#516: It’s a Fight

Author’s Note: This could be the stupidest thing I have ever written. Here’s a poem in response to the prompt to write about a fight between two unlikely combatants. This is what comes, sometimes, of forced creativity. You must write something, even if it’s terrible. In this corner, weighing hardly a quarter of a pound,Continue reading “#516: It’s a Fight”

#506: The Seldom Seen Kid (a song by Elbow)

The Seldom Seen Kid It’s a song that I love but every time I hear itI have difficulty keeping it together. For the longest time I couldn’t even tell you what the song was about, but I knew how it made me feel– on the verge of shattering, I’d say, especially when I tried toContinue reading “#506: The Seldom Seen Kid (a song by Elbow)”

#500: On the Writing of 500 Poems

On the Writing of 500 Poems On April 1, 2013, I wrote the first poem I would everpublish as a blog post. Today, eleven years and fourteen days later, I write my 500th poemon the occasionof having written 500poems in eleven years. This doesn’t seem like nothing, but I know somepoets who have written aContinue reading “#500: On the Writing of 500 Poems”

#497: Does a potato grow in coastal clime?

Some explanation is in order. Today’s prompt on the glorious NaPoWriMo website is to play with sound, particularly with rhyme. Additionally, the prompt comes with further instructions to find ten specific types of words to begin with, and then to create a bank of rhyming words for those initial ten. I want to create myContinue reading “#497: Does a potato grow in coastal clime?”

#491: Some days you just don’t want to write . . .

I Some days you just don’t want to write. You get up and you try to meditate,but something is wrong with your dog and sheis harassing you non-stop while you sitand you find yourself angry, cursing inbetween deep breaths in and out. And the promptfor today is uninspiring, the list of brainstorms you made for sonnets runsContinue reading “#491: Some days you just don’t want to write . . .”

#489: Ode to the Zip-up Hoodie

Between October and into the very last days of AprilI am wearing you, one of three zip-uphoodies I own. I favor you over pull-overhoodies, because, when things heat up,you can be removed so quickly, and put back onwhen things cool down, and then you can be removed, and put back on, and removed, and putContinue reading “#489: Ode to the Zip-up Hoodie”

#488: My son at eighteen years becomes a fan . . .

I’m having a really hard time with the idea that the 8th of April might be the first day on which I don’t complete the composition of two poems, one of which must be a sonnet. I could let myself off the hook, I suppose, because yesterday I posted a 28 line sonnet, or, rather,Continue reading “#488: My son at eighteen years becomes a fan . . .”

#486: I wouldn’t call myself insomniac . . .

Here’s the seventh sonnet on the seventh day, a full week of two poems a day for a month. Right about now, the 20 days ahead is looking to me like a long haul. Today’s sonnet includes some extra-credit, bonus material. Sometimes 14 lines is not enough. So how about a twenty-eight line sonnet? Or,Continue reading “#486: I wouldn’t call myself insomniac . . .”

#473: The First Novel I Ever Read

Welcome to the very first day of National Poetry Writing Month, 2024, the goal of which is to write a poem every day for 30 days. I have nearly lost count at this point of the number of consecutive years I have participated in this ritual. I venture to say twelve. For twelve years inContinue reading “#473: The First Novel I Ever Read”

NaPoWriMo 2024: More, More, More, He Cried. With A Rebel Yell.

Well, that’s a nutty title–funny only for those familiar with the Billy Idol song, but appropriate for the year in the National Poetry Writing Month Extravaganza because I’m doing it again and I’m hoping to go big. Last year I vowed to write a sonnet every day for 30 days and I was, lo andContinue reading “NaPoWriMo 2024: More, More, More, He Cried. With A Rebel Yell.”