NaPoWriMo Day Eighteen : ruba’i

The prompt (optional) from NaPoWriMo :

"...write a ruba’i. What’s that? Well, it’s a Persian form — multipe stanzas in the ruba’i form are a rubaiyat, as in The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Basically, a ruba’i is a four-line stanza, with a rhyme scheme of AABA. Robert Frost’s famous poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening uses this rhyme scheme. You can write a poem composed of one ruba’i, or try your hand at more, for a rubaiyat. Happy writing!"

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Contraction and Release (excerpt)
by Dot Hearn

A woman walking alone along the shore,

among the salt water ribbon stains spotted

with bits of earth and ship and humans;

discards of the long receded tide.

Her toes dig into the sand,

seaweed threads and strands of yellow rope catch

then hang and slip away

as the foot releases itself.

*
[note: this is a piece of a longer poem. But this poem may be appearing in an anthology and came out of a Writers' program in which I'm participating - so I am only posting part of it, to preserve it for the other purpose. And - obviously - I did not use the NaPoWriMo prompt today, although it looks like a good challenge for me!]

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NaPoWriMo Day Seventeen : Senses

The prompt from NaPoWriMo: 

...write a poem in which you very specifically describe something in terms of at least three of the five senses. So, for example, your poem could carefully describe the smell of something, the taste of something, and the sound of something. It might be helpful to pick things you have actually encountered during your day: a cup of coffee at the office (“burnt, flat, and joylessly acrid”), or a hyacinth in the neighobr’s yard (“riotously curled petals shading violet-lavender-white, against the dark-green glossy-smooth leaves”). Happy writing!

 

Cuppa in the Morning

by Dot

the metal foil packets are cold in the morning

sharp and smooth, slide between my still sleepy fingers

the white plastic tea kettle boils and with a click I know

it's done it's duty and now

it's my turn

 

I sprinkle the brown powder into the metal cup

dull brushed silver with a heavy plastic

purple

band to protect those now waking up hands

tap the packet on the side

shake it shake it baby

 

and in goes the hot water steam rising

my nose catches the dark musk like brewed coffee

but it's not not yet not coffee quite

until I pull a spoon from the drawer

and stir

stir

 

listen to the clink of the metal spoon on the sides

watch the clear liquid become tan become brown

sip not enough need a second packet

repeat

cold silver packet slip it open in go the grounds

stir

smell

taste

 

ah

just a one-second splash of cold soy milk

stir again

sip

warmth rolls across my tongue

fills up my mouth

smooth morning at the back of my throat

sliding down toward my torso

on the inside

wakes me up

 

ahhh. a cup of decaf in the morning

NaPoWriMo Day Sixteen (plus)

Why I Didn't Write This on the Sixteenth

or letter to my (non-existent) teacher

by Dot Hearn

It's the sixteenth day of National Poetry Writing Month.
No, to be honest, it is now the seventeenth day;
I didn't write a poem on the sixteenth but
I'm writing this poem for the sixteenth because
the sixteenth was a very busy day
with appointments back to back
which ended
with watching Othello again
in preparation
for next week
when we'll be interpreting the play
and interpreting Shakespeare into sign language
is quite complicated
requiring translation from the Shakespeare era English
to modern English and then
and only then
can we begin translating it to
American Sign Language.

So it's really the seventeenth day of NaPoWriMo
but I've written this poem to honor
the sixteenth
which was - did I tell you? -
a very busy day.

NaPoWriMo Day Fifteen : Terza Rima

From NaPoWriMo :

Today, I challenge you to write a poem in terza rima. This form was invented by Dante, and used in The Divine Comedy. It consists of three-line stanzas, with a “chained” rhyme scheme. The first stanza is ABA, the second is BCB, the third is CDC, and so on. No particular meter is necessary, but English poets have tended to default to iambic pentameter (iambic pentameter is like the Microsoft Windows of English poetry). One common way of ending a terza rima poem is with a single line standing on its own, rhyming with the middle line of the preceding three-line stanza. 

*
So, I didn't strictly follow this form. But it was a good (enjoyable) process. See my terza rima below.

