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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 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

Day 18 What I Long to Be

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And on this 18th day of our challenge, Maureen at Napowrimo says: “Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem in which the speaker expresses the desire to be someone or something else, and explains why.”

What I Long to Be

I long to be a new version of me.

I long to be a rockin’ rock star who

tours the world and sings to packed crowds,

with a legacy that lasts a half century.

I long to be much taller & thinner, much more stylish.

I long to write novels & sell them to

moviemakers who turn them into series.

I long to have a productive green garden,

an immaculate yard, and a spotless house,

clean sheets every night, no ring on the tub.

I long to be strong & courageous, climb

rocks like a pro, &  nothing too heavy for me to lift!

No mountain too high for me to climb!

I long to know no fear—not in the dark of night

or on the busiest expressway that crosses the city

or the highest suspension bridge.

An elevator up to the 100th floor, no problem.

No anxiety, no jitters, no vertigo.

I long to be a famous philanthropist & give money away,

an environmentalist who saves the manatees & the whales.

But, since all of these longings are far from my reach,

I long to be the best me I can be!

Jacquelyn Markham (4/18/2024)

Day 17 La Vie en Rose: Villanelle

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Napowrimo’s Prompt: “Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that is inspired by a piece of music, and that shares its title with that piece of music.”

Because we are focusing on music today, I decided to write a villanelle, a form that dates back to Italy during the 16th century. Villanelles were songs, so it seemed a good fit. The form enjoyed a revival during the 19th century and to brush up on the form, I studied a villanelle by Oscar Wilde, titled “Theocritus” (check it out here). The villanelle consists of 5 tercets & a quatrain with a specific rhyme scheme, sometimes restricting syllables, but apparently not always. If you want to learn more about Oscar Wilde’s poem, you can find a fascinating article by the Guardian on the poem:https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/29/poem-of-the-week-theocritus-villanelle-oscar-wilde

You will notice the repetition of two refrains selected from the first stanza.

La Vie en Rose: A villanelle

“I thought that love was just a word/They sang about in songs” (Edith Piaf)

When I hear La Vie en Rose,

I want to stroll through Paris in the rain.

Do you, like Edith, believe in love?

Nymphs and fawns in fountain spray,

in Champs-Élysées, leaves skitter black with rain,

when I hear La Vie en Rose.

Rose-colored glasses at twenty did betray.

Still, I want to see a love-filled world.

Do you, like Edith, believe in love?

My music box played the song every day.

Love escaped me but not the pain

when I hear La Vie en Rose.

Whether Paris, Rome or the place you stay,

love and desire are in your domain.

Do you, like Edith, believe in love?

Rose petals fall away—

dried, brittle, crumbled once again

when I hear La Vie en Rose.

Do you, like Edith, believe in love?

Jacquelyn Markham (4/17/2024)

Day 16 Remembering Neruda

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Day 16 moves us into the second half of the month, and yet, summoning the muse becomes a bit difficult–at least it has for me today. Nevertheless, my memory has joined the muse again and I have composed a poem.

Maureen at Napowrimo.net always reminds us the prompt is “optional,” but I do like to try to follow along with other poets.  It’s interesting to see the many different perspectives. And, sometimes making an effort to try something new results in a good poem!

So here it is: “today, we challenge you to write a poem in which you closely describe an object or place, and then end with a much more abstract line that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do with that object or place, but which, of course, really does. The “surprise” ending to this James Wright poem is a good illustration of the effect we’re hoping you’ll achieve. An abstract, philosophical kind of statement closing out a poem that is otherwise intensely focused on physical, sensory details.”

Remembering Neruda on the tavern terrace in spring

Jasmine & clematis drape a trellis in fragrance,

Nina Simone’s voice casts a spell on the night

while the server whose favorite poet is Pablo Neruda

(he has told me, noting I write poems on my placemat)

pours wine with a flair & a golden stream

swirls into my glass. Nina’s spell gives way

to Stevie Wonder’s funky beat on this tavern terrace

as cool as the spring evening laden with scent.

I recopy the poem I have written about the night & offer

it with my tab to the dark-eyed waiter who returns

to his Chilean home in the morning.

Was it Neruda’s poems of love or despair

that he held in his memory?

Jacquelyn Markham (4/16/2024)

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 15 Little Stamp from Aruba

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Today’s prompt from Napowrimo.net asked us to get inspired by stamps!

It took me awhile as first I went to the National Postal Museum and there was so much to learn! Next, I tried the recommended @StampsBot. Like Maureen said, there was an amazing “wide, wonderful, and sometimes wacky world of postage stamps” out there! But, still, difficult to zero in on just one. Curious how many stamps from other countries feature cats. I don’t recall any US stamps giving cats so much attention. In the end, though, it was this gorgeous palm tree and sunset that caught my eye. And now, I want to go to Aruba!

It also reminded me of a painting I did en plein air, years ago on a nearby beach. I gave it as a wedding gift to some dear friends.

Poet’s painting of island sunset.

And here is my little poem inspired by this lovely stamp from Aruba:

On this little stamp from Aruba

a fireball drops into the sea

a palette of orange red & yellow

sinks deep into the waves

yet stays in sky & palm fronds

not wanting to give up

the glorious day in Aruba

on the turquoise Caribbean

or even the quiet day

at the shore nearby

Jacquelyn Markham (4/15/2024)

Aruba from https://www.aruba.com/us