NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 27 to 31, 2021

Last NaPoWriMo prompts of 2021

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. — Plato

I hope your able to write each and every day and you are now in the habit of writing every day. Not everything you write will wind up being something you keep or even use, but it’s an excellent exercise and your efforts will get results. It’s one of those good habits to develop and keep. Below are some more suggested challenge prompts to use, share, manipulate and challenge yourself with. Enjoy!

In the Western Washington/Seattle area a covid version of independent bookstore day has been going on since April 24th. It’s called the 10 – 10 – 10 challenge. It celebrates independent bookstores. You might have something like this where you live. Thanks for supporting independent bookstores throughout the entire year.

“The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader. That’s why we go to movies and say, “Oh, the book is better.” ― Paulo Coelho

Prompt 27 for April 27

A poet’s work … to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep. – Salman Rushdie

Word Mashup Poem

Write an 8 line (or longer) poem that has at least 2 mashup words (4 would be even better). 

Mashup words means you put two words together that normally would not ever be put together and may in your mind have a meaning that is different than the meaning of either of the words separately. Don’t explain the words…pretend they exist and that their meaning is well known.

Poetry cannot breathe in the scholar’s atmosphere. – Henry David Thoreau

Prompt 28 for April 28

write an “I” poem without using “I” and/or create a subversive dialogue of the writing of an “I” poem within the poem you create.

If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. – Emily Dickinson

Prompt 29 for April 29

Write a Path-Crosser poem.  (A form of my own invention).    

Here’s what to do:             

Start out your poem  

with four to six lines 

leading up to a situation

where you come to some                         

sort of fork in the road;                         

literally or a life challenge

If you went on this path  

                                                                               

What might happen

would things change?                                                                                      

 If you took this path

Would the challenges                                                                                        

Where might you go?

inspire you to something greater?                                                                

What might happen?

Who would you meet?                                                                                        

 What would you see?

What would you see?                                                                                          

 What would you do?

Write your Path-Crosser poem.

One of my secret instructions to myself as a poet is:

‘Whatever you do, don’t be boring.’ – Anne Sexton

Prompt 30 for April 30

A Cascade Poem
A newer poetic form. There are several variations… I suggest a Quatrain version. The cascade poem was a form invented by Udit Bhatia. For the cascade poem, a poet takes each line from the first stanza of a poem and makes those the final lines of each stanza afterward. There aren’t any additional rules for meter or rhyming. Here’s what a quatrain cascade looks like :

A

B

C

D

a
b
c
A

d
e
f
B

g
h
i
C

j
k
l
D

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
― Mary Oliver

Prompt 31 for April 31

AND….

The 31st Prompt   (what?!?!)  Yes keep going… May 1rst write one more.  Double Dog Dare You.

Create a poem made up of lines that you used in poems you have written recently (preferably NaPoWriMo poems you have been writing).   Create three 4 to 6 line stanzas made up of previously written lines.

“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.”― Kahlil Gibran

A great resource for all things NaPoWriMo is Maureen Thorson’s website.  She began posting her prompts and poems on her blog back in 2003.  The Napowrimo.net site is here! This PoetryIsEverything blog has been be posting prompts and encouragements throughout the month to help inspire you to take up the National/Global Poetry Writing Month challenge (NaGloPoWriMo).

“If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender com sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!”
― Shel Silverstein

The BookTree Bookstore Facebook page is here. If you are anywhere near our Kirkland, Wa. store please come in and introduce yourself, consider supporting the store by making a purchase, ordering a gift certificate or sharing our messages on Facebook! Thank you for supporting the independent bookstore near you!

BONUS : Create a poem using parts of the quotes featured on this page!

Keep Writing!

“You have to remember that it is impossible to commit a crime while reading a book.”
― John Waters

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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NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 22 to 26

You are of course writing a completely new and original scribble/poem each and every day during the month of April and getting into the habit or writing something every day. Below are some more suggested challenge prompts to use, share, manipulate and challenge yourself with. Enjoy!

In the Western Washington/Seattle area a covid version of independent bookstore day begins on Saturday April 24th (click on link for more details). At BookTree the beloved mystery-thriller author Robert Dugoni will be making an appearance to sign his books on Saturday! You may have an independent bookstore day celebration where you live too. Thanks for supporting independent bookstores throughout the entire year.

