NaPoWriMo Pt. 4 Prompts, Events, Quotes

You will write if you will write without thinking of the result in terms of a result, but think of the writing in terms of discovery, which is to say that creation must take place between the pen and the paper, not before in a thought or afterwards in a recasting…It will come if it is there and if you will let it come.“–Gertrude Stein

Welcome to Part 4 of NaPoWriMo – the practice of writing a poem each every day of National Poetry Month (April).  If you are just starting or have fallen behind —  no matter, just try to develop the practice of writing something each and every day.  Some of what you write will be awful… some will need work….some will need a little work.  Challenge yourself to write a poem based on one or more of the suggestions you find on this blog!  You can do the challenge daily as suggested.  Of course as a Poet you can make your own rules!!!!  Enjoy!

“Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations.”― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

To begin our next batch of prompts it’s another from the white hat wearing poet of Everett —  Julie Robinett —

NaPoWriMo  April 16th 2024  Prompt 16 — Dictionary Day prompt  —  

October 16^th is National Dictionary Day – (which is exactly half a year from April 16th!) But why wait until October? – write a dictionary-inspired poem TODAY! It could be a poem in which you include several random words from a dictionary; it could be a general ode to dictionaries; it could be a poem dedicated to your​ favorite dictionary.  (You could also include a word entomology – the root of the word in latin or greek or….?– as part of your poem!!!

“I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.”
― Arthur Rimbaud

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

NaPoWriMo  April 17th 2024  Prompt 17 — Current Events

Let a news story from the last few days inspire a poem. Any form, any style but definitely topical. News, Sports, Features, Op-Ed but make sure it’s current, topical, timely. Write your poem so we get the gist of what inspired it. Any Form, Any style, write it!  Consider injecting humor and satire into the poem.  Off you go….

The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
― Dylan Thomas

NaPoWriMo  April 18th 2024  Prompt 18    Not a Poem about Spring    —   Oh yes… it’s a prompt from Julie Julie Julie……:

If you write most of your poems in April, you’ve probably written a lot of spring-themed poems. It’s time to give the other seasons some attention! Choose a season that is not​ spring; imagine yourself in that season, and write a poem related to your imaginings. It could be a poem about a winter storm. A summer harvest. A fall hike. (See if you can imagine yourself into a different season, and write about it!)

“In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.”― Terry Pratchett

NaPoWriMo  April 19th 2024  Prompt 19 — I have a poem in the just published Anthology of Cat Poems – Purr and Yowl –  featuring 101 poets and edited by David D. Horowitz.  We are celebrating the book tonight in the Edmonds bookstore with a reading (details below)  So consider yourself double dog dared (yes dog dared) to write at least one poem about a cat, domestic feline or wild…. 

NaPoWriMo  April 20th 2024  Prompt  20 —    Functional Poetry

I sometimes get to have lengthy conversations with artist.  Recently a woman who works on sculptures was telling me about how she is making ‘functional’ sculpture.  In her case a plate/bowl that looks like a landscape (isn’t a flat plate… isn’t a bowl either).  Got me thinking.  How about writing a functional poem.  A poem that offers some useful advice… advice could be life advice, dating advice, marriage advice, or any sort of advice… a poem say with meter and rhyme that also offers some wisdom or common sense.   Worth a try?

It’s possible that I will have more to juggle in the next couple of weeks so here’s a couple more prompts for Sunday and Monday.

NaPoWriMo  April 21rst 2024  Prompt  21 — 21st Birthday

Write a poem about how you celebrated or wished you celebrated your 21st birthday.  Or if you are under 21 a poem about celebrating your 21rst.  

Oh yes…another fab suggestion from Everett Poet and resident, Julie Robinett:

NaPoWriMo  April 22nd  2024  Prompt 22 — Well known Song-Writer/Musician

Choose a musician you like a lot, and create a poem made up of gathered lyrical bits, from their songs.  (not complete lines…no more than part of three lines – less than four words each).  Can we guess what song you are using?  Will you tell us what song or songs or songwriter you are riffing on?

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
― Aldous Huxley

On Thursday April 18th I (Chris Jarmick) will be joining Holly J. Hunter  Joannie Stangeland, Rick Clark and David D. Horowitz for a very special Poetry Night at the Edmonds Bookshop (in Edmonds, Wa.) to celebrate cats and poems about cats that are in the recently published superb anthology  Purr and Yowl (edited by David H. and published by World Enough Writers (Lana Hechtman Ayers).  Free..  More info here: 2024 poetry night!  

Do you know Seattle Independent Bookstore Days  begin on Saturday April 27th?  There are 28 participating stores this year! We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of SIBD- YAY.  You can visit 1 or 3 or all of the stores.  Visiting 3 stores gets you a reward and visiting all 28 in a 10 day time period gives you an even bigger award.   There’s a website about it here:  https://www.seattlebookstoreday.com/

BookTree will participate once again.

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me.  The store has new and gently-used books.  The website for the store is here at http://www.BookTreeKirkland.com   

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend.  This is called WesternWashingtonPoets https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/   you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on.  I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE.  There is also a facebook page  western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.  

Keep Writing!!!

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
― Anton Chekhov

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’ 

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Poetry is Everything

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©2024 Christopher J. Jarmick All Rights Reserved

NaPoWriMo Part 3 Prompts for April 10th – April 15 2024

“I need about one hundred fifty drafts of a poem to get it right, and fifty more to make it sound spontaneous.”― James Dickey

It’s time for more NaPoWriMo prompts.   Join in and start writing each and every day of the month.  Use the prompts to inspire and challenge you.  Have fun!!!  Post your first drafts if you dare and let me know where they are posted.   

Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”― Annie Proulx

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”― Stephen King

NaPoWriMo  April 10th 2024  Prompt 10  —  Other Not Very Good Poems

Write a poem about some poems you just read in a book or a magazine that you didn’t like very much.  The poem should be inspired by the poems you read that did NOT inspire you.  Maybe these poems confused you.  Maybe these poems were just dull in your opinion.   You can grumble and complain about the poems… (yes more than one poem  could be different authors, please)  or you can combine the idea and subject of the poems you are NOT impressed with into your own original poem and mention something about the poems that you did not like.    

NaPoWriMo  April 11th 2024  Prompt 11 – Name Game

Don’t worry about writing a 1000 page memoir. Your name is not Barbra . . .” — CJJ

Write a poem about your name. You can use the history of your name, where the root of your name comes from and what it means, or you can make something up about what your name means. You can
write a poem about other people who have had your name and what they did. Write about your name… but not about
yourself. You can do a bit of research on first name etymology and history
right here: The Meaning and History of First Names – Behind the Name .

The Meaning and History of First Names – Behind the Name

• “The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.” — Maya Angelou

NaPoWriMo  April 12th 2024  Prompt 12  Birthday Poet writing about Movies

It’s MY birthday.  So this year here’s the challenging inspiring prompt for you and for me too!!!   Take a poet that was born in the month of April and write a poem in his or her style about one or more movies that you really like.  

Poets Born in April: 

1 Edmond Rostand 1868
3 George Herbert 1593-1633
4 Edith Sodergran 1892
4 Maya Angelou 1928
5 Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837
7 William Wordsworth 1770
9 Charles-Pierre Baudelaire 1821-1867
10 George William Russell 1867-1935

10 Norman Dubie 1945 * Ordinary Mornings of a Coliseum, 
13 Seamus Heaney 1939
16 Anatole France 1844-1924
16 Sir Kingsley Amis 1922
18 Etheridge Knight 1931-1991 22
18 Louise Gluck 1942
23 William Shakespeare 1564-1616
23 Edwin Markham 1852
23 Vladimir Nabokov 1899
24 Robert Penn Warren 1905
24 George Oppen 1908
25 Walter de la Mare 1873-1956
25 Jay Anthony Lukas 1933
25 Ted Kooser 1939 +
27 Cecil Day Lewis 1904 AKA Nicholas Blake
28 Carolyn Forche 1950

29 Yusef Komunyakaa 1947

29 Constantine Peter Cavafy 1863-1933
30 John Crowe Ransom 1888

30 Annie Dillard 1945

“I think, secretly, that my poems actually do rhyme. It’s just that the rhyme is what I would call ‘conceptual,’ that is, not made of sounds, but of ideas that accomplish what the sounds do in formal poetry: to connect elements that one wouldn’t have expected, and to make the reader or listener, even if just for a moment, feel the complexity and disorder of life, and at the same time what Wallace Stevens called the ‘obscurity of an order, a whole.”
― Matthew Zapruder

NaPoWriMo  April 13th 2024  Prompt 13  — Scrabble Day!   From Julie Robinett the white hat wearing poet from Everett:    April 13^th is “National Scrabble Day.” Find a bag of those letter-tiles and randomly grab ten of them; then see how many words you can make, with those ten tiles. (Next, put as many as you want to, into a poem.) You don’t have to  use only the words from the tiles, (you can add other words, too); but use the words from the Scrabble tiles to inspire the theme or direction of your poem.

NaPoWriMo  April 14th 2024  Prompt 14 –  Quote me!

Your 14th prompt is to be inspired by a quote or two or three. Choose your favorites, ones you have seen recently or …? You can write about the quote, you can re-purpose the quote into your own writing,you can expand the idea, the import of the quote.  Honor one or more quotes  and do give credit to the person whose quote or quotes  have inspired your poem.

NaPoWriMo  April 15th 2024  Prompt 15 —  two syllable words 

Julie with the white hat from Everett (Julie Robinett) wants you to work really hard today….  her challenge prompt is…. make a poem using only two-syllable words…

Challenge yourself to make a poem consisting only of two-syllable words! (Maybe very tricky? Enjoy!) 

More Prompts to inspire and challenge are on the way!!!!   Exercise, enjoy, share….

On  Wednesday 4/10/24 — I (Chris Jarmick) will be one of three featured readers at C&P coffee in West Seattle part of Leopoldo’s long running Poetry Bridge Series. The scheduled features are Chris Jarmick, Arleen Williams and Bonnie Wolkenstein  signups for Open Mic start at 6:45 pm  reading 7 to 9pm.  FREE  You will find a post about this with more info on the Western Washington Poets Network Facebook Page.

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
― William Wordsworth

It is almost my (Chris Jarmick) birthday (on the 12th).  I wish for my birthday that all who see this will walk into a local independent bookstore and spend $25. to $100. on books (or get some gift cards).  If you are near Kirkland, Wa.  please visit my bookstore.. BookTree at 609 Market St.     Indie bookstores truly need your patronage and attention.  Most are barely breaking even.  Retail in all sectors is down.  Bookstores will not survive unless the community they do business in supports them, talks about them and considers it is an important business to have in their neighborhood.   Thank YOU!  BookTree’s GoFundMe Page is Here. 

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
― Sylvia Plath

On Thursday April 18th I (Chris Jarmick) will be joining Holly J. Hunter  Joannie Stangeland, Rick Clark and David D. Horowitz for a very special Poetry Night at the Edmonds Bookshop (in Edmonds, Wa.) to celebrate cats and poems about cats that are in the recently published superb anthology  Purr and Yowl (edited by David H. and published by World Enough Writers (Lana Hechtman Ayers).  Free..  More info here: 2024 poetry night!  

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend.  This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetwork.org Use the site to look up by area of Western Washington (city, town etc) or day of the month regularly scheduled meetings take place. I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE.  There is also a facebook page  western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.  

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
― Jack London

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me.  The store has new and gently-used books.  The website for the store is here at http://www.BookTreeKirkland.com.  

Keep Writing!!!

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’ 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

©2024 Christopher J. Jarmick All Rights Reserved 

NaPoWriMo 5 More prompts to keep you writing each and every day.

