April is Winding Down Fast

Gretchen molding clay

Watch potter’s wheel turn
Slowly mold clay into shape
Bowl not yet finished

Good Afternoon! #NaPoWriMo is not yet finished either, but I’ve lost motivation this year even before the midpoint was here.

Words remain stagnant
How fares April poetry?
I ask feeling blue

I have been busy scoring standardized tests since April 10th. And after staring at a computer screen for 3 and a half hours most week days, I have not had the motivation to put my own words on the screen. I have not even done a #haikuchallenge every day; though I have completed more than I have posted here.

We had a pretty quiet Easter Sunday – just the 4 of us. I cooked a ham and then after dinner, Gretchen worked on the potter’s wheel and Shawn set up a fire in the chimenea. I actually played with the slo-mo function for the video on the iPhone, watching Gretchen turn the clay in slow motion was rather interesting.

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 15

College Awaits

To be or not to be
attending freshman orientation
Where is my schedule
How will I navigate this campus
My life…
Creative writing
Is that a real major?
There’s a mom standing here
crying, as my sibling drops me off
nary a word as to how to find
the car once this is all over.
I question whether or not
I will survive this day
To be or not to be…
a freshman at ASU!

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 15 – Our prompt for today (optional, as always), takes its inspiration from the idea of a poem as a sort of tiny play, which can be performed dramatically. In the 1800s, there was quite a fad for monologue-style poems that lend themselves extremely well to dramatic interpretations (this kind of work was basically Robert Browning’s jam). And Shakespeare’s plays are chock-a-block with them. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write your own dramatic monologue. It doesn’t have to be quite as serious as Browning or Shakespeare, of course, but try to create a sort of specific voice or character that can act as the “speaker” of your poem, and that could be acted by someone reciting the poem.

Good morning and welcome to day 15 of NaPoWriMo. I’m sorry I know I’ve been absent the past few days, I have a serious lack of motivation this year. Saturday I was even doing housework to avoid the poetry prompt. On the plus side I made a nice chicken salad for lunch and homemade chicken soup for dinner. And I got a haikuchallenge out of my procrastination.

Missing poetry
Where is my motivation
Lost in laundry heap

Spend time in kitchen
Dicing vegetables for soup
Suzy homemaker

Sunday the only thing I did was more dishes and laundry – those two chores are never done. Friday evening we finally got Gretchen to sit down and take her math placement test for orientation. You know you’ve waited til the last minute when your advisor calls to remind you it needs to be done before orientation. And last night she finally took and uploaded a photo for her ID card. We were getting constant reminders on that front too. As to whether or not I will catch up or go back to complete the missing prompts, time will tell. I am now busy scoring the essays on standardized tests in the afternoons.

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 10

Backyard thermometer reading April 10, 2014

Triple digit temps
Desert low humidity
Means it’s a dry heat

Haboob intense wind
Creates sandstorm in desert
Word makes people cringe

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 10 – Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that starts from a regional phrase, particularly one to describe a weather phenomenon. You may remember one from growing up, bu if you’re having trouble getting started, perhaps one of these regional U.S. phrases used to describe warm weather will inspire you. Or you might enjoy these French terms for cold weather, or even these expressions from the British Islesthat are mostly for the very British phenomenon of rain.

Good Morning and welcome to day 10 of NaPoWriMo where as a desert rat, I get to poke fun at the term, dry heat. The above photo turned up in my Facebook memories today; five years later and we are expecting a beautiful high of only 77 today. Also living in the desert, I have also experienced haboobs which was the first word I thought of to describe a local weather phenomenon; we’ve lived here for 20 years now and the word still makes me laugh. The #haikuchallenge word is original today and I was semisuccessful at making it work.

Haboob funny word
Original use depicts
Sandstorm in desert.

Here is another #haikuchallenge post I wrote for monsoon season and how destructive haboobs can be. And no autocorrect I am not trying to spell baboon. Well it is early release today, Gretchen will be out of school in an hour and it’s my first day of grading so I must be off. I hope everyone enjoys the one third mark of April insanity.

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 9

 

To Do List

Spring cleaning
Blooms
Laundry
Dishes
Mop, sweep, vacuum
Add season remote reading
A dash of poetry
Energy droops
Day by day
Petals fall
Counting down
Until April ends

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 9 – Our (optional) prompt for the day asks you to engage in another kind of cross-cultural exercise, as it is inspired by the work of Sei Shonagon, a Japanese writer who lived more than 1000 years ago. She wrote a journal that came to be known as The Pillow Book. In it she recorded daily observations, court gossip, poems, aphorisms, and musings, including lists with titles like “Things That Have Lost Their Power,” “Adorable Things,” and “Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write your own Sei Shonagon-style list of “things.” What things? Well, that’s for you to decide!

