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

NaPoWriMo Prompts for April 8 & 9 2019 plus prompt poems.

“A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.” —   Vladimir Nabokov

My bookstore in Kirkland has several upcoming FREE events.  BookTree events calendar here.

Prompt for April 8  (write poem to this prompt on April 8th  )  From Brendan McBreen :

8 lines

8letters

plus or minus

pick eight letters

write eight lines without using those eight letters

can you write eight lines only using eight letters?

Happy poeming!

“The first draft of anything is sh**.” – – Ernest Hemingway.

Prompt for April 9    (write poem to this prompt on April 9th  )

“Each thing you add to your story (or poem) is a drop of paint falling into clear water; it spreads through and colors everything.” ― Lisa Cron

Play with the poetic device known as Anaphora.  Come up with a short phrase that has several meanings and could be used in a few different way in the poem you write today.  Use and repeat a short phrase that has several meanings in the poem you write today.  Do a play on an Anaphora (or an epanaplesis).

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.”  – – E. L. Doctorow

Keep Writing!

And here are the poems I’ve written to the prompts over the last few days.

April 4 Prompt  (use several anagrams of your name in a poem)

Not a Rich Strophe

By Rich Herstop  Jarmick

“I’d like to Crop her Shirt”

He mumbled staring inappropriately

at the buxom bartender.

“You couldn’t crop her Shit,”

I quipped.

Bored, I noticed the hipster was sketching some torchiers

And he explained how the ostrich was erotic, but I was

lost in my thoughts regarding the rhetorics of Plato.

Then a chorister tried to recruit me

to join the chirpers on Sunday.

I just wasn’t in the mood to perch, share pitchers,

munch chips, watch sports or tell stories.

 

I used several full and partial anagrams of my name – Christopher in this poem.

 

Prompt 5    use 7 or more words for Falling

Can’t help. . .

By Christopher J. Jarmick

There is an amorousness I feel,

an inclination bordering on rapture,

part soft-spot, part fervor.

A flame burns that makes me feel both all powerful and

full of weakness.

Oh what’s the phrase I’m looking for?

I’m slipping on sentiment

collapsing into infatuation

descending into emotion

plunging into ardor

sliding into devotion.

Almost, yes, but not quite the phrase I’m thinking of.

I’m tumbling in delight

settling into devotion

sinking into affection

slipping into lust

toppling in zeal

tottering in appreciation.

No no.. what’s that song….?

I know as soon as I get busy doing something else

I’ll remember it.

Oh well.

Poem Starter 1405 (inspired by the falling prompt)

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Missed my ride

on the Turnip truck

with Grace.

 

Prompt 6   invent some paint color name and use them in a poem

BlueTruth

by Christopher J. Jarmick

The politician whose skin was the hue of origine,

and his wife decked out in an outfit of celebrity spice with caged coral accents

walked through the translucenteen arboretum

under the cloud covered fondue crème’ sky

taking in the the Canurple and Dread Salmon colored johnny jump-ups,

and the Lavenberry bushes.

In the cacti house they were tickled by

blooms of Maganana, licorice rain, turgid turmeric and speal.

A news reporter asked: What’s your favorite color?

“Lurple of course,” He answered.

She knew even that was a lie.

 

Prompt 7   write at least formal and one informal Septolet

 

Vertical Transparency (formal, syllable ) Septolet

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Wall

On the

Border of

United States

Mexico

Mirrors

Trump.

 

BookTree (informal, word) Septolet

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Store offers

knowledge, escapes

how tos, biographies

in portable,

battery free

old fashion

books.

 

Maya Angelou Inspired (formal) Septolet

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Trust

when he

has shown you

exactly who

he is thrice

believe

him.

The first 5 drafts of anything are probably not worth publishing but you know you are onto something at some point during revision number 3. – Christopher J. Jarmick

KEEP WRITING!!!

NaPoWriMo Prompts April 4 to 7 and Prompt poems too!

“Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.” J. K. Rowling.

Here are suggested prompt for the next 4 days.  Use the one for April 4^th to write your poem on April 4^th.  Remember to write a poem each and every day.  If you only have 30 minutes to write…  write what you can in that time.  We are writing first (not final) draughts.  This is a challenge, an exercise, a way to begin a new habit of writing each and every day.

