Tag: Poem-A-Day Challenge

Day 14 Parody or Satire Rewrite    PAD 2023

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning (poets.org)

Today’s prompt is another rewrite.  Thorson says: “And now for our (optional) daily prompt. Hopefully, this one will provide you with a bit of Friday fun. Today, I challenge you to write a parody or satire based on a famous poem. It can be long or short, rhymed or not. But take a favorite (or unfavorite) poem of the past, and see if you can’t re-write it on humorous, mocking, or sharp-witted lines. You can use your poem to make fun of the original (in the vein of a parody), or turn the form and manner of the original into a vehicle for making points about something else (more of a satire – though the dividing lines get rather confused and thin at times).”

My attempt at the prompt on day 14 has an interesting twist. The poem is not so famous, but the poet is—Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  In 1856, Barrett Browning published Aurora Leigh, a “novel in verse” that follows the title character, an aspiring poet, through several pot-boiling twists. In one revealing passage, Aurora’s cousin and would-be suitor, Romney Leigh, summarizes his attitude toward her and women writers of that era in a passage that I quote below. I rewrote that passage.

So, I rewrote the poem from a feminist perspective and titled it “Woman Poet Extraordinaire”

Woman Poet Extraordinaire

Therefore, this same world

that you understand and influence

with your strength and courage will

always be changed by you and  

women of the world. Women brave,

strong, and at work in the world

will always change it by their very presence.

You are more than a doting mother and a wife!

You are more than a sublime Madonna ,

a seductress, or an enduring saint.

You are divine!

You are woman!

You are leader, artist, writer,

inventor, healer, builder.  

You are poet extraordinaire!

            Jacquelyn Markham (4/14/2023)

Here’s the original in which her cousin addresses her, knowing of her aspirations to be a poet:

Therefore, this same world
Uncomprehended by you must remain
Uninfluenced by you. Women as you are,
Mere women, personal and passionate,
You give us doting mothers, and chaste wives.
Sublime Madonnas, and enduring saints!
We get no Christ from you,—and verily
We shall not get a poet, in my mind.

The Poetry Foundation explains: “As starkly sexist as the above passage might seem to contemporary readers, the idea that women and female experience were incompatible with poetry continued to hold sway for the next 100 years, until second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s brought a political and cultural watershed. Women fought for equal treatment and civil rights; meanwhile, women poets created structures to support one another while profoundly changing poetry itself.” (www.poetryfoundation.org)

We only have to look at the last two United States Poet Laureates to see “women poets extraordinaire”! Currently, Ada Limon and former, Joy Harjo. Two of my favorite poets.

Day 12 Dear Poem    PAD 2023

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I once wrote dialogues between the poet and the poem. This prompt is a little like that kind of dialogue, but even a bit more complicated. Here it is from Maureen at Napowrimo: “I challenge you to write a poem that addresses itself or some aspect of itself (i.e., “Dear Poem,” or “what are my quatrains up to?”; “Couplet, come with me . . .”) This might seem a little “meta” at first, or even kind of cheesy. But it can be a great way of interrogating (or at least, asking polite questions) of your own writing process and the motivations you have for writing, and the motivations you ascribe to your readers.”

So here we go. I could go on forever. . .

Whitehall Plantation Oak, painting by poet

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Day 11 Overheard Language PAD 2023

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Maureen Thorson, the master mind behind Napowrimo says: “This prompt challenges you to play around with the idea of overheard language. . . Now,  write a poem that takes as its starting point something overheard that made you laugh, or something someone told you once that struck you as funny.”

The overheard language around me today did not make me laugh or inspire me, so I dipped into a journal and found another one of those many prose practice writings and transformed it (I hope) to a poem.

Rain Again! Yes!

Rain Again!

“Oh no, rain again,” someone said.

Rain, Spain, main, shame, blame—

my mind reels. What rhymes

with rain? The rain I am grateful for

as it nourishes my flowers, my garden,

plants, trees, birds, fills the rivers.

A rain dance, my tarot card proclaims I can do

as an archetypal witch, so I claim the rain power.

For like the rain, I can nourish, surprise,

make happy, drench away sad.

Oh, it’s raining on the parade (so we all run

laughing, splash in puddles, take off our shoes,

get lost in the parade crowd, tears in the rain.

Some say the rain puts a damper on,

some blame the rain, but I resolve

never to shame myself for dancing for rain

on behalf of moon flowers, oleanders, doves,

nuthatches, owls, hawks, farmers—

Dance witch woman!

Dance wildly for the rain.

You really don’t have to explain!

            Jacquelyn Markham (4/11/2023)

Image courtesy of khum.com

Day 9 Sonnet on love, PAD 2023

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The prompt for today, Easter Sunday, was to write a sonnet about love. Sounds easy, right? Not after the prompt for yesterday took all the creative juices, but the show must go on, so we poets keep writing as much as we can. I got the lines, the syllables, but not the iambic pentameter or the rhyme. Still, I am sharing this sonnet about love inspired by Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” quote.