*

Hello, Moon
a terza rima
by Dot Hearn

The moon is round and full,
is visible behind a veil
of wispy clouds and gulls.

We watch, quiet and still
as she becomes a shadow;
await her light on the hill.

Her colors change from sallow,
to orange to rust to umber.
Her body morphs, is hallow.

We wait in silent slumber
for her to re-emerge.
Blood moon, we do remember.
*

NaPoWriMo Day Fourteen

One more day until we're halfway done!

From NaPoWriMo:

Today’s prompt (optional, as always) is a little something I’m calling “Twenty Questions.” The idea is to write a poem in which every sentence, except for the last one, is in the form of a question. That’s it! It can be as long or short as you like. The questions can be deep and philosophical (‘what is the meaning of life?’) or routine and practical (‘are you going to eat that?’). Or both!

*

On The Highway
an etheree

by Dot Hearn

Oh?

Is it?

What is life?

Strong like a flame

standing in the wind?

Tender as tears falling

from cheeks red with happiness?

Bold like the dandelion's head

rising above the expanse of green?

Life is moments lived in color, dreaming.

NaNoWriMo Day Thirteen

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...write a poem that contains at least one kenning. Kennings were metaphorical phrases developed in Nordic sagas. At their simplest, they generally consist of two nouns joined together, which imaginatively describe or name a third thing. The phrase “whale road,” for example, could be used instead of “sea” or “ocean,” and “sky candle” could be used for “sun.” The kennings used in Nordic sagas eventually got so complex that you basically needed a decoder-ring to figure them out. And Vikings being Vikings, there tended to be an awful lot of kennings for swords, warriors, ships, and gold. But at their best, they are suprising and evocative.

*

One of These Things is Like the Other
by Dot Hearn

The challenge is to write a poem
in which one thing stands in for another
So I can talk about cantaloupes
and call them flesh melons
or I can talk about freeways
and call them land dividers
or I could talk about lovers
and call them breath quickeners.

A kenning. That's the term.

The opportune game is to write a poem
in which a number of things stand for another
So I can talk about flesh melons
and call them loose skin melons
or I can talk about land dividers
and call them earth dirt dividers
or I could talk about breath quickeners
and call them air mover quickeners.

The opportune game is to quill scratch a poem
in which a number of random objects stand for not same
So I can gibber jab about flesh melons
and call them loose skin juicy orbs
or I can gibber jab about land dividers
and call them earth dirt cleaving asphalt
or I could gibber jab about breath quickeners
and call them air mover heart beats.


*

NaNoWriMo Day Twelve

*

Today’s (optional) prompt is a “replacement” poem. Pick a common noun for a physical thing, for example, “desk” or “hat” or “bear,” and then pick one for something intangible, like “love” or “memories” or “aspiration.” Then Google your tangible noun, and find some sentences using it. Now, replace that tangible noun in those sentences with your intangible noun, and use those sentences to create (or inspire) a poem. 

How to Eat Confidence

by Dot Hearn

Confidence is a variety of a species
cultivated as a food.

The budding confidence flower-head
is made of many small budding flowers.
Confidence has bold foliage
and large purple flower heads.
It is believed to be a native of
the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands

I can imagine, that if you didn’t grow up
eating confidence
and if you were encountering them
for the first time,
they might seem a little intimidating.
How one cooks and eats coinfidence
is not obvious from its appearance.

When you are at the market buying confidence,
choose those in which the petals
are still rather closed, not open.
They will be fresher and more tender
than confidences where the petals
have opened.
Also, confidences that have been "frost kissed"
are especially tender and delicious.
They'll look a little burned,
so won't be as pretty.

If the confidences have little thorns
on the end of the leaves,
take a kitchen scissors
and cut of the thorned tips
of all of the leaves.
This step is mostly for aesthetics.
The thorns soften with cooking
and pose no threat
to the person eating the confidence.

*

NaNoWriMo Day Eleven : Drinking Songs & Love

From NaPoWriMo : 

"Poets have been writing about love and wine, wine and love, since . . . well, since the time of Anacreon, a Greek poet who was rather partial to that subject matter. Anacreon developed a particular meter for his tipsy, lovey-dovey verse, but Anacreontics in English generally do away with meter-based constraints. Anacreontics might be described as a sort of high-falutin' drinking song. So today I challenge you to write about wine-and-love. Of course, you may have no love of wine yourself, in which case you might try an anti-Anacreontic poem."