“There never yet have been, nor are there now, too many good books.”
― Martin Luther

Prompt 22 for April 22

Write an Anagrammatic poem.  Anagrammatic poetry is poetry with the constrained form that either each line or each verse is an anagram of all other lines or verses in the poem and or everything is made up of letters used in the title of the poem. So use 3 to 5 words to title your poem and make sure you have at least 8 lines in your poem.  Choose a title and the letters in the title and only the letters in the title can appear in the poem.    An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once (though it’s okay to not be a stickler on this).  For example, the word anagram itself can be rearranged into nag a ram, also the word binary into brainy and Jim Morrison = Mr. Mojo Risin’ . Have FUN!!!!

Prompt 23 for April 23

Happy Birthday to William Shakespeare. So today use at least 6 Shakespeare invented words and 2 phrases of four words or more that are Shakespearean in the poem you write today. Yes Shakespeare invented around 1700 words — some nonsense words and some in common use today. Use as many as you’d like. Go here to see a generous 422 of them.   You can use more of each too.

“Some are born great, others achieve greatness.”
― William Shakespeare – Twelfth Night

Prompt 24 for April 24

Write a Poem that features your birthstone.

Prompt 25 for April 25

Write a Poem that your younger self would have benefited from reading.

“You speak an infinite deal of nothing.”
― William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice

Prompt 26 for April 26

Compile words phrases and titles associated with Ernest Hemingway. Use several in a poem.

“If there really is such a thing as turning in one’s grave, Shakespeare must get a lot of exercise.”
― George Orwell

A great resource for all things NaPoWriMo is Maureen Thorson’s website.  She began posting her prompts and poems on her blog back in 2003.  The Napowrimo.net site is here! This PoetryIsEverything blog will be posting prompts and encouragements throughout the month to help inspire you to take up the National/Global Poetry Writing Month challenge (NaGloPoWriMo).

The BookTree Bookstore Facebook page is here. If you are anywhere near our Kirkland, Wa. store please come in and introduce yourself, consider supporting the store by making a purchase, ordering a gift certificate or sharing our messages on Facebook! Thank you for supporting the independent bookstore near you!

“I ate them like salad, books were my sandwich for lunch, my tiffin and dinner and midnight munch. I tore out the pages, ate them with salt, doused them with relish, gnawed on the bindings, turned the chapters with my tongue! Books by the dozen, the score and the billion. I carried so many home I was hunchbacked for years. Philosophy, art history, politics, social science, the poem, the essay, the grandiose play, you name ’em, I ate ’em.”
― Ray Bradbury

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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NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 17 to 21

The task of a writer consists in being able to make something out of an idea.— – Thomas Mann

Hopefully you are writing a completely new and original poem every day during the month of April. I will try to post a few of the ones I’m writing (I write something every day). Below are are some suggested challenge prompts to use and abuse as you would like. I want them to challenge and inspire you.

In the Western Washington/Seattle area a covid version of independent bookstore day begins on Saturday April 24th (click on link for more details). You may have an independent bookstore day celebration where you live too. Thanks for supporting independent bookstores throughout the entire year.

Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. — Novalis

Prompt 17 for April 17

Today’s Prompt

Parody. Take a well known metrical poem (Frost, Poe, Shakespeare, Blake, Alfred Lory Tennyson, Wordsworth, Keats, Housman, Shelley, Emmerson, Burns, Holmes, Keats. . .etc) and imitate it, make fun of the poem itself or something else entirely using as close to an identical rhyme and meter pattern as you can muster. Have FUN!!!!

Prompt 18 for April 18

Advertising. Think of some popular advertising slogans. Use a few of them in whole or part in the poem you create today. You can make up product names or switch things around, or pack the poem with slogan after slogan. It’s Poetry Country, pardner, you’re soaking in it right now and I’d rather fight than switch. (Easy…right?).
Have fun!!!

Prompt 19 for April 19

RESPONSE POEM
Pick a poem you like or admire (or hate passionately) and respond to it, line by line with your own poem. You do NOT have to imitate or parody it… but you can do that too. You might answer a question posed by the poet, you might ask a question in response to what it written. You might take it to a different place, expand it, contract it or reinvent it. Do try to isolate the first lines of the poem and see where it takes you. Re-write them, change them into your own. When you’re done, take a few minutes to revise it, perhaps subtly changing it, perhaps drastically re-writing what you started with. Don’t spend more than an hour on it, however—later, next week, next month you do more to it as you wish. After you’ve written the poem… tell us the poem that inspired it; if there’s a link available to where someone might read it… include that if you can.
Have fun.

