NaPoWriMo Wrap up, Poems and bonus prompts!

“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” —Robert Louis Stevenson

I hope you enjoyed National Poetry Month, read some extra poetry, perhaps attended more than a couple poetry readings, wrote some poems to various prompts and found yourself writing some things you would not have written otherwise.  You might have even developed a habit of writing every day.

“A word after a word after a word is power.”—Margaret Atwood

My schedule is very busy these days with owning, managing a bookstore and all the marketing, scheduling, ordering, etc that it entails. (Remember to support your friendly neighborhood independent bookstore.  (BookTree on Facebook is here) BookTree will have an evening with Tess Gallagher on May 14th!  Our Third Saturday writing workshop followed by our PoetryIsEverything Poetry Night on May 18th features Matthew Brouwer and Jed Myers and an open mic.   Hope you can be part of it!

Most of the poems I wrote this month were done in less than 20 minutes and then quickly edited in about 5 minutes as I was posting them.   I did think about some of the prompts as I was doing other things.  About ten poems are decent and maybe three or four with some work are worth publishing.  A couple were awful I know and that’s part of the NaPoWriMo challenge too.

“Tears are words that need to be written.” —Paulo Coelho

After my poems you’ll find some Bonus Prompts.

Prompt 29  Countdown poem  (mine started with 10 words decreasing to 1)

Indie Bookstore Day

by Christopher J. Jarmick

This year’s 11 hours of independent bookstore day at BookTree

began by letting in two dozen people waiting outside.

By hour three more than 500 had visited

getting passports stamped, some touring the store,

others buying books, many rushing fast.

21 store visits required for

discount card, bragging rites.

Busy, memorable, fun,

10 hour

day.

Prompt 30  Go through what you have written the last 29 days and pick out 4 lines or more to incorporate in the body of a new poem.

What Me Worry?

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Not going to worry about a thing

like the song said

even if the maze of anxiety

isn’t as much fun as I would imagine

a Coney Island of the Mind ought to be.

I could care less if I dash out into a vandlop

or how insecure I feel four layers in.

My knees will inhale courage

and I’ll imagine everyone in their worst

pair of underwear rubberizing their faces

with makeup smiles.

Gonna be alright.

Not going to worry about a thing.

 

XTRA –

Poem Starter 1429

By Christopher J. Jarmick

There’s no ‘I’ in

meat,  mate or tame,

and you can’t spell  team

without meta.

Poem Starter 1950

By Christopher J. Jarmick

During the intermission

a billion dollars

was redacted.

Poem Starter 1501

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Will I know

which poem is good

which a worthwhile failure?

EXTRA PROMPTS!!!!

Need some extra prompts for the days ahead?

Here’s 7 more I almost used including several from Brendan McBreen too:

Prompt A

whats your sign?

write a poem which predicts the future

think daily horoscope

Prompt B

garden poem

you’ve heard of a green thumb

write a poem comparing different body parts to different plants or plant parts

Prompt C

Judge a book cover

Write an ekphrastic poem but use the art work

on a cover of a book to inspire you.

Prompt D

poker face

write a poem

without letting the reader know what you are writing about

just hint at the subject

Prompt E

Put a Tiger in your tank!

Write a poem that includes three or four (or more) places

you vividly remember from your childhood.

Prompt F

30 days has Remember, Poetry, Soon and November

all the rest have thirty-one, except for February alone.

Make up two to three names for calendar months ( yes, you could

create a new day name too) and use them in your poem today.

Prompt G

snap! snap!

it’s the Addams Family!

write a nice gloomy macabre poem

about one of your relatives (fictional or real) who is probably a distant relation to the Addams’s

be sure to include some rhymes

Prompt H

the end of endings

write a to do list for the day of the apocalypse

its going to be a busy day after all

 

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

A few months ago, the wonderful, talented, writer, publisher, editor, poet Lana Ayers did an interview with me and creatively posted the results.  You might enjoy it.  Thoughts on Writing and Dealing with Inner Darkness.  

Thank you!

Keep Writing! 

NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 29 and April 30 and Prompt Poems

The final two NaPoWriMo 2019 prompts.  Here we go!!!

