#Haikai Challenge 31 – May the 4th

Ancient Jedi tomes
possess no further wisdom
Luke seeks horizon

Yoda confesses
Page turners they were not, as
he burns ancient texts

 

As I’m looking through my reader, the theme of Frank’s next Haikai challenge catches my eye, how can I pass up a May the Fourth challenge. You know I write sci-fi themed poetry as much as possible. Here is a string of Star Wars poems written a couple years ago for #NaPoWriMo. Astonishingly enough a copy of The Last Jedi has yet to find its way into this house. And yes, I took full advantage of the #haikuchallenge word – ancient. It works well for poems written about “A long time ago…”

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#NaPoWriMo 2018 (Day 29) Take Two

Desert Botanical Gardens Phoenix, AZ

Shivering Souls

Blackness surrounds us, crossing the lake
A little light penetrates through
And wishes us to linger
We shiver in the cold
Valedictory
Shadows are cast
Across stars
Lilies
Weep

Okay I missed Thursday’s prompt so I thought I’d give a go at today’s prompt again. I’ve been chewing on the other prompt, but have not been successful at getting all five senses into one poem. May not totally abandon the prompt, yet. But thought I’d offer this for now and because my first try at this prompt was lacking, though I’m not sure if this attempt is any better.

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty-nine

 

Passage to Hades, with Charon and his boat on the Styx river. 15th-16th century. Louvre museum (Paris, France)

CROSSING THE WATER
By: Sylvia Plath

Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people.
Where do the black trees go that drink here?
Their shadows must cover Canada.

River Styx

Ancient black tomb stands
Reflective of the life lost
Absorbs all color

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem based on the Plath Poetry Project’s calendar. Simply pick a poem from the calendar, and then write a poem that responds or engages with your chosen Plath poem in some way.
Happy writing!

Good morning and welcome to day twenty-nine of #NaPoWriMo not sure where I was going here and yes I titled a haiku. The #haikuchallenge word today is ancient and reading Plath’s poem, I thought of the River Styx not that there is any surprise there most of her poems make me think of death. I used the haiku challenge word to respond to the poem. I picked Crossing the Water because it was posted on April 4th, Gretchen’s birthday.

 

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty-eight

Maid of the Mist Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, NY

Hello! We enjoyed our trip to see Niagara Falls. The girls and I were adventurous and toured the Cave of the Winds. Okay, Mom didn’t make it all the way up the stairs to stand next to the falls. The girls were having fun experiencing the Falls up close. After that we went on the Maid of the Mist; I’m sending you a postcard of the boat. It’s a good thing they give you rain ponchos, because we all got wet. They bring the boat along side of Horseshoe Falls. It’s loud as the water thunders down into the river right by the boat. Our time in Buffalo is almost over be home soon.

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Following the suggestion of our craft resource, we challenge you today to draft a prose poem in the form/style of a postcard. If you need some inspiration, why not check out some images of vintage postcards? I’m particularly fond of this one.

Good Morning and welcome to day twenty-eight of #NaPoWriMo where we are suppose to write a postcard. Well since we will be going back to Buffalo this summer, a first for the whole family in over 6 years, I decided to write about our last trip to Niagara Falls. Gretchen is off to her Eng102 class this morning. They actually sent the students an email informing them classes are held as scheduled so the kids didn’t think the college professors were on walkout like their high school teachers. Gretchen thought, doh! But I thought it was a good idea if only because the kids have been sleeping in for the past two days; and teenagers, if they think they can sleep in and not have to go to school, they’ll take full advantage.

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty-Seven

The Hermit

Loner
Seeks knowledge
Climbs great heights
Happy to be invisible
Introspection

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for today’s (optional) prompt. Following Lauren Hunter’s practice of relying on tarot cards to generate ideas for poems, we challenge you to pick a card (any card) from this online guide to the tarot, and then to write a poem inspired either by the card or by the images or ideas that are associated with it.

