michaeljarmer

#397: Poem on April 24, 2021

Poem on April 24 A man has been crushed to death by a butterflyhe had been hunting in Zimbabwe last Friday. Theunis Botha was hunting a group of butterflieson an insect reserve with clients when the party accidentally stumbled upon a breeding flutter in Good Luck Farm near Hwange National Park. It is reported that threeContinue reading “#397: Poem on April 24, 2021”

#396: Poem on April 23, 2021

Poem on April 23 You’re goddamn right I was saving those plumsfor breakfast. That’s why I put them in the icebox–for safe, cold-keeping.Do I have to putmy name on shitin this household? I’m gladyou enjoyed thembecause, this is just to say, I have given all your chocolateto the neighbor kids.

#395: Poem on April 22, 2021

On April 16 of 2020 I wrote a poem about turntables. I even used this image as an illustration. Having forgotten about that poem, as one does, I set out today to write another poem about turntables–a little bit in keeping with today’s prompt from Napowrimo to write a poem in which an object becomesContinue reading “#395: Poem on April 22, 2021”

#394: Poem on April 21, 2021

I don’t even know how to describe this next thing. The Napowrimo website does it best. It’s a poem inspired somewhat by a famous childhood nursery rhyme by an anonymous author (“There was a man of double deed?”) and ends up being simply an exercise in repeating the last part of a line in theContinue reading “#394: Poem on April 21, 2021”

#393: Poem on April 20, 2021

The suggestion from Napowrimo today is to write a sijo, a traditional Korean form. It’s like a haiku, only wider. It’s a wide-load haiku. Lines can be as long as about 16 syllables. And it has a kind of magical relationship with the sonnet, I’m told, in that it’s kind of a discussion with twistContinue reading “#393: Poem on April 20, 2021”

#391: Poem on April 18, 2021

Today’s suggestion from Napowrimo is to write a poem based on or inspired by a chapter title from a book called Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words by Susan G. Wooldridge. The Look Inside feature from Amazon gives us a peek on to the contents page and it contains a surprising and evocative list ofContinue reading “#391: Poem on April 18, 2021”

#390: Poem on April 17, 2021

Poem on April 17 “Daddy always looked to the moon. He claimed it as his own.” I wrote those lyrics 20 years ago for a song we recorded,only loosely about my dadabout 10 years before he died. Those two lines, though, we’re an accurate portrayal;Not that my father reallybelieved the moon was his, but somewhereContinue reading “#390: Poem on April 17, 2021”

#389: Poem on April 16, 2021

Poem on April 16 Our task today is to write a Skeltonicbut I don’t mean, when I say, to be ironicthat I’m glad our plague wasn’t bubonic;it was bad enough, our case was chronicand I think I’m supposed to keep up this sonicrhyme scheme until I run out, subatomic,of words that sound like a mixer,Continue reading “#389: Poem on April 16, 2021”

#388: Poem on April 15, 2021

Poem on April 15 My mother talked to herself. I remember listening in from the hallway as she’d go on and on as she was doing some chore or another in her bedroom, putting clothes away, tidying up, dusting, cleaning the bathroom. I rarely could make out what she was saying, but mostly I couldContinue reading “#388: Poem on April 15, 2021”