Prompt for April  29   (write poem to this prompt on April 29th  )

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” —Isaac Asimov

From Brendan McBreen that Striped Water Poets member from the Auburn area whose latest collection of poetry from MoonPath Press is Cosmic Egg.

counting backwards

write a countdown poem

use gradually decreasing numbers in a poem

concluding with your final line

this should be a blast!

“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” —Albert Camus

Prompt for April  30   (write poem to this prompt on April 30th )

“Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.” —Sylvia Plath

It’s the last official day of NaPoWriMo  (you can of course keep writing a poem a day, I mean now that it is almost a habit perhaps you should.  Plenty of prompts out there if you need them.)  Congratulations for making an effort to write each and every day.   Hope you stretched a bit and some of the excercises challenged you.  Hope most of it was fun.   Maybe you even wrote some things that can revised into something worth keeping and publishing.

Go through what you have written the last 29 days and pick out 4 lines.  Incorporate these 4 lines into the body of your poem that reveals something most people probably do not know about you.  You can alter and revise your 4 words (but they should be fairly close to how they originally appeared).

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” —Robert Frost

“You can make anything by writing.” —C.S. Lewis

Prompt 24   Rewrite song lyrics

Fly Trump Past the Moon

(song parody)  by Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Fly Trump past the moon

let him nick-name all the stars

Let Musk blast him far away

Past that Jupiter and Mars

In twitter posts, be pushy

In twitter posts, can’t grab pussy.

 

Make us great again

and bring back some civility

It’s all that we long for

All we dream about some more

In Twitter posts he will yell

In twitter posts, He can’t spell

 

Mueller’s report will tell

though cunning Barr will redact

the truth shall be known

and Trump we shall  extract

 

In twitter posts he will yell

To his rude posts,   we shall reply

Go   to . . . .

Hell

Prompt 25 – aliteration

Boris belches

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Boris, the biggest born behemoth belched

Creating chaotic calamity

Seismic seizures, celebrations squelched

Time trembled, terrible travesty.

“Manners matter!” commands Mother Mabel

Disgraced, dumbfounded, definitely in disfavor

bashful behemoth boy Boris blushes at his bad behavior

Totally terrified tot told to vacate table.

Prompt 26       A Stream of consciousness write after listening and writing down five or six words or phrases that someone said.

Michael Lewis’ Pod Cast Extrapolated

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Life isn’t so hard, but it isn’t easy

And did you ever really look hard enough

to realize there are little tragedies in nearly

everyone’s life you have ever met

and in nearly every family there are dysfunctions

and usually people hold onto grudges

And the original reason is often grudge-holding worthy

but most are held onto year and year

like a really bad habit

which doesn’t make much sense at all

because the wound won’t heal until you figure

out how to forgive and mostly forget.

Why open up your wound all the time?

Why carry around such stuff?

But now it’s time to stop writing and notice

how beautiful the light looks outside

And notice the shadows that are being cast

And walk outside and take a long deep breath

Paying attention to the whole process of

Breathing in, holding the air in your lungs

And then letting it go.

Yes, letting it go.

Man, the light is beautiful right now.

Wish you were here.

Prompt 27 – pick a canned phrase and expand on the sentiment

in an extreme and overly detailed way  8 lines or more extreme.

No limits

By Christopher J. Jarmick

There are no limits to what you can achieve

your imagination is organically illimitable

no red or yellow lights, speed restrictions, or dead ends

in the way of your path to reach your goal.

Don’t imagine a problem, just believe it and you can achieve it.

Picture, taste, touch, smell, put the top down and feel it in the air

Race to that goal, speed bumps and obstacles do not exist.

Space, infinity, nothing to stop you.  No bars.  No caps.

No bounds, no controls, no rations

No freeze, no bridles, no brakes,

No demarcation, no checks, no locked doors.

Prompt 28   Find five verbs and five nouns used in Space/Astronomy/Rocket Science and use them to write about another subject.

Not a Romantic Poem

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Kepler’s laws sure seem to apply

to a young lovers combusted heart

It’s a circular geocentric, cosmic alignment

that makes you hear your special song on the radio

in the mall, in a TV commercial

The quasar burns for her.

