#NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twelve

Replace tiny lens
Milky white film covers eye
Hazy vision clears

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Today’s prompt (optional, as always) should come as no surprise. Yesterday, I challenged you to write a poem about a very large thing. Today, I’d like you to invert your inspiration, and write a poem about a very small thing. Whether it’s an atom, a button, a hummingbird’s egg, dollhouse furniture, or the mythical world’s smallest violin, I hope you enjoy your poetic adventures into the microscopic.

Good morning and welcome to day twelve of NaPoWriMo where small and large is a matter of perspective. I thought about writing about my cataracts yesterday as the surgeon said, There’s no baby here. My right eye was completely covered by cataracts – it was very large. My left eye is also developing cataracts, but it seems to be progressing at a regular speed. They told me it is just at the minimal growth that surgery is an option. We opted to just have my right eye done due to cost and the fact the cataract in my left eye is not impeding my vision yet. Supposedly cataracts is a slow progression, but this was not the case in my right eye. Either that or as is the case with my CP and I ignore my right side most of the time, it includes my right eye and I just didn’t notice the decrease in eyesight until it was totally gone. My left side is used to compensating for the lack of ability of the right; I wouldn’t be surprised if that included my eyes.

April 12th also means it’s DEAR day in honor of Beverly Cleary’s birthday. And after spending a good portion of last year not being able to read, I’m off to read a book. I hope you enjoyed reading my small contribution to the day twelve prompt.

Dimming
Eyesight
Addles
Reading

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#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Eleven

The book that began my love for reading

Fear of rejection
Keeps my pen frozen in place
Will anyone read?

Sincerely,

A future author

Readers are fickle
A nuisance asking advice
Just write what you know

Sincerely,

An annoyed author

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our (optional) prompt. This is a twist on a prompt offered by Kay Gabriel during a meeting she facilitated at the Poetry Project last year. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a two-part poem, in the form of an exchange of letters. The first stanza (or part) should be in the form of a letter that you write either to yourself or to a famous fictional or historical person. The second part should be the letter you receive in response. These can be as short or long as you like, in the form of prose poems, or with line breaks – and of course, the subject matter of the letters is totally up to you.

Good afternoon and welcome to day eleven of #NaPoWriMo where I procrastinated with housework this morning and then slapped together two short poems as letters. I couldn’t figure out who I wanted to write and then remembered tomorrow is DEAR day – the first since Beverly Cleary passed away earlier this year. And Dear Mr. Henshaw is one of my favorite books. I think the author response would be more Henshaw than Cleary but either way it works for the prompt.

#NaPoWriMo DEAR Day

 

The book that began my love for reading

Gretchen’s reading care package from Changing Hands Bookstore

DEAR Day

Drop everything and read a good book
in celebration of Cleary’s birthday
Find a quiet place where no one will look
Drop everything and read a good book
Lose yourself and let the pages sink their hook
into you as the story unfolds stay
Drop everything and read a good book
in celebration of Cleary’s birthday 

NaPoWriMo Prompt – For today’s prompt (optional, as always), I’d like to challenge you to write a triolet. These eight-line poems involve repeating lines and a tight rhyme scheme. The repetitions and rhymes can lend themselves to humorous poems, as well as to poems expressing dramatic or sorrowful moods. And sometimes the repetitions can be used in deceptive ways, by splitting the words in a given line into different sentences, and making subtle changes, as in this powerful triolet by Sandra McPherson.

Good morning readers, guess what day it is? One of my favorite days of NaPoWriMo day twelve also known as Beverly Cleary’s birthday or DEAR Day. And I’ve gotten pretty good at celebrating the day in poetry before going off to read.

So both Gretchen and Robin have been venturing to the mailbox the past couple days, anxiously awaiting their reading care packages from Changing Hands Bookstore. There was one extremely big envelope in yesterday’s mail addressed to Gretchen. It was so big, Robin figured it was a twofer and his book was also included. Alas it was not to be, Gretchen received a massive book that actually piqued all of our interest.

Since DEAR Day also landed on Easter this year, I can’t exactly drop everything but I will find some time to read today. I hope all my readers do too. 😉

 

#NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Twelve

Palo Verde in Backyard

Backyard Oasis

Temperatures soar in Phoenix and like the bird, I rise out of the heat. In my backyard, the palo verde blooms. I sit outside soaking in the beautiful spring day. Where I was raised is seeing snow in April – too cold for me. My desert home may not be lush in green, but the springs are bright. When I head outdoors, I am able to stay cozy in shade.

Welcome warm sunshine
Green tree boasts yellow flowers
Snow long forgotten

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Today’s (optional) prompt picks up from our craft resource. We’ve challenged you to tackle the haibun in past years, but it’s such a fun one, we couldn’t resist again. Today, we’d like to challenge you specifically to write a haibun that takes in the natural landscape of the place you live. It may be the high sierra, dusty plains, lush rainforest, or a suburbia of tiny, identical houses – but wherever you live, here’s your chance to bring it to life through the charming mix-and-match methodology of haibun.

Good Morning and welcome to day twelve of #NaPoWriMo remember it is DEAR day in honor of Beverly Cleary. Drop Everything And Read. My readers may remember at the end of January, I was complaining about being chilly despite our Sunny Desert Winter. It doesn’t take a huge temperature drop to make me cold as I’ve acclimated to the desert heat. Well this past Tuesday, Phoenix recorded its first official 100 for the year. Yay! I still think it’s better than the snow they’ve gotten in Buffalo this month. Well I hope I was able to bring the desert to life in my offering today. I am off to get some housework done before I have to log into work. Then hopefully I’ll be able to dear.