First… a long but worthwhile quote:

“Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.”
― Shakespeare William Shakespeare

Part 5 of 6 parts worth of prompts for NaPoWriMo to celebrate National Poetry Month.  If you need to go back a few to know what this is, I hope you are curious enough to do so.  It’s the curious who create the most interesting art, writing, music etc.  Stretching yourself –   Daring yourself – leads to meaningful art.  It will mean more to YOU when you experiment and learn not worry about how exposed you are.  Perhaps writing every day will help.  Perhaps challenging yourself with prompts will help.   Try it.  Enjoy.   

Here are your prompts.

NaPoWriMo  April 23rd 2024  Prompt 23rd — twisted tribute

twisted tribute to a poet you admire.  

 (twisted tribute?  An affectionate satire, –appreciation of someone’s work.  It should be somewhat upbeat, somewhat flattering—remember you like this poet you are mimicking or doing an homage to.  Yes the poet can be living, current, little known or famous and/or dead)

If it makes you think, makes you chuckle, it is worth writing down, sharing with others and rememberingfor a very rainy day. — CJJ

NaPoWriMo  April 24th 2024  Prompt 24th — list poem

Write a List Poem.    You don’t need to worry about form or meter.  Pick a subject for your list and then try to make it  interesting.

Here’s a few example ideas:  What’s in the  junk drawer?  What’s on the bookshelf other than books?   What’s in the pantry?

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
― T.S. Eliot

NaPoWriMo  April 25th 2024  Prompt 25 — Missing

Something or someone is missing.  Are you missing something you once had?  Are you missing someone?  Is it a brief or permanent separation?  Write about the missing.

NaPoWriMo  April 26th 2024  Prompt 26 — solo adventure

From Julie Robinett with the white hat writing poetry in Everett comes todays Prompt —  Take yourself on a solo adventure (go all by yourself!) to a place you’ve never been before. (It could be an outdoor excursion, such as a park, or a walk, or a beach) . . . or it could be an indoor place (such as a restaurant or a store . . . even a BOOKSTORE) – and write about the experience, in a poem. 

Miles from the voice of the river, I remained calm beneath the tall old trees needing my breath. – CJJ

“Once we have tasted far streams, touched the gold, found some limit beyond the waterfall, a season changes and we come back changed but safe, quiet, grateful.”– William Stafford

NaPoWriMo  April 27th 2024  Prompt 27 — Bookstore

It’s the start of Seattle  Independent Bookstore Days — 28 stores in the Seattle Area and beyond are participating.  Maybe write a poem about one these bookstores if you know them.   Write a poem about bookstores.. good ones, bad ones, best ones, used ones, dusty ones, quirky ones

memorable ones, bookstores now gone.  Write about Book Stores…. 

 “It is difficult/ to get the news from poems,” but asks, “Who says you can’t get poems from the news?” William Carlos Williams

NaPoWriMo  April 28th 2024  Prompt  28th

And again one from Julie (blame her)….Write a poem that can be read from top to bottom or​ from bottom to top; (a different poem, depending on where you start, but one that makes sense, either direction you go). 

NaPoWriMo  April 29th 2024  Prompt 29  — Friendship

Write about the blessing that is a true friend or the heartache that comes from losing one. Tell us how you are a good friend (or where you fall short). Have you ever betrayed a friend or been disappointed by a friend? Have you ever slept with a friend? Did you marry a friend? Describe one of your actual friends. An old friend. A new friend. An imaginary friend. Remember an adventure you took with a friend or one you’d like to plan. What is it about friendship that we seek so consistently throughout our lives? Think of the ways in which we become friends with people. Think about how we lose touch.

“Poetry isn’t an island, it is the bridge.
Poetry isn’t a ship, it is the lifeboat.
Poetry isn’t swimming. Poetry is water.”― Kamand Kojouri

Do you know Seattle Independent Bookstore Days  begin on Saturday April 27th?  There are 28 participating stores this year! We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of SIBD- YAY.  You can visit 1 or 3 or all of the stores.  Visiting 3 stores gets you a reward and visiting all 28 in a 10 day time period gives you an even bigger award.   There’s a website about it here: Seattle Indie Bookstore Days

BookTree will participate once again.  On April 27th. . . best selling author Robert Dugoni will be at BookStore.  On May 4th, there will be a free writing workshop, reading and open mic.  Look on the website, facebook for more information.

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me.  The store has new and gently-used books.  The website for the store is here at http://www.BookTreeKirkland.com .  

“When I began to listen to poetry, it’s when I began to listen to the stones, and I began to listen to what the clouds had to say, and I began to listen to others. And I think, most importantly for all of us, then you begin to learn to listen to the soul, the soul of yourself in here, which is also the soul of everyone else.”  – Joy Harjo

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend.  This is called WesternWashingtonPoets https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/   you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on.  I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE.  There is also a facebook page  western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.  

Keep Writing!!!

“Only with ardent patience will we conquer the splendid city that will give light, justice and dignity to all men. Thus poetry will not have sung in vain.”– Pablo Neruda

“April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.”― T.S. Eliot

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’ 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

©2024 Christopher J. Jarmick All Rights Reserved

NaPoWriMo Prompts Part 2 for 2024

Welcome to NaPoWriMo  and more more more….  prompts to inspire and challenge and keep you writing a poem each and every day.   These are meant to be used one per day but you can of course use them as you wish.