*
Don't Ask Me What I Mean
  or a poem of another life
by Dot Hearn

To measure my love in wines -
Red wines for the intense times,
White wines for the frivolous
or hot days with scarlet lips.

I counted you among me -
By glass and stem without vines,
Left empty like the bottles.
Corks popped, contents drunk, happy.

We danced the red of sunset -
We drank the clear moon's starlight,
We emptied bottled passions.
Mornings washed away regrets.
*

NaPoWriMo Day Ten

*

Colorful Plates are Better for You
by Dot

One fruit, two fruit,
three vegetables, four.
Eat daily from the farmer's rainbow
to improve your health score.

Your heart will thank you.

Support your local Farmers Market.

*
The prompt ...

Today, I challenge you to write your own advertisement-poem. You don’t need to advertise Burma-Shave. Any product (or idea) will do. Perhaps you could write a poem advertising poetry? It certainly could use the publicity! On that note, let me leave you until tomorrow with this paen to the virtues of advertisement: 

The codfish lays ten thousand eggs,
The homely hen lays one.
The codfish never cackles
To tell you what she’s done-
And so we scorn the codfish
While the humble hen we prize.
It only goes to show you
That it pays to advertise!
- Anonymous

NaPoWriMo Day Nine

...NaPoWriMo's (optional) prompt. Today’s prompt was suggested by Bruce Niedt. Here’s Bruce’s explanation: take any random song play list (from your iPod, CD player, favorite radio station, Pandora or Spotify , etc.) and use the next five song titles on that randomized list in a poem.

Song Play
by Dot Hearn

A rainless day makes the sunset bright
orange and gold, sprinkled with hot scarlet clouds
and new memories we haven't yet made.
I reach for the pen to make a note
to remember to tell you that
I love you so that when we meet and I know
we will soon, you will know that I meant it,
that we were meant to be together
at sunset
on a day
we are Lovers of the Light.

In the Magic of twilight when the stars
are beginning to become visible
to naked eyes. When constellations
ride the sky and the fields are dappled
with a Chestnut Mare and
Blackhorse and the Cherry Tree.
In the corner of the pasture,
standing near a downed board in the rail fence,
I stand humming "Wait for Me"
and wonder who you are.

*

NaPoWriMo Day Eight

*
The (optional) prompt for today is a rewrite. Not editing. Not of your own work. No.

Today, let’s rewrite a famous poem, giving it our own spin. While any famous poem will do, if you haven’t already got one in mind, why not try your own version of Cesar Vallejo’s Black Stone Lying on a White Stone? If you’re not exactly sure how such a poem could be “re-written,” check out this recent poem by Stephen Burt, which riffs on Vallejo’s.

*

Directional Meditation

by Dot Hearn

after Gertrude Stein

Which what I need to tell you is this

Cycles perpetuate cycles and how they begin

Is a mystery but we know the ending

Does not stop unless we find

How they begin.

Why yes of course.

All of us can learn that east of course

Is east of east and continuing east

It is still east no matter what.

You need not worry.

What I need to say is this.

Yes of course

My source/prompt poem:

from Stanzas in Meditation

by Gertrude Stein

Part V

Stanza XXXVIII

Which I wish to say is this

There is no beginning to an end

But there is a beginning and an end

To beginning.

Why yes of course.

Any one can learn that north of course

Is not only north but north as north

Why were they worried.

What I wish to say is this.

Yes of course

NaPoWriMo Day Seven

*
from NaPoWriMo:

Today’s prompt is to write a love poem . . . but the object of the poem should be inanimate. You can write a love poem to your favorite pen, the teddy bear you had as a child (and maybe still have), or anything else, so long as it’s not alive!