Prompt 20 for April 20

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!

I grew up in this town, my poetry was born between the hill and the river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests.— Pablo Neruda

Prompt 21 for April 21

Take us away to a beautiful place. It’s the middle of the week, most of us are looking ahead toward the weekend or perhaps to a vacation in late spring or early summer. So write yourself a beautiful place and take us along.
How you do it is up to you. It can be safe and cozy. It can be wild and crazy. It can be visually beautiful. If you’re able to paint a picture using all five senses in your poem—please do so. What beautiful place shall we escape to? Is it a place that really exists or is it a fantasy? Is it a place you’ve been, a place you are from or a place you always wanted to go? When you read this poem, if it takes you somewhere special, it will take us there too.

Let’s go.

A great resource for all things NaPoWriMo is Maureen Thorson’s website.  She began posting her prompts and poems on her blog back in 2003.  The Napowrimo.net site is here! This PoetryIsEverything blog will be posting prompts and encouragements throughout the month to help inspire you to take up the National/Global Poetry Writing Month challenge (NaGloPoWriMo).

The BookTree Bookstore Facebook page is here. If you are anywhere near our Kirkland, Wa. store please come in and introduce yourself, consider supporting the store by making a purchase, ordering a gift certificate or sharing our messages on Facebook! Thank you for supporting the independent bookstore near you!

A poem begins with a lump in the throat.–Robert Frost
Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.— Robert Frost

If you see the picture on this post… it’s of the now 4 year old English lab named Mae May . Most of the time she greets everyone who visits BookTree in Kirkland.

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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NaPoWriMo Prompts 11 to 16 2021

“Tolerance is the one essential ingredient… You can take it from me that the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.”  – Prince Philip

Hopefully you are writing a completely new and original poem every day during the month of April. I will try to post a few of the ones I’m writing (I write something every day). Below are are some suggested challenge prompts to use and abuse as you would like. I want them to challenge and inspire you.

Let me remind you to consider being part of a very special poetry reading on Zoom that celebrates the work poet, Jack McCarthy on April 15th at 7pm (PST) Details:  SoulFood Allow the Light -Jack McCarthy tribute Poetry Night . It’s Free and there is a limited open mic too!

Prompt 10 for April 10, 2021

Let’s use, re-use, and manipulate some quotes by Prince Philip. Use a phrase or two, change a few words, however you would like to do it. Write a poem that comments or is an homage to Prince Philip.

 I realise that there are any number of vital causes to be fought for, I sympathise with people who work up a passionate concern about the all too many examples of inhumanity, injustice, and unfairness, but behind all this hangs a really deadly cloud. Still largely unnoticed and unrecognised, the process of destroying our natural environment is gathering speed and momentum. If we fail to cope with this challenge, all the other problems will pale into insignificance. – Prince Philip 

Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed. –Prince Philip In 1981, in reference to an economic recession, as quoted in “Long line of princely gaffes”, BBC News (1 March 2002) 

“If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it “–  Prince Philip 1986 

Prompt 11 for April 11, 2021

Today’s   prompt is  a  5-5-5.   5 senses, Use at least 5 of the suggested words AND have the poem be 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 lines long. 

1.        A 5 senses poem.   A poem that includes all 5 senses. 

2.       Here are some natural words to use in your poem  (use at least 5 of these words) 

Ocean, lava  droplet,  gazelle, blossom, nest,  snake,  moon,  chirp, clouds,  field,  stream,  grasshopper hiss, green,  seed,  fur,  forest, sunlight,  chrysalis, breeze,  buzz. 

Prompt 12 for April 12, 2021

Hey, it’s MY birthday….I’m even OLDER today. Write something today, not because it’s my birthday , but because, expressing yourself creatively is one of the most precious gifts you have—and it is meant to be shared. Break the self-imposed chains that make you doubt you are able to write something worth posting today. What a wonderful day this April 12^th is, huh? Let’s go to the movies today. 