First, another memorable Ted Hughes quote to get things started: “Keep your whole being on the thing you are turning into words. The minute you flinch, and take your mind off this thing, and begin to look at the words and worry about them… Then your worry goes into them and they set about killing each other. So you keep going as long as you can, then look back and see what you have written. After a bit of practice and after telling yourself you are going to use any old word that comes into your head so long as it seems right, you will surprise yourself. You will read back through what you have written and you will get a shock. You will have captured a spirit, a creature.”
― Ted Hughes

Reminder….!!!!  Every First Saturday of the month at BookTree (@ 609 Market St. Kirkland Wa. 98033) there is a FREE writing workshop that begins at 4:24 pm and goes to 6pm follwed by a reading and open mic.  You can attend everything or just one thing.    The one scheduled for Saturday April 6th will be led by David D. Horowitz (publisher, editor, writer, poet) on metrical and rhyming poetry.    Then at 6:15 pm we will have a special reading with several poets from an anthology of Cat Poems called Purr and Yowl… which is then followed by an open mic.  FaceBook Event page right here….   1rst Saturday Workshop, Reading w David D. Horowitz & special guests

Now on to your prompts:

First up –a prompt concocted by the white hat wearing poet from Everett  Julie Robinett   :

NaPoWriMo  April 6th 2024  Prompt 6  —  Statistics

April is mathematics and statistics awareness month. Create a poem which is related to statistics. You could find some statistics, online, (or in a newspaper), and use those statistics as a starting point for your poem; (you could even make up some wild statistics, or some wild math, to take us on a strange journey, in your poem!).

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
― Ray Bradbury

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
― Mark Twain

And on the 7th day — NO we do NOT rest!   

NaPoWriMo  April 7th 2024  Prompt 7 —  Septolet

Write two different types of Septolets today.  (Sep-toe-lay)   1- 14 words – 7 lines  2- 7 lines 16 syllables. 

Septolet 1: Total of 14 words in 7 lines, no line should have more than three words. The poem should relate to one subject, object, thought or feeling. The first four lines create a coherent picture or thought, the last three lines create another. Each could stand separately, but both are related.

Septolet 2: Line 1 has one syllable, Line 2 has two, Line 3 has 3, Line 4 has 4 syllables, space, Line 5 has 3, Line 6 has 2, Line 7 has one syllable. Poem should relate to one thought, feeling, object, place.

Example:

Formal Septolet                                                               Informal Septolet

One                           1 syllable                                          “This

Second                      2 syllables                                       is easy

Or perhaps               3 syllables                                 anyone can do

Four ticking bombs 4 syllables                                 it,”

Blank space

Reminder                  3 syllables                                said

That you’re               2 syllables                                tightrope walker.

Late                              1 syllable                                 “but don’t look down!”

(14 words.  4 words maximum on one line.)

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”― Victor Hugo

And poetry can feel musical, embrace a flow that needs a little sugar to be ingested.— CJJ

NaPoWriMo  April 8th 2024  Prompt 8 –  Use these Words

Build a list of 8 words that you will use in a poem  8 to 10 lines long.  

Pick up a book…  turn to page 8  (or the first page after 8 with words on them)  After the first 25 words… find the very next 6 letter word and write it down.  This is your first word.

2. Turn to page 18. ..  from the bottom of the page  after the the last 25 words….going up the page.. find the very next 6 or MORE letter word (not a name or name of city etc) and write it down.  3.  Page 34  after 30 words  the next 5 letter word  (not a name)  write it down.   4.  Page 50  after 50 words the first 5 letter word.  5.  Page 80  after 8 words  the first 5 letter word … write it down.   6.  Page 88  after 25 words the first 4 letter word.  7.   Page 120  the first 4 letter word you come across (not a name).    8.   Page 180  after 30 words the first  word over 5 letters long.     Now you have your 8 words.  Can you use them in a poem of 10 lines or less in the order you found them?   Have fun…   

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” 

― Thomas Jefferson

NaPoWriMo  April 9th 2024  Prompt 9  number 9… number 9….

Brendan McBreen  an auburn based poet, writer and artist suggested the following prompt based on poet Philip Levine’s practice of the 9-syllable line (mostly), is a syllable off from what the ear is used to with the more common English 10-syllable line, giving the overall composition an uneasy bearing or forward momentum.” 

It’s hard to write 9 syllable line poems as compared to seven or 10 syllable line poems.

So for today’s writing prompt, write at least one eight or nine line poem consisting of 9-syllable lines.

Levine wrote about work, Detroit and the blue collar life often evoking the drudgery and dignity of manual labor. ‘ What Work Is’ is his best known collection; his last collection was The Last Shift.  Levine died in 2015.

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
― Louis L’Amour

On  Wednesday 4/10/24 — I (Chris Jarmick) will be one of three featured readers at C&P Coffee in West Seattle  (5612 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98136) part of Leopoldo’s long running Poetry Bridge Series. The scheduled features are Chris Jarmick, Arleen Williams and Bonnie Wolkenstein  signups for Open Mic start at 6:45 pm  reading 7 to 9pm.  FREE

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend.  This is called WesternWashingtonPoets https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/   you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on.  I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE.  There is also a facebook page  western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.  

“If you can’t annoy somebody, there is little point in writing.”
― Kingsley Amis

It is almost my (Chris Jarmick) birthday (on the 12th).  I wish for my birthday that all who see this will walk into a local independent bookstore and spend $25. to $100. on books (or get some gift cards).  If you are near Kirkland, Wa.  please visit my bookstore.. BookTree at 609 Market St.     Indie bookstores truly need your patronage and attention.  Most are barely breaking even.  Retail in all sectors is down.  Bookstores will not survive unless the community they do business in supports them, talks about them and considers it is an important business to have in their neighborhood.   Thank YOU!  BookTree’s GoFundMe Page is Here. 

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend.  This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetworkdotOrg right here. https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/   you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on.  I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE.  There is also a facebook page  western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.  

And in case you missed it…. I’ll be hosting and reading April 6th at BookTree in Kirkland  (First Saturday Free Writing workshop, reading and open mic.).  I’ll also be reading on April 10th in West Seattle details above. 

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me.  The store has new and gently-used books.  The website for the store is here

Keep Writing!!!

