Day 9: National Poetry Month
Be honest – show of hands – how many of you are following along just to see if I can keep up with posting daily for a month? What’s the current over/under? Just wondering if I should get in on this – I don’t know the answer, myself!
“But isn’t J the tenth letter?” you may well ask. It is. And we get Sundays off, according to the “rules” of the Blogging A to Z Challenge. Why yes, I am jumping ahead of myself. Your point? I’m also a member of The Stafford Challenge – to write a poem a day for 365 days. This is my third year. I should have nearly 1100 new poems by January 17, 2027. You can hear me laughing from where you sit, can’t you? But if you count the unpublishable, the renku played with friends in Telegram, and other snippets that will never see the light of day or end up on the submissions tracker, it may be more than that.
Which brings me to an important point: Writing is work, but it should also be fun. For me, it is best when it is playful and when done with others who feel the same.
Today’s first poem, “Tectonic” is in response to the challenge issued to members of Poets Northwest for our upcoming meeting on April 18 – it uses the first 12 prompts posted on our website:
Tectonic
Mountain hunched in,
folded stiffly on itself, leaned
into an argument with Ocean.
Ocean rushed, all crash and rhythmic
spittle, up precipice and crevice
cracking Mountain’s rocky ribs.
Deep the fault between them
lies crumpled on the sea bed.
Silent. Roaring back
to life with violence —
none to blame but time,
and that infinite eternal axis
spinning, spinning — friction
heated in a fire, energized. Burning
squabbles, tongues ubiquitous ,
futile flames lash out at Ocean —
whisper, Burn with me.
None can emerge victorious—
warring children of the earth.
Other National Poetry Month Posts
- National Poetry Month, Texas Style!
- Apricots: a Tanka Encompassing Three Prompts
- Bee Sting: Day 2 of National Poetry Month
- Cacophony and CBD: Day 3 in Nonsense Verse and Found Poetry
- Technically, a Writer: Day 3 of National Poetry Month
- Dive: Day 4 of National Poetry Month
- Storm Front: Day 4 of National Poetry Month
- Energized: Day 5 of National Poetry Month
- Grump: Day 5 ½ of National Poetry Month
- Future Frittered Away: Day 6 of National Poetry Month
- Hell, Hell, Hell: Day 7 (More or Less) of National Poetry Month
- Insomnia: Day 8 of National Poetry Month
- Juxtaposition: Day 9 of National Poetry Month
- Knife Edge: Day 10 of National Poetry Month
- Lost a Day: Day 11 of National Poetry Month
- Many Definitions: Day 12 of National Poetry Month
- New Form – Quadrille Quaiku: Day 13 of National Poetry Month
- Ode to Imagination: Day 14 of National Poetry Month
- Pixellated People: Day 15 of National Poetry Month
Your Turn!
Why don’t you give this one a try – how many of the prompts posted at April Prompts – Poets Northwest can you incorporate into a single poem?
As always, you’re welcome to post it – or anything else you feel like adding to the conversation – right here in the comments! Please do.
Title: At the Threshold
With me, at the entrance,
From which I had yet to emerge,
Are anxiety and confidence each holding a hand;
One pulling forward and one pulling back,
Once again dissolving into an argument,
With me crumpled in between,
Waiting for a winner.
Do I enter where people are
Burning brightly, energized with friendship
Do I melt into the earth,
Drowning in an ocean of social duties
Ashed in a fire fueled by cuts and counterfeit clarity
The rhythmic pulling of fear and hope
Is ubiquitous.
Every day I stand in the doorway.