Use 2 to 4 movie quotes in the poem you write today. Your poem can be about anything you would like. Love, Nature, Movies, Politics, Religion… you are a poet, you are fearless. The quotes can be favorites 
or ones you look up and decide to play with. 
You can go to IMDB.COM, look up a movie you like and often there will be a box on the left hand side that includes a link to quotes from that  movie. You can try googling the movie  and see if quotes will come up for it. 
Use the quotes in a completely different way in the body of a poem then how they are used in the movie. You can 
even change the tense or gender of a word if need be. Make sure you use at least two quotes. Each quote can consist of a couple of lines of dialogue or a single line.. up to you. 
Tell us in a post poem note where the quotes come from. “ Here’s looking at you, kid. “ 

Prompt 13 for April 13, 2021

Write an Anaphora poem. An Anaphora is defined as  “the repetition of a word or expression several times within a clause or within a paragraph”.   It’s origin is Greek and the word means a” carrying up or back,” and it refers to a type of parallelism created when successive phrases or lines begin with the same words, often resembling a litany. The repetition can be as simple as a single word or as long as an entire phrase.  In poetry the repetition of the phrase can be just at the beginning of each line, setting the tone as a meditation or a mantra, or it can be utilized more subtlety within the poem.   It’s one of the oldest literary devices and you’ll find it used in Biblical Psalms and William Shakespeare frequently wrote Anaphora poems…some merely repeat the word AND at the beginning of each line.   Hopefully you’ll be more creative than that.  (Yes, you are now going to be MORE creative than Shakespeare!) 

Other examples of poets using Anaphora include  Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, Walt Whitman’s “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,” Section V of “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot, and “From a Litany” by Mark Strand. 

So write one  your poem can be free verse or prose style. 

If you use the repeated words at the end of the line it is called:  an epistrophe. 

As an additional double dog dare challenge  use frog and frogs in your poem more than once….and write a poem longer than 10 lines. 

Prompt 14 for April 14, 2021  

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: http://www.behindthename.com/ . 

Prompt 15 for April 15, 2021    

Something or someone is missing. 

YOU know what it is. 

Now without actually telling us exactly what it is… write about it. It can be positive or negative. Do NOT mention what the object is or who the person is in relation to you in the body of the poem. 

At the end of the poem you can tell us what it is you have been writing about if you want to… but you don’t have to. Entirely up to you. 

Prompt 16 for April 16, 2021    

Some of the poems I write for NaPoWriMo  really stink.  So let’s write a poem about things we smell and let’s make sure that we give a smell to something that doesn’t have a smell attached to it… it could be love, it could be tragedy, it could be happiness  etc.    In a trip through olfactory roads, also give a feeling or concept an identifiable smell.  Everyone’s poetry stinks today….  Write on!!! 

A great resource for all things NaPoWriMo is Maureen Thorson’s website.  She began posting her prompts and poems on her blog back in 2003.  The Napowrimo.net site is here! This PoetryIsEverything blog will be posting prompts and encouragements throughout the month to help inspire you to take up the National/Global Poetry Writing Month challenge (NaGloPoWriMo).

Quick write Poem

Sir Duke Lord of LessWordia

by Christopher J. Jarmick

Titles are important to some

they reveal a writer’s thought process,

organization and or sense of fun.

Poem for Prompt 6 Ars Poetica

Inside/Out Sra aciteoP

By Christopher J. Jarmick

I’m feeling lazy today and

really don’t have a lot to say

about this so-called poet putting

words down on temporary paper.

How important could it be if the

paper itself can’t possible last more than a few decades unless

preserved airtight which will never be done.

Worse this digital age

too much of everything

The poem written of me should

be perfect in it’s creation

and improved during its construction.

It’s timing should also get

everyone’s complete attention because

the poem is important, worth savoring

contemplating, remembering and keeping

close at hand to read over and over again.

The BookTree Bookstore Facebook page is here. If you are anywhere near our Kirkland, Wa. store please come in and introduce yourself, consider supporting the store by making a purchase, ordering a gift certificate or sharing our messages on Facebook! Thank you for supporting the independent bookstore near you!

Books are certainly old fashioned, but only people with a very limited perception are silly enough to condemn ideas because of their age. It is, of course, equally silly to condemn the new fangled simply because it is strange, and I am full of admiration for the technologists who have developed all sorts of gadgets for the purpose of improving communications. However, I believe that all these fascinating machines are complementary to, and not substitutes for, books and the printed word. – Prince Philip 

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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KEEP WRITING!