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
― Jack Kerouac

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’ 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

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©2024 Christopher J. Jarmick All Rights Reserved 

Welcome to NaPoWrimo 2024

“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.” ― George Orwell

“Don’t get it right – get it WRITTEN!” ― Lee Child

NaPoWriMo commences officially April 1, 2024.   Tomorrow is Easter.  

National Poetry Writing Month is what NaPoWriMo stands for.  It happens every April which is National Poetry Month.  The idea is write at least one poem every day of April.  I will post prompts regularly on this blog to inspire, challenge or amuse you.

“Always be a poet, even in prose.”― Charles Baudelaire

Because I run a bookstore, have a life like most of you, I will be managing my time and sometimes posting several prompts at once on this blog to inspire you to participate.

Find out more about NaPoWriMo  from the site that is maintained by the Godmother of NaPoWriMo Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC.  She started doing NaPoWrimo in 2003…a few years later expanded her blog and website which is now here: NaPoWriMo website

A good way to prepare if you are new at this, or don’t have a habit of writing nearly every day already is to read the following words by Ray Bradbury . . . several times :“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next.

 You must lurk in libraries (bookstores) and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” ― Ray Bradbury

Read these words from Ted Hughes a few times also: “Imagine what you are writing about. See it and live it. Do not think it up laboriously, as if you were working out mental arithmetic. Just look at it, touch it, smell it, listen to it, turn yourself into it. When you do this, the words look after themselves, like magic.”
― Ted Hughes

You absolutely must read and read a lot.  I don’t say this because I own a bookstore, but because good writing is fueled by good reading and I adore  good writing which can appear in poetry, mystery thrillers, literary journals, magazines and even in Op- Ed pieces.  If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me.  The store has new and gently-used books.  The website for the store is here.

Every First Saturday of the month BookTree (@ 609 Market St. Kirkland Wa. 98033) has a FREE writing workshop that begins at 4:24 pm and goes to 6pm follwed by a reading and open mic.  You can attend everything or just one thing.    The one scheduled for April 6th will be led by David D. Horowitz (publisher, editor, writer, poet) on metrical and rhyming poetry.    Then at 6:15 pm we will have a special reading with several poets from an anthology of Cat Poems called Purr and Yowl… which is then followed by an open mic.

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend.  This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetwork.org   you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on.  I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE.  There is also a facebook page  western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.  

Writing by prompt is an exercise and one can enjoy completing the assignment without the ridiculous expectations that what you produce will be particularly good.  It can however lead to something good and exercising is vital to the body and to the mind. You may compose some lines that with some editing and refinement become a poem you will save, share, recite perhaps submit to be published.   Many of you attempts will not yet be brilliant.  So what.  You are creating and you are doing what you love — writing.  

If you feel hesitant to participate in the somewhat silly ritual of NaPoWriMo perhaps you’ll have an epiphany to positively be part of it and take the risk, think outside the box and just write and write some more.   The really risky thing to do is to actually post your writings/scribblings.  If you are brave and or foolish enough to post them, feel free to let me know you are posting and where you are doing so.

And if you are brand new at this, welcome, hope you’ll jump right in but if simply dip your toes in, that’s perfectly okay too.  Whatever level you are able to participate in NaPoWriMo is a step in the right direction and everyone is welcome.  Any exercising is good and beneficial.

Yes you can use and share these prompts but please let folks they came from this PoetryIsEverything blog.

Some prompts I’ll share will be from fellow poets and writers that I know–  Julie Robinett  of Everett will be adding in some prompts.  I’ll include one or two from Brendan McBreen of Auburn, Wa. Most will be original prompts that I hope you’ll take on and use them to inspire and challenge a write or two from you.

Here are your first 5 prompt challenges.

NaPoWriMo Prompt 1 —  April Fools —  for April 1 2024   

Just what is an April fool?  Have you acted as the fool?  Maybe on purpose, maybe not? What are some foolish things you have done.  Have you pulled a wild and crazy prank that backfired and so you wound up the fool?  Can you write a quiet poem…. or a story poem about one or more of these things?  What would be a great poetic April Fools prank or joke?  Think of ten words that relate to April Fools Day.  Use these words in a poem (it doesn’t have to be about April Fools at all).  Use one or more of these to write a poem.  Have at it.  Welcome to NaPoWriMo!

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”
― Kahlil Gibran

NaPoWriMo April 2nd 2024    Prompt 2 –   Film Score

Julie Robinett  a poet who resides in Everett  reminds us that April 2nd is  National Film Score Appreciation Day…..   So do YOU have a favorite film score?  Lawrence of Arabia?   Dr. Zhivago?   Star Wars?   Jaws?   North by NorthWest?   of maybe something by Nino Rota for La Dolce Vita (Fellini) ?   Let your favorite film score inspire a creative write today.   

“Resist much, obey little.”
― Walt Whitman

NaPoWriMo  April 3rd 2024  Prompt 3    Proverbial Phrases

So since a bird in the hand is worth a few in the bush….use three well known proverbs (or more) and twist them up a bit and use them in your writing today.  

However you want to do it…  3 or more proverbs….  and if at first you don’t succeed. . . .

 Okay practice is sometimes practice and saying practice makes perfect isn’t always the truth.  But improving your practice is a good thing to do.  Make something new, make a new mess you’ve not made before… maybe you can jump in the leaves and not have to rake them back up this time. Maybe you will write something unforgettable about the raking!!! —   CJJ . 

NaPoWriMo  April 4th 2024  Prompt 4 — Ekphrastic 

Write an Ekphrastic poem.  This means you should write a poem inspired by a piece of art or sculpture (you could expand this to include music, movies etc. but let’s not do that for today’s prompt unless you absolutely insist).  The poem can reflect your reaction to a work of art, it can be a poetic description/reflection of the art through the prism of your sensibilities.  You could be wildly creative with this and have a conversation with the work of art.  What’s important is that the work of art should inspire and be part of what you write. Can you make the object lively before the reader’s eye? Let others know what art work inspired your poem (if it is not obvious) and you might include a picture or a link to a picture of the artwork.  Many say one of the best examples of an ekphrastic poem is John Keats – Ode on a Grecian Urn (read it here).   

