#NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Eight

Cats Reign Supreme

Cat, enough of your greedy whining
and your small pink bumhole.
Off my face! You’re the life principle,
more or less, so get going
                                           February  by - Margaret Atwood

Nothing to do all day
except sit in the windowsill.
My human delegates chores
and the dog wags her tail
but I don’t think she understands
my human wants a helping hand 
and mutters something about
opposable thumbs.
Doesn’t she see I’m hard at work?
Cat, enough of your greedy whining

Birds and lizards come up
to the window.
If I were not here, surely
they’d have free access
to the house.
The dog trots off in search
of my human, she loathes 
being alone without attention
Time to place my backside up
and your small pink bumhole.

I’m not sure the creatures
outside are sufficiently impressed
as I stretch; my backend in full view.
Unlike the dog, I’ve learned
it’s best to show little interest.
My human is quick to snap
when the dog gets underfoot.
I jump off the windowsill and
go offer my human a distraction.
Off my face! You’re the life principle

Finally, my human sees my worth.
It only took me sitting on her face.
I wonder what reward I will receive
but she stands up and calls the dog.
They both go into the backyard 
I’m left looking out the back window.
Perhaps if I start meowing
she’ll come back inside to acknowledge
the inherent worth of cats over dogs
more or less, so get going... human!

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And last but not least, here is our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today’s prompt comes to us from this list of “all-time favorite writing prompts.” It asks you to name your alter-ego, and then describe him/her in detail. Then write in your alter-ego’s voice. Maybe your alter-ego is a streetwise detective, or a superhero, or a very small goldfinch. Whoever or whatever your alternate self may be, I hope this prompt lets you stretch both your writing skills and your self-knowledge.

Good afternoon and welcome to day eight of NaPoWriMo where I’m not exactly sure I stuck to the prompt, but as someone left alone in a house with animals all day; if I were to have an alter-ego I would like to be one of the pets so I could sit around and do nothing all day. And no, your eyes do not deceive you this is loosely a glosa (the rhyme scheme is missing) and I’m not sure the lines from February are incorporated well. I have definitely spent more than enough time on this poem, today and those chores I try to delegate aren’t getting done. Thank you for reading my day eight contribution.

Advertisement

#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty Eight

My Nightstand

I Question Living with Cats

What can be found on my nightstand
Why must the cats walk across it
in the middle of the night; then
wake me up, jumping on my head
Do they enjoy prowling at night
interrupting my beauty sleep
Why am I tired all day as cats
sleep soundly anywhere they lay
How do they accomplish the same
feat night after night and deftly
keep everything on my nightstand

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Our prompt today (optional, as always), is to write a poem that poses a series of questions. The questions could be a mix of the serious (“What is the meaning of life?”) and humorous (“What’s the deal with cats knocking things off tables?”), the interruptive (“Could you repeat that?”) and the conversational (“Are those peanuts? Can I have some?”). You can choose to answer them – or just let the questions keep building up, creating a poem that asks the reader to come up with their own answer(s).

Good afternoon and welcome to day twenty eight of #NaPoWriMo where I question living with cats. They woke Shawn and I up before 6am this morning. I’m a little tired today. Two more poems to go before another poetry month is in the books.

#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Three

Make a deck of words
Spread around to play Go Fish
I cannot shuffle

Go Fish

Index cards
Spread across table
Coffee mug set aside
Poet seeks inspiration
Quiet meditation

Saturday morning
Cats have other plans

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day Three – This one is a bit involved, which is why I’m giving it to you on a Saturday. Today, I’d like to challenge you to make a “Personal Universal Deck,” and then to write a poem using it. The idea of the “Personal Universal Deck” originated with the poet and playwright Michael McClure, who gave the project of creating such decks to his students in a 1976 lecture at Naropa University. Basically, you will need 50 index cards or small pieces of paper, and on them, you will write 100 words (one on the front and one on the back of each card/paper) using the rules found here.

Don’t agonize over your word choices. Making the deck should be fun and revealing, as you generate words that sound “good” to you. The fact that the words are mainly divided among the five senses should be helpful in selecting words that you like the sound of, and that have some meaning personal to you. For example, my deck contains “harbor,” “wool,” “murmur,” “obsidian,” and “needle.”

Once you have your deck put together, shuffle it a few times. Now select a card or two, and use them as the basis for a new poem.

Good morning and welcome to day three of #NaPoWriMo where I wonder if McClure even knows the disposition of cats. Although it’s Saturday here so cats are not my only distraction. Before I sat down to work on this prompt I was on Twitter and used the #HaikuChallenge word to make my tweetku (a handy made up word I used in this post). And I shared my Escape Within poem @piper_center.

Saturday morning
Poetic meditation
Cats make other plans

#NaPoWriMo Pets

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, I challenge you to write a paean to the stalwart hero of your household: your pet. Sing high your praises and tell the tale of Kitty McFluffleface’s ascension of Mt. Couch. Let us hear how your intrepid doggo bravely answers the call to adventure whenever the leash jingles.

Good afternoon and welcome to day twenty-nine of napowrimo. I know I am rather late today, but things conspired to keep me from writing the most aggravating one is my dishwasher conked out on me. I was doing all the dishes by hand this morning, and I still have more to do. The other impediment was the lack of inspiration. This is a house of a veterinary student who has always known he was going to be a veterinarian; which means the one thing this house has never lacked were pets. Currently we have one dog, three cats, a tortoise, a snake and some fish too numerous it was overwhelming. I went with an old haiku I wrote about the life of a cat. I just realized the green vine growing outside the window is cat’s claw.

Needless to say I’m a little frustrated right now to focus on poetry. Hopefully tomorrow I can knock it out of the park for the last day of April.

Warning – a Rondelet

Warning

Cat riled up
Okay, sweetheart I’m off to work
Cat riled up
Warning, do not snuggle close up
An animal going berserk
My husband just leaves with a smirk
Cat riled up