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

Prompt for April 4 (write poem this prompt on April 4th)

Words inside of words creating other words.  The Anagram.  Put your name into an Anagram generator like this one   Use several of the generated words in a poem that is not quite about yourself but has some autobiographical things in it.  In other words.. you are buried within the poem using words generated from you name (but not your name and not completely a self-portrait poem).  Remember the prompts are meant to be an inspirational challenge – there is no right or wrong way to ‘follow the rules’ of a prompt.

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

Prompt for April 5   (write poem to this prompt on April 5th  ) From Brendan McBreen

“Don’t forget— no one else sees the word the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories you have to tell.” – –Charles de Lint

look up

write a poem which includes seven references to falling.

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

Prompt for April 6   (write poem to this prompt on April 6th  )

 “This is how you do it; you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” – – Neil Gaiman

You know how they have all these interesting names for paint colors?  First create some odd combinations of words for colors   salsa red probably exists but angst auger for example would be a unique one.  Create 3 to 5 of these and then use them in a poem.

“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.”  – – Ray Bradbury

Prompt for April  7   (write poem to this prompt on April  7th )

“The only writer to whom you should compare yourself is the writer you were yesterday.”  – – David Schlosser

And on the seventh day, we concentrate on the seven line poetry form known as the Septolet.  Write two or more Septolets!   Suggest you write a formal and informal Septolet.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” ― Pablo Picasso

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

Septolet 1 Formal: 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.

Septolet 2 Informal: 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.

Examples:

Formal Syllable Septolet                                          Informal Word 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!”

 

The example on the left side is the more formal syllable Septolet.  The one on the right is made up of 14 words. (You don’t count syllables).  4 word maximum on one line.

 

ORIGIN

The origin of the Septolet –a French form is not completely known. It’s most likely origin is based in music since a septuplet is a group of seven notes played in a very specific way. It’s a member of the musical tuplet family—the most common one in use: the triplet. The septuplets (septolets or septimoles) usually indicate 7 notes in the duration of 4—or in compound meter 7 for 6—but may sometimes be used to mean 7 notes in the duration of 8.

In the poetic form however meter is not required so the music connection is perhaps NOT correct. The form has evolved as a sort of European/American Haiku . The more formal version is with syllables, the less formal derivation (American) is with words of any syllable length. 7 lines broken into two stanzas. The first stanza is 4 lines. Then a blank line. Then three more lines. The formal version uses 14 syllables, the informal version uses 14 words. You can order the words 1, 2,3,3, BREAK 2, 2, 1 if you would like or you can simply use a total of 14 words with some lines having up to three words and others having one or all lines having two words.

The writer is by nature a dreamer— a conscious dreamer.”  — Carson McCullers

Keep Writing!

PROMPT POEMS I’ve written for April 1, April 2 and Today!

April 1 poem using Shakespeare quotes

Inside a pickle

By Christopher J. Jarmick

All of a sudden, as good luck would have it,

a NapoWriMo spell was spoke:

“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,

lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,

adverb and semi-colon

double toil and trouble;

fire burn, and caldron bubble.

And I found myself in a pickle.

Though this be madness, truth will out

and thereby hangs a tale.

Woe is me as a pickle under the greenwood tree.

While you live, tell truth and shame the devil

the game is up and I suffer the crack of doom,

the be all and end all

as a pickle.

Son of a bitch!

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

I have not slept one wink,

a victim of foul play

at one fell swoop,

a sorry sight

Brevity is the soul of wit

so I will fight fire with fire

for ever and a day

inside a pickle under the greenwood tree.

April 2nd ‘opposite’ prompt

A line by line ‘opposite’ poem of #20 (aka the Pennycandystore Beyond the El by Lawrence Felinghetti from Coney Island of the Mind)

 

Etisoppo 02#

Yb

kcimraJ .J rehpotsirhC

 

Too late!  Too Late!

They laughed.

Inside the seeds were jumping

His knees were inhaling in the great room

His feet were dry

A man walked out

The moon had sucked up the wind

inside those seeds were jumping as they came to life

And celery

And carrot cake

And broccoli stones

slept beneath the still dog,

on that June early morn.

Peanut butter darkened with complete optimism

in reality

rising with hate

The last lost

sour forest below the mountain.

 

April 3 prompt – “three in a row.”

THREED AT LAST

By Christopher J. Jarmick

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” — Abraham Lincoln

 

Three times three cubed

Abraham learned the cipher:

for three is to nine as two is to six.

 

Tell me and I may forget, teach me and I will remember

But involve me and I will learn and when I learn, and earn

and yearn, I shall have a happy life.