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
― Stephen King

NaPoWriMo  April 5th 2024  Prompt 5 –Think of a surreal black and white film perhaps something by Luis Buñuel, and Salvador Dalí made :go to youtube  Un Chien Andalou   or David Lynch’s Eraserhead.   Just for fun look at this old wild somewhat surreal cartoon by the Fleischer studios Minnie the Moocher  after the Cab Calloway song also on YouTube here   And every few lines ask or answer a question like:  Where was I?   Any questions?    Now write….at least ten lines, more of course if you are so inspired.  

See you in a few days with some more prompts, updates and reminders. Feel free to comment and do let me know where to find any poems you write for these prompts. Happy NaPoWriMo! Keep Writing!

“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.”
― Robert Frost

Thank you for supporting independent bookstores. BookTree currently has a GoFundMe campaign. Consider donating. Thank YOU!

BookTree’s Go Fund Me Campaign

I have started a GoFundMe for my bookstore. I need to create a reserve fund so I can weather another year of ups and downs running an independent new and gently-used bookstore.

Please help by spreading the word to everyone you know that there is a bookstore in Kirkland, Wa. that needs a little help to survive. If you can patronize the store or donate — Thank YOU. Regardless you can if you are willing publicize the campaign on social media, via email. Thank you for being a love of independent bookstores.

The BookTree GoFundME is here.

“When a poet digs himself into a hole, he doesn’t climb out. 

He digs deeper, enjoys the scenery, 

and comes out the other side enlightened.”
― Criss Jami

Congratulations!!!   NaPoWrimo 2023 is history.   Hopefully you wrote every day or almost every day and you have some poems that will blossom with some additonal work and editing into being ‘keepers’.   

On MAY 6th…  BookTree 609 Market St. Kirkland, Wa. 98033  has a free writing workshop followed by a reading and open mic.  We will be celebrating the new anthology I Sing the Salmon!!!  More details here.            Hope YOU can make it…    I Sing the Salmon Celebration with Holly J. Hughes Free Writing Workshop, Reading and Open Mic. — BookTree Kirkland

“We are the miracle of force and matter making itself over into imagination and will. 

Incredible. 

The Life Force experimenting with forms.

 You for one. Me for another. 

The Universe has shouted itself alive.

 We are one of the shouts.”
Ray Bradbury

Independent Bookstore Days in Western Washington continue! Celebrate the indie bookstore near you!!!! Thank YOU!

A few more prompts to use in the coming days.  You can continue writing each and every day.  
 4 more from Julie Robinett  :

Write a poem that tells a story about something that happened while you were traveling, but in your poem, don’t tell the story like it happened, (make some things up!) Add some wild details! (Or you could imagine how could your story have turned out differently, and take us down a different path that what really​ happened.)

Make a list poem in which each item on the list is somehow connected to the previous item on the list, (it doesn’t have to be in an obvious way); make this list up as you go along, in such a way that you have no idea where you will end up, when you’re done. (Then give the list a title that fits in some way, but it doesn’t have to be an obvious way); give your readers an opportunity to ponder the possible connections!

 Go for a walk outside, (in the woods, in your neighborhood, in someone else’s neighborhood, down a busy street . . . wherever you find yourself!) Write a series of short poems about the things you see. (They could be haiku or septolet or even just short poems of an unspecified format.) The point is to open your eyes, notice what is happening around you — (whether it is boisterous activity, or even just a patch of moss quietly existing) — and turn them into poems!

Write a poem about power tools and punctuation. (This prompt was inspired by a prompt given to me, by a friend) . . . he suggested I write a poem about leaf blowers and double spaces — (such as double spaces at the end of sentences). I broadened the prompt to include all power tools, (not just leaf blowers; why let leaf blowers have ALL the fun!?) And I swapped the double spaces for punctuation . . . (punctuation is not the same as double spaces, but it feels like they are at least in the same neighborhood), and I think there will be more ideas to bite on, related to punctuation; also, I really really really LOVE punctuation. (A lot?) — yes! — (a lot!!!)

“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back.

 Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, 

everyone becomes a poet.”

― Plato

5 more prompts for the days ahead…. because ‘ the writing life is right…alright!” – CJJ

Write a poem that is a series of questions.  Every line is a question…  perhaps all related and leading up to a big question or unrelated.  YOU decide.

Warning Label.  If there was a warning label attached to you… what would it say?  Make it into a poem…

Write a homage or parody poem to one of your favorite poems.Write an embarrassing corny rhyming love poem…. but it’s actually revealed at the end it is about your favorite snack…food.

Write a poem that is made up of absurd lines…but almost makes sense because of the final two lines.

Write a poem about your two favorite spices.  Make it very over the top and dramatic….

Write a poem to a specific plant or tree in nature.

“Poetry is just the evidence of life. 

If your life is burning well, 

poetry is just the ash.”
― Leonard Cohen

Copyright© Christopher J. Jarmick 2023

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=- 

Poetry is Everything

         PIE

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

NaPoWriMo National Poetry Writing Month Prompts for Days 25 to 30 – April 25- 30, 2023

“Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads.” – Marianne Moore

In a moment your latest batch of prompts to inspire and challenge — but first:

This Saturday….independent bookstores begin their celebration. BookTree is Kirkland is part of this. Thank YOU for supporting indie bookstores near you!!!

The 2023 Independent Bookstore Day begins on April 29. This year once again the participating Seattle-area booksellers are offering the Bookstore Day Passport Challenge, with ten days to complete the challenge.

What Is Happening for Independent Bookstore Day 2023?

Seattle Independent Bookstore Day (SIBD) has come to mean a great deal to all of us working in the Seattle bookstore community, and we’re glad to say that the Seattle-area indie bookstores are bringing back the popular Bookstore Day Passport Challenge this year. Once again, local book (and bookstore) lovers will be challenged to visit all 27 participating Seattle-area independent bookstores, and this year they will have ten days to complete the challenge.