*

My Pink/Red Buddha Machine
by Dot Hearn



made of lightweight plastic
"neon red" they call it
"fluorescent pink" I call it

sound box

nine loops of trance beats
ambient sounds
tabla drone-tone long drawn out
meditation looping
soothing
reverberating
rhythms like my heart

beat

like my heart never ending
pumping quiet begin and begin
again to the end the beginning
to the end and back around

sound box

sitting on my desk
while I do my taxes
while I compose a tough email
while I contemplate my existence
while I dream
while I quiet rising anxiety
while

breathe

little plastic box, on / off
simple analog mechanics
with complex tones soothe
regulate breath
focus in focus out
sound builds recedes
like a flame in the breeze

sound box

you've changed my world.

The FM3 Buddha Machine

NaPoWriMo Day Six

*
Getting to the end of week one and it's getting harder to keep up with the poems. I will. And I will give myself a break today because I had day two of the writing workshop in Port Townsend (my first time in workshop with Pam Houston - and it was fabulous), which was, duh, followed by a drive home. Where I am now. And writing today's poem.
*
The prompt from NaPoWriMo:

We got rather complicated with yesterday’s prompt, so today’s is much simpler. Take a good look outside your window. Spend a minute or so jotting down all the nouns you see outside. Tree. Car. Bus. Dog. Then spend a minute or so writing down all the colors you see. Finally, think about taking place outside. Is the wind blowing? “Blow.” Is someone walking their dog? “Walk.” Spend a minute or so writing down these verbs. Now you’ve got a whole list of words from which to build a poem, mixing and matching as you go. Happy writing!

*
Port Townsend on a Partly Sunny Afternoon
by Dot Hearn


Seagull strolling on the sidewalk
dipping its beak in the upside down remains
of the little girl's ice cream cone
who's standing on the corner
with her grandmother who's
wiping away the tears of the lost treat.
A jogger passes them by
his headphones blocking out the cries
of girl and gull and cooing soothing sounds.
Customers wander in and out
of shop fronts and the newly combined bookstores,
two shops in one, for readers and writers,
smiling customers exiting with eyes on on the page
nearly kicking the seagull
and instead stepping into the puddle
of pink sprinkles, milk, and sugar.

NaPoWriMo Day Five

*
I'm not using the NaPoWriMo Prompt today. It's a good one - but I've spent all day in a writing workshop with Lidia Yuknavitch, writing, listening, writing. And my poem comes from reflecting on that experience over dinner, with a bottle of a nice, dry, crisp local cider.


Digging Deep and Resurfacing
by Dot Hearn

Pen etches deeper
memories dig deeper
sand crabs running away
escape pen chasing
paper screams
Heart beating blood pumping
breath
one two three out
pen
etching onward unrelenting
invisible clock ticking we breathe
together
the twelve in the room / writing
one
watching feeling the rhythm
watching faces breathing
seeing words flow
seeing words stick
seeing air pause
one more, she says
give me one more
breathe
again, give me another
keep going
we do / pens moving
hearts beating
pens etching
words itching out
we can't turn away.
Time. Water recedes.
We surface. Swimming.

NaPoWriMo Day Four

*
Writing Lunes
by Dot Hearn


whiskey ginger ale
poetry prompt on the screen
drinking while writing.


man sitting alone
newspaper read. dinner eaten. drinking.
dessert? no thanks!


electric water kettle
decaf Italian Roast Via tube
seagulls squawking outside.

NaPoWriMo Day Three

*

Lakshmi on a Lotus Chariot
by Dot Hearn

Heed the call of cattaiils
huddled together along the bank
standing against the red and gold sky
as the moon descends
leaving sprinkles
of garnet and citrine tears
tumbling together as to coins
of wealth and prosperity
ever growing
peaceful as the waves
and calm as the clouds
calling abundance to my door
with love, dissipation of worry,
and the spirit of generosity.

*

*

PROMPT from NaPoWriMo: In keeping with today's status as the third day of NaPoWriMo, I challenge you to write a charm – a simple rhyming poem, in the style of a recipe-slash-nursery rhyme. It could be a charm against warts, or against traffic tickets. It could be a charm to bring love, or to bring free pizzas from your local radio station.