NaPoWriMo Prompts 6 to 10 2021 and….

“A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”
― Charles Baudelaire

I have very limited time these days because I run BookTree Bookstore at 609 Market St. in Kirkland, Wa 98033! This is why I’ll be posting a series of suggested prompts to challenge you and keep your writing every few days (instead of every day).

A great resource for all things NaPoWriMo is Maureen Thorson’s website.  She began posting her prompts and poems on her blog back in 2003.  The Napowrimo.net site is here! This PoetryIsEverything blog will be posting prompts and encouragements throughout the month to help inspire you to take up the National/Global Poetry Writing Month challenge (NaGloPoWriMo).

Remember the idea is write a completely new and original poem every day during the month of April.  Some will be better than others and what you write and possibly post are very rough drafts that most likely will need revising, editing and a little time to become ‘keepers’. I will try to post the poems I write to my own prompts as I am able. I’ll be writing every day.. not always to the prompts and some won’t be posted because it takes additional time to do so and a few may be published elsewhere.

Let me remind to consider being part of a very special poetry reading on Zoom that celebrates the work of a very special poet, Jack McCarthy on April 15th at 7pm (PST) Details:  SoulFood Allow the Light -Jack McCarthy tribute Poetry Night . It’s Free and there is a limited open mic too!

Prompt 6 for April 6th, 2021

Write an Ars Poetica poem from the perspective of the poem itself. (Here’s an essay on Ars Poetica very much worth reading from poets.com )

Prompt 7 for April 7, 2021

Write two different types of Septolets today.  (Sep-toe-lay)

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.)

Prompt 8 for April 8, 2021

Questions. Have a least 4 random… unique questions in your poem. They don’t have to be answered, they might begin each stanza of your poem and the rest of the stanza might ignore the question completely. It’s your poem to mold and do what you want with. Examples of questions: Why didn’t Pink Floyd have groupies? Who is actually buried in Grant’s Tomb? What are the 3 best National Parks that you should visit before you die? Who was the first person in modern times to decided to eat/prepare organs of animals to eat?

Prompt 9 for April 9, 2021

It is poet Charles Baudelaire’s Birthday today. Use in some way or rewrite as you wish at least two C.B. quotes in the poem you write today. Please find an use any Baudelaire quote you would like.

“Remembering is only a new form of suffering.”
― Charles Baudelaire

“What strange phenomena we find in a great city, all we need do is stroll about with our eyes open. Life swarms with innocent monsters.” ― Charles Baudelaire

Prompt 10 for April 10, 2021

10 items or less. Write a poem using less than 10 nouns in your 12 line or longer poem. You can repeat nouns if needed. Try rhyming your creation!

My Day 1 poem Poem loosely based on Ferlinghetti quotes.

Father Ferlinghetti

by Christopher J. Jarmick

Father Ferlinghetti has left his congregation

a bird again perhaps with two left wings no doubt. 

Will the one from the corner store

be chewing a penny piece of bubblegum in space?

There’s the tightrope walker’ tween the clouds

I think it is ‘he’ – now far far above

the City Lights.

EXTRA WRITE

Poem Starter 1421

by Christopher J. Jarmick

There is magic mysticism in poetry

even your poems, she said.

I’d never thought of this

and then the wind somehow blew

my thoughts scattering them around the room

 like leaves on a late autumn day.

Another site that uses prompts and encourages you to post the poems you are writing is Robert Lee Brewer’s Writing Digest Poetry Prompt site which is here. You can also combine one or more prompts and give yourself a unique challenge.

Remember you want to write at least one poem every day during the month of April. You can write more than one, but the challenge is to write at least one and many people use the prompts to help, inspire or challenge their writing.

The BookTree Bookstore Facebook page is here. If you are anywhere near our Kirkland, Wa. store please come in and introduce yourself, consider supporting the store by making a purchase, ordering a gift certificate or sharing our messages on Facebook! Thank you for supporting the independent bookstore near you!

“Extract the eternal from the ephemeral.”
― Charles Baudelaire

Keep Writing!

NaPoWriMo 2021 National Poetry Month

NAPOWRIMO   BEGINS . . . .