Where’s a black hole when you need one?

Feeling worse than a byproduct of a dwarf planet

jettisoned toward a disintegrating comet.

you wish you could combust like a celestial fireball

instead of having a parallax view and that feeling

like a penumbra in a waning moon.

 

Keep Writing!!!

NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28; plus some poems!

“I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within.”  —Gustave Flaubert

We’re down to the final 7 prompts of NaPoWriMo 2019!   Here’s the next 5 challenges and inspirations to keep you writing.

But first…for those of you in Western Washington:

This FRIDAY from 1:30pm to around 4pm, writer, poet, editor and publisher David D. Horowitz will be at BookTree in Kirkland.  It’s always fun when he hangs out and talks/reads/answers questions.  Facebook Event Page you can share is here! 

Also:  Saturday is Seattle Independent Bookstore Day!  BookTree is once again part of it.  Be part of the celebration of Independent bookstores.  Thank You.   Facebook for SIBD here!  

And now to the prompts.

Prompt for April  24   (write poem to this prompt on April 24th  )

Music.   Rewrite the lyrics to a song you admire.  Keep a nearly identical meter and rhyme pattern.  (Tell us what song it was only at the end of your poem).

“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” —William Faulkner

Keep Writing!

Prompt for April 25    (write poem to this prompt on April 25th )

From Brendan McBreen  :  dive into the dark dank deep depths of alliteration!

write a poem using alliteration in each line… can you make it rhyme?

Happy Poeming!

Prompt for April 26   (write poem to this prompt on April 26th   )

“A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.” — Sidney Sheldon

Stream of consciousness write.   Listen.   Write down the sounds you hear and make sure you hear voices speaking or go to the internet or radio and write down five or six words that someone has said

Now use this to write for 4 to 5 minutes and I mean just write, pen to paper preferably and move the pen as continuously as possible for several minutes.   Take a few minutes (no more than 3 minutes – just 3 minutes) and that’s your poem for today.

“Don’t get it right, get it written.” – – Ally Carter

Keep Writing!

Prompt for April 27    (write poem to this prompt on April 27th )

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” ― John Steinbeck

From Brendan McBreen

canned phrase

pick a canned phrase you use like “have a nice day” and expand on the sentiment

in an extreme and overly detailed way

eight lines long extreme

“I write to discover what I know.”—Flannery O’Connor

Happy Poeming!

Prompt for April  28   (write poem to this prompt on April 28th   )

“Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” –William Faulkner

Twisting a prompt idea from Brendan McBreen we have this challenge:

Find five verbs and five nouns used in Space/Astronomy/Rocket Science and use them to write about another subject. The idea is to create an extended metaphor in a short poem, of maybe ten to twelve lines.

“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

And here are poems I wrote for the last shared prompts.

Prompt for April 22    (write poem to this prompt on April 22nd  )

Prompt 22   Recipe Poem that reads like a detailed recipe but doesn’t have anything to do with cooking or baking.

Laura’s Recipe for a Maltese Detour

By

Christopher J. Jarmick

Organize your shopping list of ingredients

though it probably won’t matter much.

Wear black and consider a hat.

One or two: Shady Dames

One or Two: Saps

One or two: unwashed cops

Three:  tablespoons of angular perspective

from below the eye-line

Four: Teaspoons of mood lighting

Five: Pinches of some

not quite right circumstances

Six: Cups of desperation

Six: Dead ends – peeled.

Seven or eight:  Mugs of untrustworthy,

possibly spoiled unkempt

characters and stoolies.

(they’ll be available to you

almost everywhere you go.)

Eight: Halves of hard-boiled cynicism.  Diced.

Nine: Drops of sweat

on or about the brow.

Ten: Zest scrapings from

a this- isn’t-going-to-end

well.

Combine and mix the ingredients.

But you know what doll?  It really doesn’t matter

How you do it.  We’re doomed to repeat

our past mistakes, make a mess of things anyway.

Eventually you’ll figure out the best way

to half-bake everything and when you split it up

into equal portions, folks will accuse you and others

of it not being fairly divided and then there is the

sour, bitter after-taste.