NaPoWriMo Day Two

*
Today's prompt from NaPoWriMo central:

      There are many good poems based on myths. Lots of these use Greek or Roman myths. Consider Tennyson’s Ulysses or this more modern example by A.E. Stallings. But today I challenge you to write a poem based on a non-Greco-Roman myth. You could write a poem inspired by Norse mythology, or perhaps by one of these creatures from Japanese legend. Every time and place and culture has its myths and legends, so there’s plenty to choose from. Happy writing! 

*

Bakeneko

The absent eyes boring through thoughts

lack of face no barrier to understanding

her presence scattered

in the particles of rain

each drop each molecule sliding

earthward loosening her essence

before hitting the ground

the tree’s outstretched parched arms

humming energy

she carries knowledge in this form

holds it close and swishes

her absent tail unneeded as air

yet I feel the air move

the familiar brush of whiskers

against my ankle

seeing nothing and yet seeing all

she is near I know

she is inside she is outside

watching to see if I remember

testing my dedication

and if I fail she’ll take revenge

as only a cat in hiding can do

and if I please her

she will give me a gift of insight

or maybe a headless field mouse she’s stashed under the porch.

NaPoWriMo Day One

*
April in National Poetry Month. In the tradition of NaNoWriMo, someone started NaPoWriMo in 2003. The goal is to write 30 poems in 30 days. It's that simple. Yes, it is.
*
The official NaPoWriMo site will have a featured press, a featured blog, and a featured participant every day. They also offer daily prompts.

Here is the prompt for day one:

Our prompts are, as always, optional. If you have your own plans for generating poems, or find prompts elsewhere that suit you better, that’s just fine. Our prompts are there just to help those who are having trouble getting inspired – if you’re full up on inspiration, there’s no need to follow them. With that out of the way, I’ve chosen something I hope will be fun and simple, to ease you into your first day. Today, I’d like you to go to Reb Livingston’s Bibliomancy Oracle. Clear your mind, push the button, and then write a poem based on the quotation that the oracle provides. Happy writing!

*
My Oracle prompt and poem:

this is the meet-up of movement and memory/ how our ancestors kiss each other in the stairwells of satellites/mischievous and right on time
*
from “like seeds / or a guide to black feminist time travel” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Truth of the Garden

Clematis hiking over painted trellis
slats interwoven green on white on wood
against the cement pillars of the porch.
Sun baking, rain pelting, wind buffeting
leaves and delicate flowers left over
from a decade ago when the house was planted
when the walls erected and the foundation
layed. Memories buried and covering and
hiding everywhere. "If these walls could talk"
has nothing on the preservation power
of roots and stalks and rhizomes
and the flowers they produce
year after year.
Infinity.
*

Poetry Month Prompt 4/30/13

 

 

photo from Backwoods Crazy Quilt

Poetry Month Prompt 4/29/13

Arabic Calligraphy

photo from Creative Bits

Poetry Month Prompt 4/28/13

 

Yalta photo from National Geographic

Poetry Month Prompt for 4/27/13

 

 

 

Xylem from Dictionary.com

Poetry Month Prompt 4/26/23

Whale vs. Sailboat

photo from NPR

Poetry Month Prompt 4/25/13

photo from West Interactive

Poetry Month Prompt 4/24/13

San Francisco Umbrellas

by Mark Lague 

Poetry Month Prompt 4/23/13

from "Wake Up  Mr. Sleepy!" 

by Richard Foreman

Poetry Month Prompt 4/22/13

 

photo from timeanddate.com

Poetry Month Prompt 4/21/13

photo by Dot.

"Big Kids Pool" at Havasu

Poetry Month Prompt 4/20/13

photo from the DallasVoice 

(courtesy of Radical Faeries)

Poetry Month Prompt 4/19/13

 

photo from Kiplinger

Poetry Month Prompt 4/18/13

 

photo from Ums Lobby

Poetry Month Prompt 4/17/13

photo by Training Horses Naturally

Poetry Month Prompt 4/16/13

photo by Dot.

Poetry Month Prompt 4/15/13

photo by Dot.