“The art has to make it on its own, without explanations, and it’s the same for poetry. If the poem or the painting has to be explained, then it’s a failure in communication.”
― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Spread the news that this blog will be continue encouraging you with daily prompts to be part of National Poetry Month’s NaPoWriMo challenge.  The challenge is to write a poem each and every day of April.  You can add to the challenge and fun by using prompts to write your poems.  You can certainly use a combination of prompts and free writes to inspire your writing.  I like to think out of the box and challenge myself to write things I normally wouldn’t write.  It sometimes leads to poems that are worth working on, revising, editing and keeping.

A great resource for all things NaPoWriMo is Maureen Thorson’s website.  She began posting her prompts and poems on her blog back in 2003.  The Napowrimo.net site is here! This PoetryIsEverything blog will be posting prompts and encouragements throughout the month to help inspire you to take up the National/Global Poetry Writing Month challenge (NaGloPoWriMo).

I have very limited time these days because I run BookTree Bookstore at 609 Market St. in Kirkland, Wa 98033! During these covid times it’s even more difficult to juggle everything that it takes to own and operate (pretty much single handedly) a medium sized independent bookstore. Luckily the wonderful LeJene helps out as much as she can and I’ll introduce you to our official greeter (if you don’t already know her – Mae May, the now 4 year old english Lab) soon.

This year I’ll be posting a series of suggested prompts to help keep your writing. There’s no cost or even obligation as to how you participate.   I know the experience can be challenging but it will help give your writing muscles a worthwhile workout that just might improve your writing habits and disciplines.

Some of my prompts will be easy, others more difficult and I’ll also try to post some links to other sites that offer challenges for NaPoWriMo too.   Use the prompts as an inspiration to write every day or if you are so inclined as a challenge or mountain to begin climbing  The idea is to write a completely new and original poem every day during the month of April.  Some will be better than others and what you write and possibly post are very rough drafts that most likely will need revising, editing and a little time to become ‘keepers’.

Before I get to some suggested prompts… let me encourage you to be part of a very special poetry reading on Zoom that celebrates the work of Jack McCarthy on April 15th at 7pm (PST) via Zoom. SoulFood Allow the Light -Jack McCarthy tribute Poetry Night . It’s Free and there is a limited open mic too!

DAY 1  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  April 1, 2021  

Let’s begin the Napowrimo challenge by writing a poem that is inspired or is somehow connected to one (or all of these quotes attributed to the late great Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Coney Island of the Mind; City Lights Bookstore).

“Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone.” – Lawrence Felinghetti

“Poetry is the shortest distance between two humans.”
― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“The best writing is what’s right in front of you. Sometimes I’d walk down the street with poets and they wouldn’t see anything. I’d have to shake their arm and say, ‘Look! Look!”
― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“Souls dance undressed/ together/ and like loiterers/ on the fringes of a fair/ we ogle the unobtainable/ imagined mystery/ Yet away around on the far side/ like a stage door of a circus tent/ is a wide vent in the battlements/ where even elephants/ waltz thru”

pg. 31// A Coney Island of the Mind”
― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

DAY 2  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  April 2, 2021

Write an  ekphrasis poem.  Traditionally this is a poem inspired by a work of art or photograph.   Right now one of the best poetry magazines RATTLE has an ekphrasis challenge contest going on with winners’ poems to be published online AND winning poets will win bucks too.  (Really… it is not an April Fool’s prank!).

There are some rules if you want to enter their contest… Here’s the link to Rattle Ekphrastic

DAY 3  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  April 3, 2021

Write a poem in praise of one of your favorite movie monsters. You could also write the poem entirely from the monster’s viewpoint.

DAY 4  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  April 4, 2021

Write a poem that uses at least two different childhood memories.

DAY 5  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  April 5, 2021

Think of 5 items in your kitchen. Create a poem where those five items become characters in your poem… perhaps they come alive as in a cartoon or fantasy, perhaps they have special powers or . . . hey it’s your poem, figure it out.

Another site that uses prompts and encourages you to post the poems you are writing is Robert Lee Brewer’s Writing Digest Poetry Prompt site which is here. You can also combine one or more prompts and give yourself a unique challenge.

Remember you want to write at least one poem every day during the month of April. You can write more than one, but the challenge is to write at least one and many people use the prompts to help, inspire or challenge their writing.

The BookTree Bookstore Facebook page is here. If you are anywhere near our Kirkland, Wa. store please come in and introduce yourself, consider supporting the store by making a purchase, ordering a gift certificate or sharing our messages on Facebook! Thank you for supporting the independent bookstore near you!