Good Morning! Welcome to day 9 of NaPoWriMo. I was busy yesterday cleaning house and getting ready to start the remote reading which made today’s prompt perfect for a to do list. Last week Gretchen and I popped the screen out of the back Living room window. I am not a window cleaner. I couldn’t tell you the last time screens were washed, but the back window can now be checked off the to do list.

DEAR

Don’t know what to write
Every line comes out trite
And not worth the fight
Revisions may take all night

Yesterday’s prompt was to write a poem around a metaphor or slang term. And pretty soon I’ll be D.E.A.R (drop everything and read). Not sure an acronym really works as a metaphor but it is one of my favorite pastimes.

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 7

My Bed

What could I achieve
If I had motivation
to get out of bed

Possibilities
abound if only one can
find what motivates

What profound wisdom
I could impart, if only
Someone would listen

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 7 – Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of gifts and joy. What would you give yourself, if you could have anything? What would you give someone else?

Good morning and welcome to the one week mark of NaPoWriMo and no your eyes do not deceive you there is no day 6, poem of possibilities on my blog. I really had very little motivation yesterday. The above 3 haikuish poems were written from the #haikuchallenge word, what. I wasn’t completely devoid of poetry. I did share my golden shovel poem posted on silver birch press on Facebook because they haven’t blocked Melanie’s site.

Today’s prompt – if I could have anything? How about Facebook telling me why my blog is in Facebook jail?

Poetry presence
I cannot tell my story
no more confessions

“A poem is a private story, no matter how apparently public. The reader is always overhearing a confession.” — Jorie Graham

I start remote reading this week, so my poetry and blog posts may become a little erratic. I saw We Olive  is hosting a fundraiser for autism awareness on Thursday April 11. Thankfully it is after my work hours, so I’m hoping to go over and check it out.

 

 

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 5

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

 

Fortune Cookie

Don’t Panic
Excellent advice except
It left out one important detail –

Always carry a towel

It has great practical value
Wrap it around you for warmth
Lie on it to bask in the sun
Sleep under it beneath the stars
Wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat
If you manage to keep it halfway clean
Dry yourself off

Don’t panic
Is not sufficient advice

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 5 – Following Dargan’s lead, today we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates at least one of the following: (1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way. If you can use two elements, great – and if you can do all three, wow!

Good morning and welcome to day 5 of NaPoWriMo also known as First Contact Day. My math isn’t always the best, but I believe it’s only 44 more years until we meet aliens from outer space. Shawn showed me the fortune he received last night, and I told him it was missing something very important. He said, I know in bed. Umm…no not exactly. Always carry your towel. Since we were asked to use lines from an outside text in today’s prompt, I guess you could call this a found poem. If you are lucky enough to meet a Vulcan in the future don’t forget your towel. My love of sci-fi. Not too sure how much I love my husband right now, totally missing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference.

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 4

Birthday email card

Morning Blues

Morning snooze gone
Five am alarm clock blares

Too early to rely on

Beware

Sleep deprived mom
Dad put the coffee on
Everyone stay calm
The week is almost over
And will soon turnover
Beautiful Saturday
Just one problem
Six am alarm clock blares

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 4 – Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own sad poem, but one that, like Teicher’s, achieves sadness through simplicity. Playing with the sonnet form may help you – its very compactness can compel you to be straightforward, using plain, small words.

Good morning and welcome to day 4 of NaPoWriMo. AzMerit testing is over and we were back to a five am wake up call. Once I got Gretchen off to school at 6:30 and the dishwasher loaded and started, I went back to bed. Then Shawn got up and asked if the coffee was started. Lol! In his dreams. And yes because Gretchen takes college classes through the ACE program, we are up early on Saturday mornings too. But on the plus side, she will be graduating high school with 24 credits from the community college.

Today may be tough
All the birthday wishes rough
It’s never enough

The #haikuchallenge word today is rough and yeah I’m kinda on a rhyming kick. Gretchen went off to school hoping no one would acknowledge her birthday. Guess what, her future university put a birthday video together and sends it in an email to their students.