Independent Bookstore Day is on Saturday, April 29, and the challenge must be completed by Monday, May 8.

Book fanatics who complete the challenge will receive a Bookstore Day Champion Stamp Card, good for a one-time 25% discount at each participating store and valid until April 26, 2024.

This year we are also offering an intermediate reward: those who don’t complete the full challenge get their passport stamped at at least five participating stores during the ten-day period will receive a single 25%-off coupon, good at any of the participating stores.

We are grateful for the support our bookstores receive. The Seattle area independent bookstore community continues to thrive because of you.

SIBD 2023, April 29 – May 8, FAQ Sheet

How do I qualify as an Indie Bookstore Day 2023 Champion?

Visit all 27 participating Seattle-area stores between April 29 and May 8, 2023, and turn in your passport with stamps from all the stores.

PROMPT  25 – Making up a Story.
April 25, 2023  (write this poem on April 25th)

Get 4 different books.
Book mark one of these pages for each book (one page per book) book 1: 16, 24, 36, 42 // Book 2: 81, 102, 124, 139 // Book 3: 88, 115, 142, 160,// Book 4: 51, 73, 101, 205 — Read each page you chose as if they are from the same book and telling the same story. Figure out a way to make sense of the 4 unrelated pages so that they do make a cohesive story or make it work as a story with some embellishment and help from you. Turn this story into a poem — any style … any length

PROMPT  26 – Question    (this one from Everett poet Julie Robinett!!!)
April 26, 2023  (write this poem on April 26th)

Create a multi-stanza poem in which the title is a question and each stanza ends with a question. 

PROMPT  27 –  Personal conversation
April 27, 2023  (write this poem on April 27th)

Write a poem about a personal conversation you had with a friend or partner.  Be revealing.. open, honest, authentic…  Double dog dare you!!!

PROMPT  28 – Family Photo
April 28, 2023  (write this poem on April 28th)

 Write a Poem about a family photograph
What will you write about a family photograph that captured a moment from years ago. Something sweet and sentimental? Something humorous and or revealing? Explore the photograph, and what it evokes in you today through your write. 

 PROMPT  29 – Insect   (oh yes…. this if from Everett’s fines… Julie Robinett!)
April 29, 2023  (write this poem on April 29th)

Research your most favorite-est insect, and write a poem advertising the wonders of that particular insect. (Not everyone likes all of the insects, so this is your chance to really sell us on your favorite!)
PROMPT  30 – four and  a half lines
April 30, 2023  (write this poem on April 30th)

Make every other line of your ten line poem from various poems you wrote in the last month or so.  4 and a half Different lines, from 5 different poems.  The last line is half a line finished for the new poem.   

“Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.”
― Maya Angelou

*Bonus*  ooooh  look here… a special challenge uncovered through the sleuthing prowess of that Everett Poetry Goddess Julie Robinett.   Here’s the link…  enjoy a new challenge possibly a new form.. fun fun fun..  Forget the Limerick and Try a Snam Suad – Tampa Review

Forget the Limerick and Try a Snam Suad – Tampa Review

On MAY 6th…  BookTree 609 Market St. Kirkland, Wa. 98033  has a free writing workshop followed by a reading and open mic.  We will be celebrating the new anthology I Sing the Salmon!!!  More details here.            Hope YOU can make it…    I Sing the Salmon Celebration with Holly J. Hughes Free Writing Workshop, Reading and Open Mic. — BookTree Kirkland

I Sing the Salmon Celebration with Holly J. Hughes Free Writing Worksh…Holly Hughes leads our Take a Walk and Write free writing workshop and presents the I Sing the Salmon Anthology…

Poems where?

by Christopher J. Jarmick

Where are your poems?

where are your poems?

it’s a poem a day . . .

every day a poem.

poems poems poems

downpour of poems,

scribbles of poems,

crowds of poems

marches of poems

in the trees, a murder of poems!

where are your poems?

where are your poems?

Copyright© Christopher J. Jarmick 2023

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=- 

Poetry is Everything

         PIE

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

NaPoWriMo National Poetry Writing Month Prompts for Days 20 to 24 – April 20- 24, 2023

“Poetry is an act of peace. 

Peace goes into the making of a poet as flour

 goes into the making of bread.”
― Pablo Neruda

And now your next 5 prompts to inspire and challenge you during NaPoWriMo 2023. Enjoy!

PROMPT  20 – Write about a recent walk.
April  20, 2023  (write this poem on April 20th)

Write a poem about a walk you have taken recently. Or take a walk today and write about it. Remember something different about the walk, the mood, the sights, the sounds. Capture a few moments about the walk that make it memorable. If you insist… you can use a little poetic license about the walk too.

“If they give you lined paper, write the other way.”
― William Carlos Williams

PROMPT  21 – Apples….   (prompt by Julie – who else?)
April  21, 2023  (write this poem on April 21rst)

“National Apple Day” will be on October 21st. (But that is so long to wait . . . toooo long to wait!) — so, go ahead and write an exuberant poem about apples, today! (It can be about any kind of apples. –Twist…  make up a new name for a new type of apple in the poem…  pssst perhaps a Robinett….)

PROMPT  22 – Jellybean
April 22, 2023  (write this poem on April 22nd)This is from our poet with the white hat in Everett –  Julie Robinett  

 April 22th is National Jellybean Day. Write a poem about jellybeans. (Plot twist: these jellybeans . . . are ALIVE!!!!)

PROMPT  23 – Missing   10 line poem using specific words
April 23, 2023  (write this poem on April 23rd)

Write a Poem about Missing….  Missing You, or  Missing something in particular, or noticing that something missing using  Ten lines and the following six words plus one

number –  island – acorn – score – demand – green and the seventh word is from the last line of the poem you wrote… the longest last word of the poem 4 or 5 or more letters long.

