Month: April 2015

no one

Poetry

image

no one else knows
the echo of your name
in the voice of thunder
or the flash in your eyes
when you gaze down at me
the way you break over me
like a sudden cloudburst
your eyes wide open and
pure joy written on your face
no one else knows
how you come alive
in this haven we’ve made
when the rain comes
and washes us clean
no one else knows
how you love me
but I know, so do you

—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, write a what nobody knows poem. It’s easy to write a poem about what everybody already knows, though it may be difficult to write an interesting poem about such things. Still, use today’s prompt to explore things people may not know–secret stories, locations, and so on.

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Chemistry (a triolet)

Poetry

stormeye

What is the matter in a spring rain–
hydrogen, oxygen, energy?
Would you understand, if I tried to explain?
What is the matter in a spring rain–
that makes me want you, drives me insane?
I ache to ignite that chemistry.
Need is what matters! Bring on your rain–
your hydrogen, oxygen and energy.

—–

POETIC FORM: Triolet
An 8 linepoem. The first line of the poem is used 3 times and the second line is used twice. There are only 3 other lines to write: 2 rhyme with the first line, the other rhymes with the second line.
FORM DIAGRAM:
A (first line)
B (second line)
a (rhymes with first line)
A (repeat first line)
a (rhymes with first line)
b (rhymes with second line)
A (repeat first line)
B (repeat second line)

—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

Here’s the final “Two for Tuesday” prompt of the month:

1. Write a matter poem. Matter is what things are made of.
2. Write an anti-matter poem. The opposite of a matter poem.

Inevitable (a somonka)

Poetry

image

Looking back I see–
puddles were invitations,
thunder called to me.
When others hid from the storms,
I chased them looking for you.
—–
Now I realize,
You were the puddle I jumped.
Your lightning struck — twice.
You were inevitable.
I hid, but your storm found me.

—–

POETIC FORM:

The somonka is a Japanese form. In fact, it’s basically two tankas written as two love letters to each other (one tanka per love letter). This form usually demands two authors, but it is possible to have a poet take on two personas. Click here (http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetic-forms/tanka-bigger-and-more-relaxed-than-a-haiku) for a refresher on the tanka.

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FORM DIAGRAM:

5
7
5
7
7
–
5
7
5
7
7
—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, write a looking back poem. Of course, some people just glance over their shoulders, and others stop and turn all the way around. Some look back in time and weigh their successes and failures, evaluate things they could do better. Some claim they never look back. Whatever your stance on looking back, capture it in a poem today.

Outbreak (a cinquain)

Poetry

threetornadoes

it rains
winds gust and blow
tornadic passion storms
break out from in between my bones
it pours

—–

POETIC FORM:
Cnquain – five-line poetic form from Adelaide Crapsey. Inspired by tanka, the cinquain is comprised of 2 syllables in the first line, 4 in the second line, 6 in the third, 8 in the fourth, and 2 in the fifth. Plus, poets have the freedom to add or subtract one syllable from each line.
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POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, take a word or two invented by William Shakespeare, make it the title of your poem, and write your poem. Click here for a link to some words coined by Shakespeare, who was baptized on this date in 1564. If the link doesn’t work, here are a few: advertising, bloodstained, critic, dwindle, eyeball, hobnob, luggage, radiance, and zany. He invented more than 1,700!

Carry Me

Poetry

womanoceanstorm

I bring in my cupped hands
barely a swallow of water
thick with salt —
I carry it to you from
across a sea of longing
coughed up from lungs
that have too long tried
to breathe beneath
the weight of fifty-foot
waves of want.
I walk these sands
with sunburned feet
seaweed strands tangled
in my sun-bleached hair
fiddler crabs scuttle
in my wake, and the
lonely cries of seagulls
echo in my bones.
If I get to where you are
without any spills,
will you sip, won’t you
drink from my fingers
share this taste of
longing with me —
be for me the hurricane
that redefines my
shoreline, will your
winds carry me?

—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, write an across the sea poem. This could be a love letter, an electronic submission through cyber space and time, or a travel poem (by air or sea, though probably not car). Modern travel or back in the days of rugged explorers. Wandering or wondering, your choice. As always, the prompt is just the springboard to your poem; feel free to bend and break.