Intentional and

certainly part of the appeal

but there’s going to be smoke

and serious injuries.

You probably should be smart

leave early, get a head start, forget the whole thing,

but 10 to 1 says

you won’t.

 

Prompt 23 Poem  (TODAY)

write a poem in the form of a conversation between a mythological character

and an inanimate object repeating four randomly chosen words throughout.

Catch,  spring,  release, fire   (are the words)

Rukuba and the Ball

By Christopher J. Jarmick

“Catch me, Rukuba,”  Ball said.

“Catch you?” asked the guardian of fire.

“Yes it is spring and we must

play catch and release.”

Rukuba sprang into action catching the ball

releasing it quickly as if it were on fire.

Ball laughed. “I shall bounce high into the air.”

“…and I shall spring into the air faster than a

a spark from a fire and catch and release you.”

“You are fast!”

“Let us play catch and release some more.”

It is a perfect game for a spring day,” Ball agreed

“I will give you a three second head start.”

“I will roll down the hill and into the spring

where surely you, the guardian of fire, will not

dare catch and release me.”

“Try me, my silly friend.”

And the two new best friends played

catch and release until the spring sun set

And the fireflies appeared.

Keep Writing!!!

NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 22 and April 23 and some prompt poems!

“You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”—Annie Proulx

Oh my!  Less than 10 to go!  If you are just starting….welcome and enjoy being part of NaPoWriMo!  If you’ve been playing along for a while, I hope the prompts are inspiring and challenging. Maybe you are even writing something different than anything you’ve written before.  This is good!

Prompt for April 22    (write poem to this prompt on April 22nd  )

“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

Write a recipe poem.

Make it read like a detailed recipe but the poem shouldn’t have

anything to do with cooking or baking.

Keep Writing!

Prompt for April  23   (write poem to this prompt on April 23rd )

There’s no such thing as writing too much – as long as you only keep 10 percent of it.  –  Christopher J. Jarmick

From Brendan McBreen –  fun with words and stuff

pick four words, random is good

now write a poem in the form of a conversation between

a mythological character and an inanimate object

make sure those four words repeat throughout

If you’ve been writing more than a few months and sincerely believe everything you write has value you’re delusional and should seek help immediately. –  Christopher J. Jarmick

Happy Poeming!

Prompt 17 

So start your poem with 1 three syllable word

Line 2: use 3 words and two three syllable words

Line 3:  6 words with  3  three syllable words

Line 4:  9 words with  4 three syllable words.

Stanza 2

Line 5   a line with 6 words and 3  three syllable words

Line 6:   A line with  3 words  and 2 three syllable

Line 7: Last line  1  3 syllable word.

Threemation

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Difficult

creative challenging puzzle

dividing syllables with laser focused consciousness

demonstrate, implement, stimulate new idea perhaps a unique form.

 

Overcome poetic objection, release the muse

Realize and recognize

potential.

Prompt 18 – choose word that is tattooed on your forehead include it

at least 3x in your poem, try to make it the third word in every third line of poem.

 

Forgive

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Others like you

have imperfections

and faults. Forgive them

 

Slights big and small

Are made every day

Remember to forgive. Often.

 

Memories weigh you down

as much as possessions

when you forgive ,the load lightens.

 

Be unstuck in time

Flexible and understanding

You just forgive, stretch to the sky.

 

I hope you realize

on my forehead in invisible ink

Tattoo reading forgive, a reminder.

 

The tattoo is for me and you because

best advice is one you also follow and

I must forgive myself too.