“Don’t patronize the chain bookstores. Every time I see some author scheduled to read and sign his books at a chain bookstore, I feel like telling him he’s stabbing the independent bookstores in the back.”
― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Keep Writing!

Letting Go of Dad

 “. . . a time to be born and a time to die, . . . “

Letting Go of Dad

By Christopher J. Jarmick

1.

   “ a time to plant and a time to uproot,”   – Ecclesiastes 3

Bye Dad.

Thanks for the calls

the encouragement, the support,

the need to keep in touch.

Thanks for getting things in order,

for trying to make things easier,

less complicated.

Thanks for living long enough

so that we could mostly understand,

reconcile and forgive.

Forgiveness is a blessing.

It lightens the load we carry

And as Catholics, too familiar with guilt

our backs appreciate lesser loads.

Your faith grew stronger,

blessings were understood.

‘a time to mourn and a time to dance. . .

a time to tear and a time to mend. . . ‘

Losing your parents

is never easy

but you were in our lives

a long, long time.

We are all complicated,

misunderstood at times,

never patient or gentle enough,

but if we remain willing to learn,

there is hope.

2.

You were raised by parents

unhappy in marriage,

who did not accept you as a blessing,

did not grow up as quickly as you did.

No one is born with the skills,

the tools, the experience, to be

good partners, loving parents.

Some prepare, some don’t, some start the journey

with much less than needed, others with too much.

How do you express affection?  How do you share love?

How do you forgive?  Overcome bitterness?

How do you compromise?  Balance work and home?

How does anyone handle more than one child?

It was important and the right thing

to be a better husband, a better provider, a better parent

than your father had been.

It was a tough challenge.

You had help, a good partner.

That is a blessing to all of your children.

But there was more…

It took decades

but you opened your heart

you listened, you learned

there was a lot to know about love.

We the children have and will complain.

There is hurt, there is blame,

there is pain.

3.

“A time to love, A time to hate

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them.”

 

The scattered children gather,

remember,

appreciate the efforts, special moments,

the messages of how family is most important of all.

Most important is having, accepting, and understanding

unconditional love.

Sleep well, Dad.

Sleep well.

(For  Dad – Robert E. Jarmick  February 2, 1928   to  July 9, 2020  and LeJene, Bob, Jackie, and Jen.)

NaPoWriMo April 29, 2020 Prompt for day 30 and a bonus

I’m restless. Things are calling me away. My hair is being pulled by the stars again.”― Anaïs Nin

 

This is it!  NaPoWriMo 2020 is almost yesterday.  Do keep the habit of writing every day.  Do read each and every day.  In a few days you may discover some more posts on this blog.  There is a Writing Prompts page available on your right.   Hope you’ve had fun and challenged yourself.  Keep writing.

 

Promp 30

UP

Lie down and look up at the sky… are there clouds… stars…. Write about what you see, what you imagine, what you feel, the shape of things that are or could be. . .

 

BONUS PROMPT –  31

Make a found poem from some of the lines you wrote in your NaPoWriMo poems.  Use at least 8 different poems and write a poem at least 10 lines long.  Yes you can combine half lines too.

 

If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it;

Every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Poem Starter CV19 – 29

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

What can we take for granted again

and when can we take it for granted.

Is there a cost for too quickly

taking things for granted again.

Will normal be new again?

Whose new normal will it be?

 

“Real poetry, is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it.” ― Basho

 

Thanks for supporting your friendly neighborhood independent businesses.

 

BookTree is Kirkland, Washington’s only new and gently-used bookstore and right now it offers curbside delivery, direct by mail books, and gift certificates.  Email: booktreekirkland1@gmail.com    BookTree Website here. 

 

Currently Reading: Apeirogon by Colum McCann ; Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson; Lilian Boxfish Takes a Walk  by Kathleen Rooney; Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

 

Recently read and recommended:   Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice Of The American Century by John Loughery, Blythe Randolph ; Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson; A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan; Poems, 1960-1967 by Denise Levertov; Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate; A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni ( all 7 of his Tracy Crosswhite mystery thrillers set in Seattle area, are good and it’s best to start with #1  My Sister’s Grave); Fade Out: The Calamitous Final Days of MGM by Peter Bart ; The Deaf Republic (2019) by Ilya Kaminsky

 

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

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

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

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

KEEP WRITING!