Poetry Month Prompt 4/14/13

 photo from Creative Studies Blog

Poetry Month Prompt 4/13/13 (video)

*

*

Poetry Month Prompt 4/12/13

photo from Chickenlips Knitting

Poetry Month Prompt 4/11/13

from Creative Studies Blog

Poetry Month Prompt 4/10/13

"Do You Mind?"

photo by Dot.

Poetry Month Prompt 4/9/13

Back Tabor Stairs

photo by Dot.

Poetry Month Prompt 4/8/13

photo by Dot Hearn

Poetry Month Prompt 4/7/13

.

photo from SO Magazine

"An Artist You Should Know: Yatika Fields"

by David Dean

Poetry Month Prompt 4/6/13

photo from

The Daily Galaxy

"Elephant Ears ..."

Poetry Month Prompt 4/5/13

.
.

Poetry Month Prompt 4/4/13

AOL Travel

Most Dangerous Tourist Attractions

Poetry Month Prompt 4/3/13

Celebrating Creativity

Poetry Month Prompt 4/2/13

Students at Bountilful

NBC News photo

Joe Sales AP

Poetry Month Prompt 4/1/13

Monet's Garden

Giverny

Not really AWOL

I was looking over my blogs and noticed that I haven't posted in here for awhile. Not that I didn't know that, but I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted here.

No, I haven't stopped writing. As a matter of fact, I'm doing more writing. And some things I'm pretty excited about. Big things are happening on the theatrical interpreting front for me. But I'll hold off on more details about that. You should watch me over at The Writing Vein for that news. Or, better yet, you can also follow those events on my newest website, Performing Arts Interpreting Alliance.

In case you have been to my main site for awhile, I have two weekly features there. One is the Razor's Edge, which I've had going for a while. This is a prompt, or set of prompts, which I put out on Fridays for a little kick-start to your weekend or other creative endeavors on the weekend. The newest regular writing is Radical Writing Advice, which comes out early in the week. I tried to get that one set up on Mondays, but sometimes it doesn't get up until Tuesday or even Wednesday.

So I haven't gone dormant, I just haven't been utilizing this blog as much.

But maybe I'll spend some time in November setting up daily NaNo prompts. Maybe.

Check out the above two sites for other goings on.

from The Writing Vein: Submissions

This is the new page that is up over on The Writing Vein. A submissions calendar! It's a Google calendar and it will update as I make changes. There are a few resources for even more submissions information at the bottom of the page on my main website.


I've been keeping a calendar of submission deadlines for myself and a few writing friends. As I was adding a few upcoming deadlines I decided to make it more widely available. Below is what the page looks like - feel free to come back and check it at any time. I will be making updates to the calendar as I find submission opportunities. Feel free to send some my way! The page also has a couple of submission websites (Duotrope, Poets & Writers, CWROPPS (a Yahoo resource group for writers); I know there are more - and I can add more links.

The views should change month by month; and the information will be updated as I make changes and additions.

Here is what you will see on the submissions page when you click on the link above!

      SUBMISSIONS CALENDAR      

Feel free to look through this calendar of upcoming submissions. These are from resources across the web, through email, from friends, and so forth. I am not endorsing specific publications, submission opportunities, or contests (unless I specifically say so!) - these are some that caught my attention, that friends have submitted to or passed along to me, and so on. I will also put some other links below the calendar so you can look at other resources. There are many publications out there and many good resources to see what's happening. I keep my own calendar of upcoming sources I'm interested in submitting to, so I thought I'd share it.

If you have a Google/Gmail account and would like to have this information show up on your calendar, you can subscribe to it by searching for Writing Vein Salon calendar in Google calendars, or you can click on the specific submission announcement and then click on "add to my calendar."



.

Dot's NaPoWriMo - bring it on home

Okay - so I backed off of Script Frenzy to work on the memoir. Yes - I found a limit. Script Frenzy plus NaPoWriMo plus the Wayward Writers in Ariel Gore's Literary Kitchen plus the memoir and teaching and working my freelance and part-time jobs full-time. Whoa. Hit the wall. Bye bye Script Frenzy. Then NaPoWriMo started lagging so I started writing the haikus in batches, thinking I could do it that way. And here is is April 30th, the last day, and although I thought I was only less than a week behind, I logged onto this website to discover

tada

I am 10 days behind.