 

Prompt 19

Mix up some well- known quotes use three to (not more) than five words at a time (credit quotes used)

Quoted

by Christopher J. Jarmick

Do unto others                             (Matthew 7:12)

Stay drunk on writing                (Ray Bradbury)

Rejoice with the truth                  (1 Cor 13  4 – 13  )

Jump off cliffs                                 (Ray Bradbury)

Fear no evil                                      (Psalm 23)

Stuff your eyes with wonder        (Ray Bradbury)

walk through fire                            (Isaiah 43:2)

don’t ask for guarantees               (Ray Bradbury)

Be strong and courageous.            (Joshua 1:9)

pretend you’re not teaching          (Ray Bradbury)

stand your ground                          (Ephesians 6:  14)

You must read books                      (Ray Bradbury)

be not dismayed                              (Isaaih 41:10)

write every single day                    (Ray Bradbury)

Love with all your soul                    (Mark 12:30)

Ideas lie everywhere through poetry   (Ray Bradbury)

incline your heart to understanding   (Proverbs 2)

Read poetry every day                   (Ray Bradbury)

Run with perseverance                  (Hebrews 12 1-2)

Poetry is evidence of life.               (Leonard Cohen)

 

Poem Starter 1419 (inspired by quote prompt)

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Family:

Can’t live

with/out

them.

 

EXTRA WRITE

Know Love Now

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Know

Love

Know how to

Love

Love

Love

Know how

How to know

Love

To know

Love

Now who to

Love?

Do you know

how to love

too?

Prompt for April 20

Write 2 or 4 NAANI  poems.   The NAANI  form (4 lines 20 to 25 syllables) is one of India’s most popular Telegu poem forms introduced by Dr. N. Gopi .

Naani Poems

By Christopher J. Jarmick

             1.

The place between

twilight and moon rise

nostalgia ignites

a newborn passion

2.

This time pledge that

each moment will

be appreciated

take nothing for granted

3.

Choose carefully

words do matter

though some squander

precious this poetry.

4.

Each season brings

new life and sheds

new light on all

the shadows of heart.

 

Prompt for April 21    – negative write a poem describing a subject by only what the subject is not

X-Ray

By Christopher J. Jarmick

This thing is not what you

think it is.

You would not even care

if you did know what it was

unless you knew me

very well.

This thing is not what

you think it is.

A lethargic winter’s night

does not compare.

The rotting blooms

of flowers never pruned

in late autumn.

Who does it represent?

Not anyone you know.

I thought I knew once,

but everyone is complex

and not always sure of

what they want..

This thing is not what you

think it is.

I almost got rid of it

several times,

but because it is part

of my personal history

I keep it.

This thing takes up no room

requires no maintenance

is almost never seen.

Curiosity makes you wonder

now, but you’ll forget about it

soon enough.

This thing is not what you

think it is.

 

KEEP WRITING!!!

NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 17,18, 19, 20 and 21 plus prompt poems.

The half-way marker is in the dust behind you.  Congrats to those with persistence and perseverance and welcome to any new-comers who’ve decided to give this NaPoWriMo thing a try!

“Go where the pain is, go where the pleasure is.” ― Anne Rice

Author Robert Dugoni at BookTree bookstore in Kirkland On Wednesday April 17 at 6:30 pm for talk, Q and A and signing.  Facebook Event Page here!

Free Creative Writing workshop (4:30pm), followed by the PoetryIsEverything Third Saturday reading and open mic (6:15pm) at BookTree on Saturday April 20th.  Share our Facebook Event Page here!   Thanks.

Prompt 17 –  Here’s the prompt for the poem you write on April 17th.

Three-way

It’s  Day 17,  and Seventeen has 3 syllables in it.   So

start your poem with a three syllable word

On the next line Line 2 use 3  words with 2 of them three syllables

Line 3:   6 words with at least 3  three syllable words

Line 4:  8 words with at least 4 three syllable words.

Stanza 2 –  Line 5:     6 words and 3  three syllable words

Line 6:  3 words and 2 three syllable words

Line 7   1 or 2 two words   and 1  3 syllable word.

Prompt for April 18     (write poem to this prompt on April 18th  )

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy. … Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.   Drink and be filled up.”-― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

From Brendan McBreen:

third eye sore

if you had to have one word tattooed on your forehead

which word would you choose?

now include that word in a poem three times

try making it the third word of every third line in a poem 12 lines (or longer).

Happy Poeming!

Prompt for April 19   (write poem to this prompt on April 19th  )

“The true writer, the born writer, will scribble words on scraps of litter, the back of a bus tickets, on the wall of a cell.” ― David Nicholls

Mix up some well- known quotes no more than three or four words at a time.