Good evening and welcome to day twenty-seven of #NaPoWriMo and I’m already starting to peter out. Gretchen was home again today and Rachael doesn’t have classes on Friday. Next week is finals and she only has to go in on Thursday! So my peace and quiet is quickly disappearing. I enjoy being a hermit during the school year. Since it is the weekend, I hope to catch up on the prompt I missed yesterday.

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty-five

My children know I’m crazy

Beware sleep deprived
mom who will walk into walls
may trip over cats

Do not approach her
without sufficient coffee
may misinterpret

Do not approach her
if she holds a sharp object
may take fork to foot            😉

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, we challenge you to write a poem that takes the form of a warning label . . . for yourself! (Mine definitely includes the statement: “Do Not Feed More Than Four Cookies Per Hour.”
Happy writing!

Good morning and welcome to another installment of #NaPoWriMo a day late. This morning I already accomplished buying airline tickets. 😀 WooHoo! All four of us will be shuffling off to Buffalo at the end of June. Gretchen’s last day of summer classes is June 28th but I’ve been waiting to hear about Rachael’s summer schedule – which is still up in the air. Whatever she ends up doing, she will just need the 4th of July week off, because she’s going on vacation.

I did start working on this prompt yesterday, but then Rachael made pancakes for breakfast; Shawn went grocery shopping (I had to put food away); and Gretchen found out her ACT score – 24. I told her it is a very good score, but she was all moody because it isn’t a great score and she felt like she did really well when she took the test. Her SAT is 1160 and everything I looked up yesterday said 24 ACT is comparable to 1180 SAT. I told her at least you are consistent. Still did not help. I looked up ASU stats; she doesn’t want to go far from home. Their website said any ACT score 22 and above is accepted. They will take as low as a 19. She is good, improving her score will help with more scholarship money but she doesn’t have to worry about being accepted especially if she keeps up her GPA. Still none of this improved her mood yesterday.

This morning there is no sleep deprived mom to deal with because I slept in – first day of teacher walkout. The high school campus is open for half the day, they’re dismissing students at 10:15, but do to the low number of teachers expected to show up; they are having a big tutoring, extra help session. Gretchen’s last day of Eng 102 is May 5th and she has a paper to write for that class and figured it would be good to stay home and work on it without being penalized with an absence. This afternoon after I’m done working, it’s back to the orthodontist to pick up her new retainer. And at some point I hope to get to today’s poetry prompt.

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty-Four

Arizona Police Association Facebook Page

Three and a half years
first responders given help
Craig Tiger Act passed

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Today, we’d like to challenge you to write an elegy – a poem typically written in honor or memory of someone dead. But we’d like to challenge you to write an elegy that has a hopefulness to it. Need inspiration? You might look at W.H. Auden’s elegy for Yeats, which ends on a note suggesting that the great poet’s work will live on, inspiring others in years to come. Or perhaps this elegy by Mary Jo Bang, where the sadness is shot through with a sense of forgiveness on both sides.

Good Evening and welcome to day twenty-four of #NaPoWriMo. I’m not very good at elegies, but while I was on Facebook tonight I saw the Arizona house bill offering first responders help for PTSD passed yesterday. It was named after my cousin who committed suicide in November 2014 a year after my brother-in-law committed suicide and less than 3 months after my mom passed away. As the Arizona Police Association post states, the hope is this bill will prevent another first responder from facing PTSD alone.

NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty – three

Rice Krispies in bowl
start to snap, crackle and pop
when you pour the milk

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for today’s (optional) prompt! Kate Greenstreet’s poetry is spare, but gives a very palpable sense of being spoken aloud – it reads like spoken language sounds. In our interview with her, she underscores this, stating that “when you hear it, you write it down.” Today, we challenge you to honor this idea with a poem based in sound. The poem, for example, could incorporate overheard language. Perhaps it could incorporate a song lyric in some way, or language from something often heard spoken aloud (a prayer, a pledge, the Girl Scout motto). Or you could use a regional or local phrase from your hometown that you don’t hear elsewhere, e.g. “that boy won’t amount to a pinch.”