So: do I give this up too or write hurriedly away to get another 10 done? Oh - and I still have to finish this week's Wayward assignment and do feedback on this week's quick write (which I just did yesterday or the day before).

Yes: forging ahead. I will not give up both Script Frenzy and National Poetry Month (though I did buy CK William's "Wait" and Adrienne Rich's "No Poetry Tonight Will Serve" - so I have given tribute). But, I will write 10 haikus before midnight.

Yes. I can do that. Here goes....

#21
shadows from the clouds
cats hunker down, watching birds
still singing up high

#22
writers gathering
nervous, excited, open
two hours slip away

#23
improvisation
contact improvisation
body touching souls

#24
actors sing and sway
lights open, brighten, and fade
applause, smiles linger

#25
path of innocence
white buds on the new tree bloom
moss smothers the grass

#26
neighborhood parade
I missed it, we were writing
street closed signs remain

#27
ice returns to water
hard earth becomes moist, pliable
cherry tree blooms pink

#28
you said you love me
you said you would never leave
you said goodbye. tears.

#29
kombucha gurgles
alchemical reaction
turns sweetness to sour

#30
this is the last day
of NaPoWriMo this year
thirty days of poems


by Dot.

Dot's NaPoWriMo #17-#19

#17
Temps in the fifties
Mostly sunny no rain
Bare arms legs torsos

#18
Spring in the city
Joggers walkers bikes galore
Parking lots emptied

#19
Temptation of time
Solitude trees creeks and moss
Illumination
.
by dot.
.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Dot's NaPoWriMo #11-16

UNSPOKEN
tension unmentioned
creeks feed rivers feed oceans
banks overflowing

FISHES
she waves from the shore
electronic tears flowing
karma calls him home

RIVER OTTER
two eyes in green grass
gray clouds wander aimlessly
paddles dip and glide

CYCLES
dusky air dampens
cherry blossoms scattering
squashed worms on sidewalk

DAWN
anniversary
reptiles she, regrow their skins
breath follows breath now

METOLIUS
water washes stones
morning brings down pink snowflakes
passion and tear drops

Haikus
by
Dot.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Dot's NaPoWriMo: April 7,8,9,10

Okay - so I got a little behind. And I'm behind on Script Frenzy, too.

Below are my haikus for the dates I missed. And I'm up to 23 pages on the script; only about 10 behind now. Whew - was 15 behind!

Okay - back to the poetry!

april 7

fried egg daffodil blossoms

risomes expanding outward through damp dirt

old roots hearty

april 8

vitamin D sprinkles walkers

chloroform floods the trees’ leaves

birds splash in yesterday’s puddles

april 9

mister lester’s morning peep show

from the headboard, black furry head through curtains

watches robins, squirrels, crows

april 10

headwaters pushing

crashing to the pool below

cameras clicking

.

Dot's NaPoWriMo: April 6

.
april 6

spring sky releases snow

email note from 32 years absent friend

life = unpredictable

by dot.
.

Dot's NaPoWriMo: April 5

.
april 5

pains unspoken fester

unwillingness to communicate viral

silence saddens, frustrates

by dot.
.

Deb's Day 4, napowrimo

spring haiku

 

soft pink breaths of air

green gloves cling fast to strong stems

while rain, wind bellow

 

Dot's NaPoWriMo: April 4

.
april 4: lester

a pounce of love leap

sleek black body lands, demanding attention

kneading, sandpaper tongue

 
by dot.
.

Deb's Day 3 NAPOWRIMO, for April 3rd

Memory pulled backward

down the corridor

blackened walls screaming

doors gaping silent

full of words and empty

empty voice

 

 

 

Dot's NaPoWriMo: April 3

.
april 3

no voice no opinion

alternating sun rain sun gray blue

whimsy or folly mine

 
 
by dot.
.