Poem  should be 8 lines of longer and consist mainly of the quotes you are borrowing.

You can use some of the quotes I’ve shared on these pages or some that you know and love.  (Share the sources of the quotes you used).

Keep Writing!

“It’s okay to write crap. Just don’t try publishing it while it’s still crap.” ― S.M. Blooding

Prompt for April 20 (write poem to this prompt on April 20 )

“Don’t get it right, get it written.” ― Ally Carter

Write 3 or 4 NAANI  poems.   The NAANI  form.

This poetry was introduced by one of the renowned Telugu poets Dr. N.Gopi.

1. Naani is one of India ’s most popular Telugu poem forms. Telugu are a particular people in India.. Naani means an expression of one and all.
2. It consists of 4 lines.
3. The four lines combined are made up of 20 to no more than 25 syllables.
4. The poem is not bound to a particular subject but it depends upon human relations and current statements.

Examples of NAANI poems:

Bollimuntha Venkata Ramana Rao

In-between four walls

A loneliness with deep silence

Became paleness

When book accosts.

 

In-between

Language and slang

Arise the difference

Who are noble?

 

With pain

With commotion burnt out

Waving flow of intention

Oh! Where’s my pen?

 

Poetic expression

Economy of words

story canvas

Knows only squandering.

KEEP WRITING!

Prompt for April 21    (write poem to this prompt on April 21  )

“I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.” —Erica Jong

From Brendan McBreen – negative

write a poem describing a subject by only what the subject is not

“Words are a lens to focus one’s mind.”- Ayn Rand

And here’s a few poems I’ve written for passed prompts.

Prompt 15  half your 14 line (or less) poem should consist of borrowed lines/phrases from a book, poem, or magazine article, The endline should be compromised of up to 15 borrowed words .

Dog in the Park  (with lines from Dog by Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

By Christopher J. Jarmick

The dog is playing fetch in the park on a bright sunny day.

He will not be muzzled.

The large man wearing the red MAGA baseball cap

is just another fire hydrant to him.

He ignores the three young men with swastikas

he has his own free world to live in.

The dog has not yet decided to fetch the ball

He is touching, testing and investigating everything.

Man’s best friend decides to drop the ball because he has

a real tale to tell and a real tail to tell it with.

Poets reading on the stage in the park with

something to say about reality and how to hear it.

The politician takes his place now in the park’s gazebo, a question mark holding a megaphone

with its wondrous hollow horn about to spout victorious answers to everything.

Prompt 16  Brendan’s suggested prompt was to write a poem with four adjectives in it

now remove the adjectives and replace them with nouns. I did this and also eliminated and changed several verbs to nouns too (except in the title).

Those Magnificent Fabulous  Jaunty Adjectives

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Today’s investigation into nominalization of language

avoidance of emotiveness, sequestration now a noun.

Adjective (and Verbs too) transmorphed into nouns.

Call it the corporatization of language, legalese, advertising jive.

Editors, now insane.

Here to stay.  Focus on the build.  The reveal of a beauty beneath.

Can I have a modifier.

Please?

Answer: no.

No.

 

Accentuate with less waste.

Imagine sky

(you know the color).

Concept clear, concise

a distance between you and I.

Things to do.

People (you know),

Time wastes.

Bye. Not good,

just bye.

 

Keep Writing!

NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 15 and April 16 plus some prompt poems!

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” —Anaïs Nin

Just about at the half-way point for NaPoWriMo 2019.  Join in, catch-up, develop the write every day habit!

Prompt for April 15    (write poem to this prompt on April 15th   )

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”— Richard Bach

Half way through NaPoWriMo

Half your poem today should consist of lines from a book or long magazine article. The last line should be borrowed and contain less than 15 words. Every other line should consist of borrowed words as they appear in the source material you use (yes you can combine short phrases of borrowed materials put together 3 to 5 words (up to 14) per line.