Good morning and welcome to day twenty-three of #NaPoWriMo; I hope everyone was able to eat breakfast this morning. Well my day 23 post is a day late and I’m writing before my breakfast and now I’m off to edit a resume before finishing this post. Okay I’m back. My brain really does not function well without coffee, but Rachael understood my confusion and was able to correct her resume. Anyway, on with poetry. Yes, I wrote a few haiku on twitter yesterday even though I didn’t get to this prompt. When I think sound, I think onomatopoeia. Am I alone here? And my mind has been on breakfast lately. Gretchen has been eating cocoa Rice Krispies for the past couple weeks; I’ve been hearing snap, crackle, pop in the morning.

Play cat mew on phone
child calls out to distressed pet
what cruel trickery

So yesterday’s #haikuchallenge word was trickery and I was contemplating onomatopoeia and when I looked it up, mew was an example they used. Sunday night Shawn played a cat video on his phone and Rachael went off looking for Chase; she thought he was the cat meowing. No clue it was playing on a phone; I can’t say I haven’t made similar mistakes. It’s funny when it’s not you though.

For my readers wondering why I started this post with breakfast on my mind. Well I still haven’t made the coffee, but The Haiku Chronicle on Poetry Pea had a breakfast themed podcast; head over and listen to Patricia talk about breakfast in haiku. Well as usual I have chores to do before I have to log into work. I’m hoping to be back at some point today for day twenty-four of #NaPoWriMo.

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty two

Inky splotch found on
blueprint of circular room
corner illusion

Genius architect
creates circular room where
corners defy law

Misbehaved children
sent to sit in the corner
build circular room

Circular room built
with ninety degree angles
contrariety

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our daily prompt (optional as always). I’ve found this one rather useful in trying to ‘surprise’ myself into writing something I wouldn’t have come up with otherwise. Today, I’d like you to take one of the following statements of something impossible, and then write a poem in which the impossible thing happens:

Good Afternoon and welcome to day twenty-two of #NaPoWriMo where I had some fun with haiku and adding corners to a circle. And it appears I finished just in time as Rachael just got home from work so I can now go and do some laundry. My first haiku actually uses the #haikuchallenge word today – inky.

 

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twenty-one

Gaze at reflection
too enamored by beauty
vanity takes hold

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our (optional) prompt. In her interview, Brim provides us with several suggestions for generative writing exercises, and we’d like to challenge to today to tackle her third one, which is based in the myth of Narcissus. After reading the myth, try writing a poem that plays with the myth in some way. For example, you could imagine that imagine the water is speaking to you, the narcissus flower. Or you could write a poem in which the narcissus berates the Kardashians for stealing their neurosis. Or a poem that comments on the narcissism of our time, i.e. beauty and body obsession, etc.

Good morning! And welcome to day twenty-one of #NaPoWriMo where we are suppose to write about narcissism and I’m a little sleepy as I stayed up to finish watching Lost in Space last night. As I was mulling over where to take my poem I headed over to twitter to see what the #haikuchallenge word today is and it’s hold. Ahhh… shouldn’t be too difficult to turn a haiku with hold into a vanity senryu and there you have it. Yesterday the word was retort and I posted a clever retort to go with my #redfored poem until I realized my syllable count was off – oops.

Schools rank near bottom
Governor offers pay raise
Teachers retort – strike

There it is fixed because I had with strike for my original tweet. Here is an article on CNN about the Arizona teacher walk out. I got an email from the high school district informing us schools will begin early dismissals on Thursday. We will get a follow up email on the 25th with greater detail, but if too many teachers walk out, they may close campuses completely. And all this on Gretchen’s “April break” she didn’t really have because her AP History teacher wanted all the students taking the AP test in May to come in for a practice test. Shawn drove her to school because no school meant no bussing. And he asked, Are you and Rachael going to pick her up? Well I know Rachael is no school also meant she could leave campus at any time without a parent signature, but she may need a pick up when I’m working. Sure enough the practice test ended while I was working, but Rachael had no problem picking her up by herself.