Day 2 Poem

 

Spring Fever

By Deb

 

The cat has gone crazy again

spring saturates

her ancient blood

unknown feline hallucinogen

males calling her out

her madness surreal

and nothing to do

with having been spayed

 

Meow, let me out

meow, let me in

meow, dinner is on the balcony

you do like rabbit don't you?

meow, pet me now

meow, do not touch 

claw gashes the hand that feeds

meow and meow and meow

 

Soft grey fur

circles my unsteady legs

threading her plea

crazed begging

all purr and frantic instinct

the unseen need

unmet by me

only a human

who long ago

lost the frenzy of spring

 

 

 

 

 

Dot's NaPoWriMo: April 2

.
Haiku #2

shoes/jacket blue sky/sun
black clouds follow down the street, obliterating the sun
drenched in rain, pelted by hail

by dot.
.

Deb: April 1st, an opening Haiku

.
almost midnight now

poet brain not yet aware

time for poetry
.
by deb scott
.

Dot's NaPoWriMo: April 1st

I decided to add a minstrel Poet in my Script Frenzy stage play. Double duty this month as I write a 100 page script in 30 days and write a poem a day, too. Crazy? Maybe.

Haiku #1

sun shining no rain
season’s first shirtless men with hackysack
daphne welcomes April

by dot

It's NaPoWriMo time!

Yes, it's April.

Friend and fellow writer (what's the female form of "fellow" writer?) will be poster her NaPoWriMo (national poetry writing month) poems here for the month. I can't wait to see them! Deb and I shared the poetry space in April 2010 (and the prompts I set up are still available under the archives for April 2010; our poems are also still available in the "comments" under each prompt).

This year I've opted to do Script Frenzy. I'm threatening to include a poet so I can do double duty - both Script Frenzy and NaPoWriMo ... but I'm not there yet. I have about 6 hours to go to make that decision. Okay, 5 hours and 30 minutes if I'm going to write a poem.

Anyway - keep your eyes out here for Deb's poetry!

Yay, Deb.

Internet Writing Workshop's Practice for 9/5/10

The Other Side of the Story


Prepared by: Florence Cardinal
Reposted on: Sun, 5 Sept 2010

Exercise: In 400 words or less, rewrite a scene from a story familiar to most of us from the point of view of someone other than the main character. Tell us the name of the story you have chosen and who your viewpoint character is, and then show us what is different about the way that character sees the action and personalities involved.
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Every character in a story, from the main character right down to the dog, has a reason for being included, a reason for his or her actions, a point of view. Yes, some characters are just part of the machinery of the plot--the butler announcing the arrival of the Duke. But once that butler gets back to his pantry and starts gossiping with the housekeeper, he becomes part of the story, and we get a different perspective on what's going on in the house. The way all of the characters interact, the way each one views the action, deepens and enlivens the story. In the best stories, the characters, good and bad, act for clear reasons, their interactions providing the conflict and narrative tension that makes for a good read.

Some examples:

-How might Rhett Butler or Melanie Wilkes see Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind?

-See Stephen King's Cujo, where we watch the thoughts of a dog as he goes mad.

-What would the wolf have to say about Little Red Riding Hood?

-Some writers have already rewritten a known work from another point of view. Tom Stoppard, in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, showed us Hamlet through the eyes of two minor characters.

...brought to you by The Internet Writing Workshop

The Internet Writing Workshop: this week's exercise

I didn't get the Internet Writing Workshop's exercise up last week. But here is today's!

I will not be posting the next two weeks' exercises from the website, either, as I will be on vacation. And in a place where I am totally disconnected from all things internet and telephone related (I'll be rafting the Colorado River in the bottom of the Grand Canyon).


Idiom Insight

Prepared by: Charles Hightower
Reposted on: Sunday, June 20, 2010
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, create a story that might explain the origin of an idiom.

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An idiom is a phrase that does not make literal sense. Idioms may be among the most difficult concepts in English for foreigners to understand...For example, the phrase "kick the bucket" is interpreted as the act of dying. Taken literally, though, neither the kick nor the bucket has any apparent relationship to the meaning of the phrase.

Select an idiom. Then make up a story that could explain the idiom's origin, or show how it came to be. Use your imagination--the tale need not be true. Show, don't tell. Be sure to identify the idiom at start or finish.

If you need ideas, you might refer to http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-list.html

or http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idioms_proverbs.html

 
I like this: a story about how an idiom came to be. Hmmmm.