Chew your humble pie slowly and thoroughly.  Someday if you keep learning, keep reading and keep writing you will eat a little bit less of it. –  Christopher J. Jarmick

Prompt for April 16    (write poem to this prompt on April 16th  )

From Auburn area based Striped Water Poet member Brendan McBreen 

for lack of a better word

write a poem with four adjectives in it

now remove the adjectives and replace them with nouns

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”—Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

(And now some poems I’ve been writing to the prompts)

Prompt 10  write a poem about something that once was

Missing

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Now a vacant space

on the shelf,

once a favorite book

lent last year

in that space.

 

On the back of that door

Hung a favorite comfy shirt

worn and washed too often,

now no more.

 

I remember the old store

that was there before

the fitness and spa business

it was full of books and there

was a bell attached to the door.

 

On that face

eyes twinkling with spirit

a smile

now empty space.

 

Prompt 11   Use at least 4 to 5 book titles in your poem.

(I used 40).

In the company of crows and ravens

By Christopher J. Jarmick

The one raven with great expectations flew

over the cuckoo’s nest and the phantom tollbooth

near the secret garden of Anna Karenina

beloved by Anne of Green Gables and Rebecca

on the animal Farm, east of Eden

(neighboring the glass castle owned by

The Brothers Karamazov, Dracula, Romeo and Juliet)

considering the crime and punishment of the Thorn Birds

after their attempt to kill a mockingbird in cold blood

near Cannery Row on Main Street in 1984.

 

The princess bride blamed the old man and the sea

for the catch 22 in 2001 that saved those ‘birds’

from one hundred years of Solitude.

 

Sidhartha living the secret life of bees on the road with Georgia

wondered about the maltese falcon, the glass jar, the things they carried, but

like the gentleman in Moscow and the thin man believed the odyssey

was less pillars of the earth stuff and more like

water for elephants because it was

all a Coney Island of the Mind.

 

Prompt 12  An Acrostic poem using a movie title and about something personal, perhaps using at least one unusual word.

 

7th Voyage

By Christopher J. Jarmick

7 years old watching Chiller Theater on

The Admiral black and white TV with Nana

How to Make a Monster, She Creature, Cyclops,

 

Vespine Corman cult classic Wasp Woman

Or the telepathic crab monsters and The Manster  were favorites

You’ll get nightmares, Nana worried

And she was right but I thought creature features were

Great and Nana truly

Enjoyed spoiling her grandchild.

 

Only a movie, I’d tell her when she acted

Frightened at the movies we watched.

 

So many years later and

I still fondly remember those Saturday

Night sleepovers watching

Bad 1950’s movies in the mid-1960s

And all the attention, love and affection

Delivered from Nana’s heart.

 

Prompt 13 – in the style of bill bissett

Abndend

By

Crstofur J. Jrmik

 

I woodnt stp 4 pasd lif

but th car slohd on itz ohn

pst th gost uv hows

vaykant, rn dn.

 

We sw overgrwn grss

nd clumps uv thck green leevz,

jyant purpel eyerices

amng weedz uvf nuhglct

 

Chldrn owt uv skool;

Nowair tu go,

n playces thy shoodn’t b

waytng fr thr callng

 

I, dryv by ysterda

4getng both gd nd bd

C-ing ownly purpul butee

uv sprding aynshent plnt.

 

Prompt 14  – V  words

VAUNTPARLER

By Christopher J. Jarmick

I have ventured into a spring day

full of valentining choruses

My van-jothery state of mind

And that voxy sky directs me back inside

but the vaniloquence of the coffee shop

complete with a velitation occurring near

the bathrooms and a couple velitating

doesn’t help my mood so I grab a cup to go

and dash right out into a vandlop.

Good thing I invoke a little Brecthtian verfremdungseffekt.

Though I’m vinerous by nature

the coffee I’m sipping I’ll admit is pretty good.

I realize like so many others I’m feeling some vernalagnia.

FYI

VERFREMDUNGSEFFEKT for example is a german word pronounced pretty much like it sounds and sometimes abbreviated as the V effect. It is another name for the alienation or distancing effect which is a theatrical term and refers to a playwright deliberately distancing the events on stage from their audience, usually by including constant reminders that they’re merely watching a performance into the play. The German playwright Bertolt Brecht , likely invented this unusual technique.