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Day 8 Most challenging prompt of all

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There are so many details to today’s prompt, I am going to post it below the poem. Or, you may refer to the prompt as presented by Napowrimo here. My poem was inspired by a freewriting I found in a journal using a Chagall painting as a prompt in Katherine Tandy Brown’s writing workshop. Thank you, Katherine!

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The prompt is called the “Twenty Little Poetry Projects,” and was originally developed by Jim Simmerman. And here are the twenty little projects themselves — the challenge is to use them all in one poem:

1.  Begin the poem with a metaphor.

2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.

3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.

4. Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses).

5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.

6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.

7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.

8. Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.

9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.

10. Use a piece of talk you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand).

11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . .”

12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.

13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he or she could not do in “real life.”

14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.

15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.

16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.

17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.

18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.

19. Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).

20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem.

Indeed, the most challenging prompt so far!

Day 7 List Poem PAD 2023

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Legacy Collage, by Jacquelyn Markham

Today is day 7 of the poem-a-day challenge and I’m following Napowrimo (National Poetry Writing Month), the site developed by Maureen Thorson, here’s her prompt for today, Day 7.

A summary of Maureen’s prompt: “Start by reading James Tate’s poem “The List of Famous Hats.”  Now, write a poem that plays with the idea of a list. Tate’s poem is a list that isn’t – he never gets beyond the first entry. You could try to write a such a non-list, but a couple of other ideas would be to create a list of ingredients, or a list of entries in an index. A self-portrait (or a portrait of someone close to you) in the form of a such a list could be very funny. Another way into this prompt might be a list of instructions.”

Well, James Tate’s list of hats didn’t go far, but mine did as I wrote about my Grandma’s hats and as you see, she had many! This is a revision of an earlier version of the poem, and I have accompanied it with one of my “Legacy Collages” that features that navy blue hat with flowers and under the hat (not visible because it’s under the hat) is the story from the newspaper when her husband disappeared. What a story/legend it was is!

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Day 5 Hyena PAD 2023

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Laughing Hyena
Image courtesy of aboutwildanimals.com

For day 5, Maureen’s prompt challenged us to “write a poem in which laughter comes at what might otherwise seem an inappropriate moment.” Read more about the prompt here. Don’t miss all the great poetry resources she provides and the many poets who are taking on this challenge of 30 poems in 30 days!

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Day 4 Don’t Ban Books: A Triolet

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Image courtesy of “Let Grow” (https://letgrow.org/banned-books/)

My triolet is on the way to the local county council meeting compliments of my writer friends who will attend and read it for me! Thank you to these activist writers! Note: I have uploaded an audio below! It’s literally 25 seconds! Have a listen.

Don’t Ban Books: A Triolet

Don’t ban books from our eyes.

Let us choose what to read.

To hide a story lies.

Don’t ban books from our eyes.

Don’t scheme to polarize

us or our growth impede.

Don’t ban books from our eyes.

Let us choose what to read.

            Jacquelyn Markham April 4, 2023

The triolet form: for inquiring minds, the triolet dates to 14th century and is sometimes called a simple rondeau (as in round). The two line refrain is repeated and each line has six syllables. It’s fun to write!

Day 3 Opposite Poem PAD 2023

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Hello poets and those who love poetry!

Thank you for reading. This Day 3 prompt from Maureen Thorson at NaPoWriMo is linked here, but the short version is to take a “shortish” poem and rewrite it by using the opposite word for every word in the poem. It is not as easy as it sounds, but I sort of like this poem I wrote with that crazy prompt: “You aren’t Somebody! Who am I?” Of course, the famous poem by Emily Dickinson, “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” was the inspiration and I included it below.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Image courtesy of poets.org

You aren’t Somebody! Who am I?

You aren’t Somebody! Who am I?

Aren’t you Somebody either?

Then there is not an only you!

Tell everyone! We won’t advertise—I don’t know!

How lovely—not to be—Nobody!

How private—like a bird—

Not to tell one’s name—the fleeting December—

To a damning sky!

Jacquelyn Markham (4/3/2023)

I’m Nobody! Who are you? (260)

Emily Dickinson – 1830-1886

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

Emily Dickinson

Day 2 Surreal poem PAD 2023

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Yes, readers, you know of the surreal painter Salvador Dali, but do you know the name of Remedios Varo, the Spanish/Mexican woman artist whose work only recently is being recognized? Like the artists, poets were influenced by the Surrealist movement. You may want to check this out from the Poetry Foundation.

Well, the poem prompt for day 2 was for a surreal poem, a bit complicated but interesting. Read the Day 2 poem prompt here, but the quick version was to choose some words from a list, ask questions for each and answer them. Those answers were worked into the poem. Below is my effort! I have actually created two line stanzas (couplets), but the WordPress format is not cooperating as yet. The poem is all there though!

Remedios Varo, La llamada (The Call), 1961, courtesy NMWA.org

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