PROMPT  24 – Re-Mix  w/ extra words recipe
April 24, 2023  (write this poem on April 24th)

Take a random list of 50 words…. add a poem you wrote last year.  Take the 50 words and mix them up in a salad bowl.  Draw out 10 or more words…  look at your poem.   Rewrite your poem using the new words and mixing up lines or taking them apart completely.   

“The difference between the poet and the mathematician 

is that the poet tries to get his head into the heavens 

while the mathematician tries to get the heavens into his head.”
― G.K. Chesterton

Copyright© Christopher J. Jarmick 2023

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=- 

Poetry is Everything

         PIE

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

NaPoWriMo National Poetry Writing Month Prompts for Days 15 to 19 – April 15- 19, 2023

“I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor when I loved;

since I could not give gifts, I gave words.”
― Ovid

We are half-way through Poetry month and NaPoWriMo.  Do jump in and begin writing a scribble a day if you are brand new to this.  It’s a good habit to get into no matter what kind of writer you are.  It can be fun! 

PROMPT  15 –  laundry day
April 15, 2023  (write this poem on April 15th)
From the white hat wearing Everett poet Julie Robinett (she is reading in Bothell at Tsuga Art and Frame Saturday the 15th at 7pm) 

I am aware of one very good one, but (generally speaking) there are not nearly enough poems about doing laundry! (note; in particular doing Laundry in machines or laundromats) April 15^th is “National Laundry Day,” so this is the perfect day to write a poem about laundry! 

PROMPT  16 – Ekphrastic
April 16, 2023  (write this poem on April 16th)
Prompt: Write an Ekphrastic PoemWrite an Ekphrastic Poem based on a Painting (work of art). Huh? What? Basically an Ekphrastic poem is a poem inspired by another Art form. Often it is a poem that is either a response to a Painting OR a poem that gives a painting a voice (I like Ekphrastic poems that do this the best). Your poem should go beyond a word description of a painting. One of the most famous Ekphrastic poems is John Keats’ 1819 poem Ode On a Grecian Urn (based on a Greek Urn, Keats saw and sketched). A slightly out of the box example is the song ‘ Vincent by Don McLean (the words are a poem about Vincent Van Goghs 1889 painting Starry Night —  look it up!) 

There is also an excellent 1961 poem by Ann Sexton about the painting called: 

The Starry Night

The town does not existexcept where one black-haired tree slipsup like a drowned woman into the hot sky.
The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars.
Oh starry starry night! This is how
I want to die. 

Your challenge is to find a painting you like. Use the title of the painting in the title of your poem. Write an Ekphrastic poem. And don’t spend more than an hour composing it (unless you really really insist). The ideal you may want to reach later with your poem involves fine tuning and crafting what you write at a latter time. Right now you are creating a rough first draft. Later you may want to spend a lot more time on your poem. The poet in an ekphrastic poem uses words, and the syntax of language and lines whereas the painter has composition, use of space, color shapes etc. They painter employs a level of abstraction/surrealism in their painting and creates the illusion of movement or energy with brush strokes, color, lighting illusions etc. The poet can play with these ideas too, creating movement and energy with line length, line breaks, meter, rhymes, punctuation. The framing or focus of the poem is achieved as much as what is left out as what is left in… just as the painting may have cropped something out of its view that will now never be seen. An article by Alfred Corn about Ekphrasis some will find worth reading is posted here at the Academy of American Poets  Notes on Ekphrasis“

I want to see thirst
In the syllables,
Tough fire
In the sound;
Feel through the dark
For the scream.”― Pablo Neruda

PROMPT  17 –  Haiku Day
April 17, 2023  (write this poem on April 17th)
From JULIE again…  

April 17^th is National Haiku Poetry Day. Create any or all of the following haiku . . . 

        A haiku that starts with the letter “A” and ends with the letter “Z”

        A haiku with a number in it

        A haiku with a color in it

        A pair of haiku in which the last word in the first haiku is the same as tthe first word in the 2nd haiku

        A pair of haiku in which the first word in the first haiku is the same as the last word in the 2nd haiku
Do check out more about the haiku.  Locally (Wester Washington) we have Michael Dylan Welch.  Start here;  A place to start.

PROMPT  18 – inappropriate
April 18, 2023  (write this poem on April 18th)
Write an Inappropriate Poem. Write something outrageous, dangerous, uncomfortable, inappropriate, perverted, unseemly, irresponsible, politically incorrect, in bad taste. . . controversial, (perhaps) BUT . . . do it PG or at least PG13 style with some sense of restraint and avoiding bad language. It can be dark or flaunt ‘sick humor’. It could be a poem in a creepy, twisted ‘voice’ or something else that you couldn’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t normally let yourself do. If it comes out immature and stupid. . . allow it to be what it wants to be and have the. . . uh courage. . . to share it in a post. It’s time. Do It! I double dog dare you! Fun fun fun…..

PROMPT  19 – hands
April 19, 2023  (write this poem on April 19th)

Hands

Write a poem that is inspired by Hands. Think of your sense of touch, your fingers, your palm, about what your hands or the hands of others (holding hands, high fiving, massage,) means to you. Think of a hand of cards or an expression – gotta ‘hand’ it to you…. Think perhaps of someone who has lost a hand or both hands or was born without hands. Write a poem about this.
more prompts are on the way….
LOOK    LOOK     LOOK

Julie Robinett is indeed the featured poet on Saturday April 15th in Bothell Wa.  This will be at the Tsuga  Fine Art and Framing Shop on the corner of Main St. and 101st at 7pm.  There is an open mic so if you are so inclined bring something to read. 

“When a poet digs himself into a hole, he doesn’t climb out. He digs deeper, enjoys the scenery, and comes out the other side enlightened.”

― Criss Jami

Copyright© Christopher J. Jarmick 2023

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek   ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

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Poetry is Everything

         PIE

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