Vinerous  means you are hard to please.

Too many to define all of them here.

Keep Writing!

NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 10. 11,12, 13 & 14!!!! Plus some poems!

“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.”― Lisa See

Prompts for the next few days.

On Saturday April 13^th bill bissett and Stephen Roxborough are at BookTree in Kirkland.  Facebook event page suitable for sharing is here!  

Prompt for April 10    (write poem to this prompt on April 10  )

Day 10!  You are in a groove now, right?  After today only 20 to go!

From Brendan McBreen comes today’s Prompt.  something’s missing

write ten lines about something which was,

but now is not.

Happy Poeming!

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”― Jodi Picoult

“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.  That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”― Octavia E. Butler

Prompt for April 11    (write poem to this prompt on April 11  )

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any. – – Orson Scott

What’s the name of that book?

Use most of 4 to 5 Book Titles in a poem at least 8 lines long.  Use 6 titles in a 12 line poem.  Yes, go right ahead and use 8 in a 16 line poem.

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

 “Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” — Franz Kafka

Prompt for April  12   (write poem to this prompt on April 12th  )

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” —Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

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

My prompts for my birthday usually have something to do with movies.   So this year we’ll write an acrostic poem.   Going down the page use the title of one of your favorite movies from the 1950s.  If you were born then, use the title of a favorite movie that came out the year you were born.  The first letter of each line has been decided.  The poems subject should have something to do with a childhood memory.   (Bonus challenge: find an unusual word  to use in your poem – that you haven’t used before.)

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” ― Terry Pratchett

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ― Maya Angelou

Prompt for April 13    (write poem to this prompt on April 13 )

“Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:

“Fool!” said my muse to me, “look in thy heart, and write.” ― Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella

On April 13th bill bissett (and Stephen ‘Rox’ Roxborough) are visiting BookTree in Kirkland (click here for Facebook Event Page )  for a talk and performance.  For those who don’t know  bill bissett a short bio is here at the Poetry Foundation website –

Let’s write a poem in the style of bill bissett.     Here’s a poem by bill from his website  

eating    appuls

on jarvis street

 

at 3 in th morning

i sd iuv nevr felt

ths way b4

 

yu sd  if we wer 2

get marreed  yu cud

as a spousal akt

committ me  2 th

clarke institute bcoz

i am delusyunal in

More of it on his website…..

 

 

Write a poem in the bill bissett style.    If you are near Kirkland, come experience bill and Rox!

Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act—truth is always subversive.” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Keyp riting!

Prompt for April  14   (write poem to this prompt on April 14  )

I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.” — William Carlos Williams

February 14^th is Valentine’s Day and also V Day. V-Day, is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls started by author, playwright and activist Eve Ensler.  We’ll make today National Poetry Month V day and write a poem using at 6 unusual words beginning with V in a poem at least 8 lines long.
“It’s not the fear of writing that blocks people, it’s the fear of not writing well; something quite different.”   – – Scott Berkun.

Keep Writing!

Prompt 8 (8 line poem using only 8 letters and poem without using those 8 letters).

8 Atheists

By histhe  ai

Theists

hate this

hate that.

Atheist sits,

tests,

eats tea

states

ash is ash.

No Grownup Lugworm

By Cropr J. Jrmck

No bowl of

sour plum brown gumbo,

wrongful lungworm,

crock of ground fowl,

corn on cob,

or gumdrop clump

for plump frumpy clown,

or dumb mob cop.

 

PROMPT 9  invoke the anaphora style with an interesting phrase or two.

Makeup Smiles

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Ladies at bathroom mirror

covering up broken heart

painting on confidence

colorizing black and white day

with makeup smiles.

Politician shaking hands

pretending to tell truths

and taking pictures outside convenience store

with makeup smiles.

Start the day with a better

attitude, positive energy,

look up, forgive yourself and

rubberize your face with makeup smiles

until you make yourself laugh.

Makeup smiles on every face

you see this day.

Makeup smiles on the

shapes of plants and trees.

Tonight look up at the stars

And makeup smiles

for miles and miles

all made up, makeup smiles.

KEEP WRITING