The Jolly Zeugma
Calm he held his scissors and his horses Unfurling sails of paper and his brow He stood, within his mind, upon the prow Ready to control the rough sea's forces. He heard the ocean and his mother's cry: "Naptime!" He laid his keel and sleepy head Upon the desk and longed for sea and bed. He woke, at last, the Elmer's glue was dry - His paper pirate ship was set to sail. He ran, with boat and mother both in hand A fair breeze blew: brave sailors bid goodbye to land As storms raced in and turned fair winds to gales. But sinking fate's not always what it seems; One wave can't capsize boats and boyhood dreams.
Today’s Poets
Daisy Zamora – a contemporary Latin American poet whose work covers daily life, human rights, politics, revolution, feminist issues, art, history and culture. Read more here.
April is National Poetry Month. This year marks its 27th year. NaPoWriMo – 30 days of writing poems – is poets’ answer to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
This coincides with the A to Z Blogging Challenge, now celebrating its 13th anniversary. Some participants choose a theme; others wing it. Doesn’t matter! The real challenge is to build a practice of writing daily. I think I stuck with it…once. You can see the list of participants – I’m sure they’d love it if you’d visit and comment on their blogs.
This month, my goal is to:
- Write a poem a day and share it – uncurated – here; and
- Highlight some poets you may be unfamiliar with.
I encourage you to click the links to read about them and their work. I plan to choose a diverse array of classical and contemporary poets – indigenous poets, Black poets, women poets, LGBTQ poets – that challenge us to see the world differently while also tapping into universal themes and emotions.
Remember, too, that comments and conversation are always welcome here. (Spammers, on the other hand, will be tossed into the moat or mocked, so before you leave an irrelevant comment or drop a link, consider that it’s fair game!)
What a great series! I’ve enjoyed your poems. And you’ve introduced me to a number of poets I’d not known. Always a wonderful treat. Congratulations on a challenge well played.
Thank you so much, Deborah! That’s very kind of you, and it makes me happy to know that you’ve enjoyed the series and met some new-to-you poets in the process.
I’m glad I looked up “Zeugma” before starting. The clever wordplay is, indeed, jolly. You made it! And with more letters than we knew. LOL
Cheers,
Mitch
You know, a couple of days, I did write more than one – and definitely passed 26 letters – but did I average one new poem a day? And if not, can a villanelle and a sestina count as 5 or 6?
I’m glad I drove you to the dictionary and glad you found the reward in looking it up! 😉
This is just a test.
Testing your test; let’s see what comes up
@mitch mitchell, I may have to log out to see if the @ mentions work.
You so stellar work, dear friend. And you teach your readers (me) so much. I’m so happy we were in the same mind space in April. Wish I had time to read it all. But I want you to know, Holly that you are amazing. Bless you. I’ll return. L my
You, too, Selma! (And I think I’m almost caught up from the curve balls over here…)
@mitchell allen this is a test