the Day 28 challenge about music at a ceremony. In this case, my own experiences playing music for weddings!

Music for Weddings in the Wild

These lovers with their visions!

They dream up weddings on the beach,

weddings in the meadow,

weddings on the river—but

mother nature is filled with surprises!

The pastor inhaled a gnat & she choked

on the vows one May evening on the shore

at sundown. Repellent saturated netting

draped the brim of my straw hat. Still,

I resisted inhaling deeply before

a long passage though Mendelsohn had imagined it

played with fluidity, though my notation

on the music said “breathe!”

Guests from Wisconsin swatted, squirmed, &

prayed for a breeze from the shore,

but none forthcoming as the Atlantic

lapped the sand like water on the edge of a

docile pond. Another dream wedding

of a different surprise. Guest chairs

faced west on a hot afternoon

in a grassy field. All held back

from folding chairs in a row that

beckoned to them but the flutist! I played

to the hot orange sinking sun—hoping

the piper piping would bring them

to their seats, and it would be time

for champagne!

Jacquelyn Markham © 2025 (Day 28)

poet/flutist outdoors

There’s Always Satie (Day 24)

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Day 24 PAD 2025 NapoWriMo’s prompt for today brought to mind a rather dissonant duet from days past. I think you will see what I mean.

And the challenge is to write a poem that involves people making music together, and that references – with a lyric or line – a song or poem that is important to you.

Here’s my April 24 offering amidst a busy, busy National Poetry Month!

There’s Always Satie

I’m forever blowing bubbles,

blowing bubbles in the air.

My mother loved the song & I love

to tootle the tune on my flute!

“They fly so high, nearly reach the sky!”

And you never tire of Thelonious Monk’s

dissonant chords on your Rhodes &

disdain my bubbles. Swear my flute plays

“Round Midnight” best.

I remember those days with

“Pretty bubbles in the air!” –

flew so high—nearly reached the sky!

but it really gets bad ‘round midnight—

Dissonance—notes/chords clash/create

tension & my bubbles burst in the air,

showering this duo in iridescent tears

‘til old midnight comes around.

& we are feelin’ sad.  Maybe another duet?

There’s always Satie!

                        Jacquelyn Markham ©2025 (Day 24)

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

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.”

Hope you enjoy writing a poem about what you learned joyfully!

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.

Those Lonesome Fishing Boats

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Day 16, Poem-a-Day Challenge (a poem after Blue Bayou)

Here’s the prompt: Today’s prompt asks us to “imagine music in the context of a place, but more along the lines of a soundtrack laid on top of the location, rather than just natural sounds. Today, try writing a poem that similarly imposes a particular song on a place. Describe the interaction between the place and the music using references to a plant and, if possible, incorporate a quotation – bonus points for using a piece of everyday, overheard language.”

You can visit Napowrimo, Day 16, to learn more details. Meanwhile, here’s my poem, under the wire on Day 16 of the poem-a-day challenge for National Poetry Month, 2025!

Lime Lake, Michigan

Those Lonesome Fishing Boats

after Blue Bayou

On the green Lime Lake

where the lonesome fishing boats

slap the long low dock

while the clear waves wash

the flat grey stones. I’m pining

for a boy back home, carve initials

in the white birch trunk to

keep that southern boy of mine

in my heart near the limestone lake.

The clear spring lake, where my grandpa

built in his overalls and my grandma

dreamed in her pillbox hat &

I was lonesome all of the time

‘cause I left my baby behind.

White birch bark curled into delicate boats

like the Natives’ boats, when they

waited to get back home, a canoe

filled with fish, silver in the sun.

They were lonesome all of the time.

Shallow green, quiet waves,

rustling trees, sandy bottom rises

with our steps and fishing boats

slap against the long dock

in a rhythm with the voices

of my family in the distance, and

the smell of campfire smoke.

I’m going back some day

come what may to

the memories of the clear

Lime Lake and the White Birch bark

where I carved my baby’s name

since I left my baby behind.

Birch bark grown, covers over

my baby’s name now. Oh, some

sweet day, gonna take away

this hurting inside.

I’m going back some day

to the green Lime Lake.

Jacquelyn Markham ©4/16/2025

Image courtesy of pixy.org

Thank you for visiting Poet Voice @jacquelynmarkham.com