Like a train a track that stretches ahead, the days blur by and we are now on Day 9 of the April poem-a-day challenge, chugging away toward the middle of the month. Below is the optional prompt from Maureen at the NaPoWriMo poetry site. This prompt is all about Rhyme & Sound which brought to my mind, a train ride.
“And here’s our optional prompt for the day. Like music, poetry offers us a way to play with and experience sound. This can be through meter, rhyme, varying line lengths, assonance, alliteration, and other techniques that call attention not just to the meaning of words, but the way they echo and resonate against each other. For a look at some of these sound devices in action, read Robert Hillyer’s poem, Fog. It uses both rhyme and uneven line lengths to create a slow, off-kilter rhythm that heightens the poem’s overall ominousness. Today we’d like to challenge you to try writing a poem of your own that uses rhyme, but without adhering to specific line lengths. For extra credit, reference a very specific sound, like the buoy in Hillyer’s poem.”Maureen Thorson
“Cinnamon” is a poem I wrote in response to Day 6 prompt of Poem-a-Day 2025 (30 Poems in 30 days). Check it out!
Now, dear readers, how did I come up with this odd poem? Why yes, it was the day 6 prompt that gave us so many choices and directions to go by . Please, visit NaPoWriMo to get all details, but basically, you choose a number from the chart which leads to a taste that becomes the title and two more words to work in. In my case, wheeze and golden were the words.
The poem starts out lovely with a sweet-smelling scent, but alas, like so many wonderful things in our modern world, the spice turned toxic. Not all, of course, but be mindful! Still, cinnamon has some health benefits according to some reports, like these claims from Cleveland Clinic.
And then, we may want some retro music to accompany our latte, so here it is! Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl.”
Like Solstices and Equinoxes, the cross quarter dates can vary a day or two, so you may have celebrated Lammas yesterday on August 1 or you may be celebrating today. Also, as with any holiday that has been celebrated since ancient times, there are so many variations. The cross quarter holidays fall between the change of seasons–fall, winter, spring, and summer, so, as we celebrate Lammas (or Lughnasa as it is also called), let us be grateful for the harvest.
What is important to me today is to celebrate the harvest and bread (lamas is loaf mass). I plan to break out the sourdough starter and put my hands in the dough. I have enjoyed the videos that Hendrik has shared on his channel Bread Code.
If it is just too hot to bake (with climate change and our hot planet earth)! Sit down with a cool drink and watch this vintage film with Meryl Streep that I watched with a dear friend in Long Beach, California now many decades ago.
If it’s too hot to bake, once you have finished watching Meryl Streep, learn about ways to help save the planet from burning up!
A golden orb weaver has moved into a corner of my front verandah and seems quite at home there. She looks as if she has no intentions of ever moving away. Though surely a gift from the universe, if any of you have ever seen this spider, you know that she can be a bit daunting!
According to one website, a group of writers and entymologists who created it out of a labor of love, the golden orb weaver is a “fascinating spider known for its intricate, large webs that shimmer like gold in the sunlight.”
Spider Woman Goddess, Susan Seddon Boulet
(By the way, if you visit, what’sthatbug.com, be sure to click on the ads which, they explain, help to “generate revenue to pay for hosting, expert entomologists, and bandwidth costs when visitors click on ads on our site.”)
So, alleviating any fears I may have of the amazing golden orb weaver, the information from these entomologists is of interest: “orbweaver spiders are generally non-threatening creatures that pose little risk to humans.” I have noticed that this very large spider is completely oblivious to my presence even when I am watering my porch plants nearby. Whatsthatbug.com continues its “interaction with humans” details: “Their venomous bites are usually harmless, and they exhibit docile behavior in their natural habitats.” For sure, I will not be putting my hand into the web and the Golden Orb Weaver is a very busy spider! She has no time for the likes of me. So, I turn to my usual approach, the symbolism of this “animal spirit.”
Jamie Sams & David Carson in The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals, a guide that accompanies my deck of medicine cards (Bear & Company, Santa Fe, NM), says: “Spider is the female energy of the creative force that weaves the beautiful designs of life.. .If Spider has dropped into your cards (or life, my italics), she may be telling you to create, create, create.”
Spider Woman, popular culture notwithstanding, has been a powerful symbol in some American Indian cultures (Navaho & Hopi), for example, “Spider Woman represented wisdom and education,” according to encyclopedia.com. She is associated with crops, weaving and the goddess as “a symbol of the ability to weave and to create something from one’s own body, just as a spider makes silk” (encyclopedia.com).
So, what does my symbol tell me today? Create, create, create & remember the sheer wonder of our world!
Golden Orb Weaver Spider
And, dear readers, I will end with a poem from my book Peering Into the Iris: An Ancestral Journey, that tells a story of my ancestors & their weaving.
Poem & Image by poet, Jacquelyn Markham
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Jacquelyn is always available for readings and mentoring poets and writers. If you want to chat about poetry, books, or creativity, don’t hesitate to reach out, make a comment, or send an email to: jacquiepoet3@gmail.com
(Acrylic on stretched canvas, painted by the author on retreat at Penn Center, St. Helena, SC, ca. 2003)
The continuity of art reveals itself more each year. Images, colors, and themes recur in our writing, painting, photography, cooking, and gardening. So, by chance, when I cut the gladioli from my June garden and placed it in a vase, it gravitated to a painting on my wall. So many times, I have seen in nature like attracts like, for example, yellow butterflies light on yellow flowers.
But, back to the continuity of art. Even in cooking, for example, I have sour dough starter in my refrigerator right now, a baking theme from many years ago when sour dough enjoyed another popularity trend. So, when I was baking bread a week or so ago, I pulled out a poem titled “Bread-Baking” from my collection Lavender Blooms Turn Eggplant Purple (there’s that recurring color!) After some searching, I found the poem and revised it. I’ll share some lines with you here.
Thinking the bread-baking might restore
the home my vagabond dreams threaten,
I set the yeast & the flour in action.
Fingers knead the dough,
punch, pull, stretch until
finally, I shape a smooth loaf,
place it in the bowl,
cover with clean linen.
Time now for its rising.
I wonder as I rest,
steaming tea to my lips,
leaves rustling outside the window,
how yeast turns flour to bread &
what leaven would so wonderfully
transform the early days
into sustenance for the soul?
Jacquelyn Markham(excerpt Bread-Baking)
And, now, it’s June and in my region along with the stunning purple & wine gladioli, we enjoy the abundance of vegetable gardens. So, the other day, I relived another poem, from another time, “Today This Jar of Pickles is My Poem.” This poem became the title poem of a chapbook of the same name that placed as a finalist in a chapbook contest sponsored by what was then Armstrong State College in Savannah (now Georgia Southern University).
from the poem:
I struggle with domesticity
as I sterilize jars, clear
pack fresh cucumbers, garlic
sharp smelling dill
breathe steaming vinegar
vapor that unclouds the brain
Lids bounce in boiling water
I fish for one and quickly seal
each jar, this could be a poem
each jar, this a painting
each jar, I question
and justify
. . .
On gray winter days
sculptures in glass on my shelf
green peppers and cayennes twist in to form
zucchinis and crookneck yellows
wind, curve around each other
speckled beans, mosaics
I take down jar after jar
chill or heat the colors
shapes, lines
patterns that turn to food and are eaten
Jacquelyn Markham
(excerpt from “Today This Jar of Pickles is My Poem”)
So, today, look around you. Do you see the continuity of art around you? And, the continuity of your life?
Jacquelyn~ aka Poet Voice
“Deep Purple,” a song that keeps coming back around
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.
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
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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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.
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)
Poet Voice 