Touch (a luc bat)

Poetry

touch

The air flew from my chest
as though a storm undressed my heart
composure fell apart.
My pulse stuttered, restarted and
you reached to take my hand.
Upon the witness stand, the sun
watched our worlds come undone.
The touch was our first one–contained
the lightning that has chained
our souls each time it rained, and wind
that blew until the end
of reason could contend, with touch–
to burn the flesh this much.
That we could call down such great storms–
the magic love performs!
When just your hand conforms to mine,
my head swims as though wine
has filled this mouth of mine. Your eyes
are cloudy, darkened skies.
Within their depths, there lies my rest.

—–

POETIC FORM:

luc bat – (vietnamese “six-eight”) Alternating lines of 6 and 8 syllables. The rhyme scheme renews at the end of every 8-syllable line and rhymes on the 6th syllable of both lines. No set length or subject matter.

—–

FORM DIAGRAM:

xxxxxA
xxxxxAxB
xxxxxB
xxxxxBxC
xxxxxC
xxxxxCxD
xxxxxD
xxxxxDxA

—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, write a moment poem. The moment can be a big moment or small moment; it can be a good moment or horrible moment; it can affect thousands or matter to just one person. Some moments happen in crowded rooms; some happen in the most quiet of spaces. Find yours and write a poem.

Flood Stage (a Triolet)

Poetry

flood1

The rain keeps falling, refuses to slow–
and the water just keeps rising.
With each kiss, we know, this passion will grow.
and rain keeps falling, refuses to slow.
We’re chanting these storms in, you know?
The intensity isn’t surprising.
This rain keeps falling, refuses to slow.
and the water just keeps rising.

—–

POETIC FORM: Triolet

An 8 linepoem. The first line of the poem is used 3 times and the second line is used twice. There are only 3 other lines to write: 2 rhyme with the first line, the other rhymes with the second line.

FORM DIAGRAM:

A (first line)
B (second line)
a (rhymes with first line)
A (repeat first line)
a (rhymes with first line)
b (rhymes with second line)
A (repeat first line)
B (repeat second line)
—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, write a historic poem. It could be a poem about a landmark event, specific battle, an era in time, or whatever you consider a historic happening.

My Nature

Poetry

image

You may think it’s very strange
I do not long for the sun.
I can see your sad dismay,
though I don’t share your sorrow.

Keep your umbrella at hand.
Don your boots and watch the sky.
Call the weatherman to task,
when the forecast ruins your plans.

While you hope for summer days,
and this weather makes you frown,
know my soul aches for the clouds,
as my body craves the rain.

I’ve been wooed by thunder’s call
It’s my nature to be wet.
I grow restless in the calm,
because I have known the storm.

—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, write a nature poem. For many poets, the first thing that may pop to mind includes birds, trees, waterfalls, rivers, and such. But there’s also human nature, nature vs. nurture, and other things natural, including natural selection and being a “natural” at something. Let your nature take it where it will today

You’re Not (a lai)

Poetry

sunhat

You showed me passion–
jealous of the sun,
you fought.

Stormy attraction,
You wooed, till love won–
I thought.

Then we came undone.
I’m here in the sun.
You’re not.

—–

POETIC FORM:

The lai is another French form. It’s a nine-line poem or stanza that uses an “a” and “b” rhyme following this pattern: aabaabaab. The lines with an “a” rhyme use 5 syllables; the “b” rhyme lines have 2 syllables.

—–

FORM DIAGRAM:

a(5)
a(5)
b(2)

a(5)
a(5)
b(2)

a(5)
a(5)
b(2)

—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, we’re dealing with our third “Two for Tuesday” prompt(s):

1. Write a “what you are” poem, or…
2. Write a “what you are not” poem.

For instance, you may be a teacher, a student, brave, scared, a person, an animal, a plant, and well, wherever this one takes you. Or not, of course.

My Heart, the Weather Vane (a shadorma)

Poetry

weathervane

heart on sleeve
I dance in the wind
twist and turn
lightning rod
and yet I’m still the first to
get wet when it rains

—–

POETIC FORM:

Shadorma – a Spanish 6-line syllabic poem of 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllable lines respectively.

—–

FORM DIAGRAM:

3-
5-
3-
3-
7-
5-

—–

POEM A DAY APRIL 2015 – PROMPT:

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “My (blank), the (blank),” replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “My Dentist, the Torture Expert,” “My Lunch, the Thing I Got Out of the Vending Machine,” “My Father, the Comedian,” or “My Life, the Punchline.”