NaPoWriMo 2016 Day 12

My All Time FAVORITE Book

D.E.A.R

Dear Mr. Henshaw
Emily’s Runaway Imagination
A Girl from Yamhill
Ramona the Pest

It’s DEAR day (drop everything and read) Happy Birthday! Beverly Cleary 100 years spry today!

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Today, I challenge you to write your own index poem. You could start with found language from an actual index, or you could invent an index, somewhat in the style of this poem by Thomas Brendler. Happy writing!

OK maybe not exactly an index poem, but I took out my copy of Dear Mr. Henshaw turned to the back and saw this:

Beverly Cleary Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a listing of all her books. As luck would have it, I could arrange some of the titles into an acrostic for dear. So there is my faux index poem.

NaPoWriMo Day 12

Scotty, NO!

Starship
Enterprise flies
over volcano to
rescue Spock but Scotty misjudged
Fireball

Burning imagination

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our prompt! Yesterday’s was a doozy, so today’s is much more laid-back (and optional, as always). It comes to us from Dr. Cynthia A. Cochran of Illinois College:

Here is a great prompt for anyone who likes to write descriptive prose but shudders at writing poetry–and it really works:

Describe in great detail your favorite room, place, meal, day, or person. You can do this in paragraph form.

Now cut unnecessary words like articles and determiners (a, the, that) and anything that isn’t really necessary for content; leave mainly nouns, verbs, a few adjectives.

Cut the lines where you see fit and, VOILA! A poem!

All right Star Trek fans you can’t blame me for this one. Yes, I put the fire in the chimenea but the rest was all Gretchen. She brought out a box of her writings to burn. The next thing I know she’s folding paper airplanes naming them Enterprise and flying them “into” the volcano to rescue Spock. All aboard perish. Spock is the only survivor. He had a contingency plan if the shuttle couldn’t pull him out.

Does everyone know what today is? Extra poem day. 😀 It’s DEAR day. And here I am without a good Star Trek novel to read.

DEAR

Read
Celebrate
Beverly Cleary
Dear Mr. Henshaw her best
Book

NaPoWriMo Day Twelve – Replacement

D.E.A.R

A thrilling read
Thrills are a set of written words
A thrilling read
Transported from page to screen freed
Thrills stuck in libraries where nerds
Only knew how thrills soar like birds
A thrilling read

 

NaPoWriMo Prompt – 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.

April 12 is Beverly Cleary’s birthday and to honor the children’s author it has become DEAR day – Drop Everything And Read.  I try to write a DEAR poem on April 12th.  Once I post this my DEAR festivities can begin.  My tangible word is books; intangible word is thrills. I hope everyone finds a thrill to sink their teeth into today.  Happy Reading!

 

Kilroy Was Here! by: Douglas Quinn Book Review

Kilroy Was Here! is the second book in The Adventures of Summer McPhee of Ocracoke Island series by Douglas Quinn. Summer McPhee is introduced to a new student enrolled at Ocracoke Island school, Jimmy Wade. Jimmy was born with spina bifida and mild cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. This by no means impedes his intelligence.

After the school computers boot up to read, Kilroy was here, Summer learns Jimmy is a computer genius. At lunch he tells her how someone could get around the school’s security system and add new code. Then Summer’s friend, Angie, suggests they solve the computer problem, and Summer replies; “I don’t know blasé-blasé about computers.” (p 49) She soon finds out she doesn’t have to know how the prank was done to figure out who pulled it off.

The Adventures of Summer McPhee of Ocracoke Island – Kilroy Was Here! by Douglas Quinn is a fun, fast-paced, mystery for children. I enjoyed reading it. I was born with mild cerebral palsy and found Jimmy to be an accurate representation. Quinn made the character’s disability believable, balancing his trepidation with determination. By the end of the book, Summer and Jimmy are friends, but do they find the mysterious Kilroy? Read the book to find out. 😀

Legend

Kilroy was here

Who hacked school computers

Summer McPhee is on the case

Jimmy

Shares his knowledge of computers

Will they find the hacker

Mystery solved

Fast friends

 

If at all possible you should pick up this book for your young reader to enjoy on DEAR day this Saturday April 12th.

 

NaPoWriMo Day Eight – Rewrite

There is no vessel like a book
You’ll be transported by page
Poorest soul can leave his cage
A sing-song verse
Will quickly immerse
Dear reader, in its depth
Frugal means to gain breadth
Of knowledge, reading will hook!

A Book

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
Emily Dickinson

 

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for today’s (optional, as always!) prompt. 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. Happy writing!

Waiting at the bus stop with Gretchen this morning, another student came up holding Cinder by: Marissa Meyer.  Gretchen just finished reading the third book in the series.  We started talking about how good the books are.  I love when kids love reading. 😀 I’m early but April 12th is DEAR day in honor of Beverly Cleary’s birthday.  Everyone should – Drop Everything And Read.  I wrote a double dactyl for DEAR day one year.

In the middle of NaPoWriMo, I am also reading Kilroy was Here by: Douglas Quinn.  It’s a children’s book; I will write a review of when I’m finished. I’m thinking I may include a found poem in my review.  My oldest daughter has to write three book reports outside of her English class.  One of the suggestions is to write a found poem from a page in the book.  Rachael thought it was too easy to be real.  But I assured her found poetry is a legit assignment.  She has done two of the three reports. No found poem by her yet.