 

Three times tempted

Three times the cock crows

Three times denied

 

The rule of the Three-fold law

Says whatever you put out there will be returned to you three times.

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

 

The trinity, the trilogy,

the magic of three

the curse of three

 

You can survive three weeks without food.

three days without water

three minutes without air

 

My Three Sons

The Three Musketeers

Three Billy Goats Gruff,

 

Three Little Pigs,

Three Faces of Eve,

The Third Man.

 

Rule of thirds, triad

My three siblings

My three daughters

 

Veni, vidi, vici!

Click your heels together three times.

Three times the charm.

 

Three, two,

One,

write.

KEEP WRITING!

NaPoWrimo 2019 Prompts for April 2 and April 3.

“Be courageous and try to write in a way that scares you a little.” Holley Gerth

Here are prompts for Day 2 and Day 3 of NaPoWriMo.

Write a poem a day using these or other prompts.   Share them if you dare.

“You fail only if you stop writing.” Ray Bradbury

Prompt for April 2^nd   (write the poem to this prompt on April 2^nd)   From Brendan McBreen

‘opposites’

find a short poem written by someone else (perhaps share the poem along with yours)

now, line by line

write the exact opposite of each line

in reverse order

‘Failing in writing is horrible but it’s not like failing in sky-diving or mountain climbing.  You will live to write another day. ‘–  Christopher J. Jarmick

Prompt for April 3^rd (write poem this prompt on April 3^rd)

The prompt for today is “three in a row.” Perhaps three in a row means you’ve won  a game (tic tac toe) or some money from a slot machine.  Or perhaps the superstition of how things come in threes (the blessed trinity, three deaths, injuries, failing household appliances etc.)  Think about any sets of three you have in your life, a trilogy or think about ‘third time’s a charm, a trio of musicians, the Three Stooges…. Have at it.

Poem Starter 3

By Christopher J. Jarmick

“If you read enough

you’ll know when

what you write is right.”

Keep Writing!!! 

NaPoWriMo begins. April 1 Prompt.

“If you wait for inspiration to write you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.”  – Dan Poynter.

Have you ever written a poem a day for 30 days straight and shared these poems almost immediately?

That’s what thousands of writers and poets do during National Poetry Month every April.   You write and share first drafts.  You challenge yourself to write a poem off of a prompt.  Your deadline for publishing it is less than 24 hours.  You might only have an hour or maybe less than 30 minutes some days to write something.  Write something and dare to share it too.  Crazy right?  Write.

“Love the work: the grind, the dreaming, the distracted not-sleep, all of it. It’s the one thing in the job that will always be there, and the real pleasure in the profession. Everything else is luck.” ― Glen Hirshberg

Welcome to NaPoWriMo.

I have very little time this year to participate.  I run a bookstore (BookTree in Kirkland website)  and have other responsibilities that make it very difficult to blog every day.

So I will be posting messages and prompts that cover a few days at a time.   And I will post my own scribbles as I am able.  I will be writing to the prompts I share and perhaps to a few other prompts I find throughout the month too.    I will share at least 30 daily poems as I have the time to share them.

Participating and sharing prompts and what you are writing may begin a dialogue with someone you’ve never met.  Perhaps something you write will develop into an excellent poem or a story.  You never know.  It’s an exercise, a challenge, a way to take a journey.  Feel free to share and comment.

Some of the prompts this year have been suggested by Brendan McBreen a talented poet who lives in the Auburn area and has been an active member of The Striped Water Poets for several years.  He’s got a collection of poetry you should put on your short list of books to buy and read.   It was published by MoonPath Press and is called:   Cosmic Egg.     Clicking on it will take you to the website.  He may not be able to post his writings this year (as he’s done in the past) but we’ll see.

“Step into a scene and let it drip from your fingertips.” – M J Bush.

My Bookstore (BookTree Facebook page ) will be have several poetry related events this April.  If you are near the Kirkland area, be sure and check them out (they are FREE!).  Like the Facebook page too and if you are in Western Washington share our events to help our events get more notice!  Thanks.

PROMPT FOR APRIL 1, 2019

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. –Shakespeare, As You Like It

Use at least 3 of the 135 phrases Shakespeare takes credit for making famous in a poem.

You can use many more if you would like (try 14 perhaps?) You’ll find a list of them right here: Shakespeare quotes

I must learn to love the fool in me – the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.”  –Theodore Isaac Rubin

KEEP WRITING!!!