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 3

Gretchen wearing #RedInstead April 2, 2019

Life’s Journey

Simmer for nine months
Celebrate milestones
First tooth
Learning to crawl
Stand and walk
Potty training
Send off to kindergarten
Move up to middle school
Graduate from high school
Eighteen years old
Off to college
Study hard
Earn a degree
Life has just begun

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 3 – And now for today’s prompt (optional as always). Today’s prompt is based in a poem by Larry Levis called “The Two Trees.” It is a poem that seems to meander, full of little digressions, odd bits of information, but fundamentally, it is a poem that takes time. It takes its time getting where it’s going, and the action of the poem itself takes place over months. Today, I’d like to challenge you to similarly write something that involves a story or action that unfolds over an appreciable length of time. Perhaps, as you do, you can focus on imagery, or sound, or emotional content (or all three!)

Good morning and welcome to day 3 of NaPoWriMo. Yesterday I made an error and linked to the participant’s blog for day 2 instead of the prompt page. When I clicked on it to get back to the Shakespeare Sonnet in German video, I realized the mistake. It is now fixed. I wanted the link to the poetry video to share on Facebook with my poem from yesterday as my blog is in Facebook jail at the moment and I am unable to share links to my poetry posts.

As my long time readers should know, Gretchen has a birthday in April. Tomorrow she will be 18! Wow where did that time go; she’ll be graduating from high school next month. It seems like we were celebrating Rachael’s high school graduation only yesterday, but it was three years ago. I figured a poem about growing up would cover an appreciable length of time plus it’s still going. The #haikuchallenge word today is not. I worked that into the theme as well.

Meander through life
Eighteen years she walks the Earth
Direction not set

And yes I was able to take a picture of the elusive Gretchen yesterday. The cat distraction was helpful.

#NaPoWriMo Day 2 2019

Gretchen as a German teacher

Piecing the Mess Together

Sleep in for a second day
put on a pot of coffee
share Shakespearean sonnet
in German
and read about #redinstead
Arrange puzzle pieces
stress out about finding jeans
to bring your outfit together

Finally alone in the house
How long will it last?

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 2 – Today’s prompt (optional, as always) is based on this poem by Claire Wahmanholm, which transforms the natural world into an unsettled dream-place. One way it does this is by asking questions – literally. The poem not only contains questions, but ends on a question. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that similarly resists closure by ending on a question, inviting the reader to continue the process of reading (and, in some ways, writing) the poem even after the poem ends.

Good morning and welcome to day 2 of NaPoWriMo also #NationalAutismAwarenessDay. Gretchen has asked everyone to wear #redinstead today. Also if you click on the link to the NaPoWriMo.net site, you’ll see the poetry video is in German today. Naturally I had to share it with my little German teacher. As it was another late start today, my peace and quiet will not last long.

#NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 1

Ladybug found on my window screen the last day in March

Prosperous April
Ladybug stuck on window
Brings inspiration

Wish on a Ladybug

Ladybug
Ladybug

Stuck on my window screen
reluctant model

does not stand still
Careful to free

sits in the palm of her hand
Grants us good fortune

Make a wish
and count her spots

Carry outside to share
in prosperity
Then fly away home

NaPoWriMo Prompt (Day 1) – For our first (optional) prompt, let’s take our cue from O’Neil’s poem, and write poems that provide the reader with instructions on how to do something. It can be a sort of recipe, like O’Neil’s poem. Or you could try to play on the notorious unreliability of instructional manuals (if you’ve ever tried to put IKEA furniture together, you know what I mean). You could even write a dis-instruction poem, that tells the reader how not to do something. This well-known poem by John Ashbery may provide you with some additional inspiration.

Good morning readers and welcome to the first day of NaPoWriMo. Yesterday afternoon I noticed a ladybug crawling on my window screen, looking closer I realized it was on the inside. I tried taking several photos but none were in focus as it kept crawling around. Rachael came over and took it off the window. The ladybug cooperated for a photo and then Rachael took it outside.

As it is April not only is it National Poetry Month, it is also standardized testing season. AzMerit tests began today and since Gretchen is a senior she does not have to take them; so we had a nice relaxing morning as her class time did not start until 10:15 am. The #haikuchallenge word on Twitter today is stuck. I played around with a little verse before seeing Gretchen off to school. Then when she left, I worked on a somewhat longer verse. I’m hoping my discovery yesterday will mean a prosperous and inspirational April. So far so good for the kick off. The good luck of ladybugs