NaPoWriMo April 28, 2020 Prompt for day 29

“I never dreamed the sea so deep,

The earth so dark; so long my sleep,

I have become another child.

I wake to see the world go wild.” ― Allen Ginsberg

 

It is  penultimate prompt day for NaPoWriMo 2020.  Keep writing!

 

Prompt 29

Jazz

 

April is also Jazz month and Kenneth Rexroth used to do Jazz and poetry together.  That’s the idea, let one of your favorite Jazz compositions inspire some poetry… the words should blend, mesh, work somehow with the Jazz.  Make it tasty.

 

“The poet, therefore, is truly the thief of fire. He is responsible for humanity, for animals even; he will have to make sure his visions can be smelled, fondled, listened to; if what he brings back from beyond has form, he gives it form; if it has none, he gives it none. A language must be found…of the soul, for the soul and will include everything: perfumes, sounds colors, thought grappling with thought” ― Arthur Rimbaud

 

Poem Starter CV19 -27

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

No flour?

No Toilet Paper?

No baking soda?

No eggs?

What will they be out of

this week at the grocery store?

 

Poem Starter CV19 – 28

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Business rent and home mortgage due

Credit card, car payment, cable

Electric, water, sewer, gas, garbage,

insurance, too… again.

Gas is cheaper though

still over 2 dollars a gallon

Not a lot of places to go.

Uh oh.

 

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

 

Thanks for supporting your friendly neighborhood independent businesses.

 

BookTree is Kirkland, Washington’s only new and gently-used bookstore and right now it offers curbside delivery, direct by mail books, and gift certificates.  Email: booktreekirkland1@gmail.com    BookTree Website here.

 

Currently Reading: Apeirogon by Colum McCann ; Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson; Lilian Boxfish Takes a Walk  by Kathleen Rooney; Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

Recently read and recommended:   Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice Of The American Century By John Loughery, Blythe Randolph ; Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson; A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan; Poems, 1960-1967 by Denise Levertov; Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate; A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni ( all 7 of his Tracy Crosswhite mystery thrillers set in Seattle area, are good and it’s best to start with #1  My Sister’s Grave); Fade Out: The Calamitous Final Days of MGM by Peter Bart ; The Deaf Republic (2019) by Ilya Kaminsky

 

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

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

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

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

KEEP WRITING!

NaPoWriMo April 27, 2020 Prompt for day 28

“There is darkness in light, there is pain in joy, and there are thorns on the rose.” ― Cate Tiernan

There are just 3 prompts to go for NaPoWriMo 2020.

 

Prompt 28

You can quote me!

Consider a quote you appreciate or re-write a quote and let it be part of the poem that it inspires.

 

“I want to see thirst

In the syllables,

Tough fire

In the sound;

Feel through the dark

For the scream.” ― Pablo Neruda

 

 

Poem Starter CV19 -25

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Long leisurely walks

Good for you.

Relaxing.

Even better when

someone you love

is by your side.

 

Poem Starter CV19 – 26

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Let’s play fetch

I’ll throw some common sense out there

You avoid the nonsense

don’t be a knucklehead

find and keep some common sense

for yourself.

 

“there isn’t enough of anything

as long as we live. But at intervals

a sweetness appears and, given a chance

prevails.”  ― Raymond Carver

 

Thanks for supporting your friendly neighborhood independent businesses.

 

BookTree is Kirkland, Washington’s only new and gently-used bookstore and right now it offers curbside delivery, direct by mail books, and gift certificates.  Email: booktreekirkland1@gmail.com    BookTree Website here. 

 

Currently Reading: Apeirogon by Colum McCann ; Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson; Lilian Boxfish Takes a Walk  by Kathleen Rooney; Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

 

Recently read and recommended:   Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice Of The American Century

By John Loughery, Blythe Randolph ; Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

by Bryan Stevenson; A Pilgrimage to Eternity by Timothy Egan; Poems, 1960-1967

by Denise Levertov; Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate; A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni ( all 7 of his Tracy Crosswhite mystery thrillers set in Seattle area, are good and it’s best to start with #1  My Sister’s Grave); Fade Out: The Calamitous Final Days of MGM by Peter Bart ; The Deaf Republic (2019) by Ilya Kaminsky

 

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

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

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

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

KEEP WRITING!