Tag Archives: #NaPoWriMo

The Cedar (NaPoWriMo #0 – the early bird special)

National Poetry Month is back! I’ll be selectively participating in a number of poetry prompts this month. Here is my entry for the ‘early bird’ prompt from napowrimo.net.

Pick a word from the list below and write poem titled either “A [the word]” or “The [the word]” in which you explore the meaning of the word, or some memory you have of it, as if you were writing an illustrative/alternative definition.

Cage, Ocean, Time, Cedar, Window, Sword, Flute

napowrimo.net

The Cedar

Once tall and proud, now a creaky chest full of old, layered, memories all but forgotten. An old soccer uniform. A painted tee with a kindergartner’s hand print. A pair of odd gloves that long lost their mates, but seem to have come to accept their new partner. A bow tie and suspenders from a wedding already three decades passed. And a whole collection of clothes that grew too small or went out of style or were simply stored away for a season and forgotten. All preserved against moisture, and moths, and must, and all but the passing of time.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #30 (Palinode)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write a palinode – a poem in which you retract a view or sentiment experts see in an earlier poem.

napowrimo.net

Poetry Unfound
(a palinode of “Seeking Poetry”)

Stagnant waters, crashing harmonies,
Silently sinking under the weight of gravity
Beneath the soil, beyond snout’s reach
Confident in hiding; Certain not to be found.

Well the deed is done! I’ve completed all 30 poems in 30 days. Some of the poems I’m quite proud of. Others not so much. But either way I’m happy to have completed the challenge and fulfilled my commitment to myself. I did have fun for the most part, and for me that is what it’s all about. Thanks everyone that has come on the journey with me. What’s next? I’ve no idea. Perhaps a day off. Perhaps not. We’ll see.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #29 (The Full English)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write a two-part poem that focuses on a food or type of meal. Describe the food or meal as a if it were a specific type of person. Give the food/meal at least one line of spoken dialogue.

napowrimo.net

The Full English

I

British Air’s Flight 169 (London to Shanghai) Menu called to me with a posh accent: “Try my Full English – It’ll put the stiff back in your walking stick!”. My last chance at this tradition, I decided to give it a go with 90 minutes flight left to go.

II

Oh no! We are on the descent and I’ve got to go! Whoever thought it was a good idea to serve beans on a plane must be quite slow. Oh no, I’m going to blow!

Another weak entry, but I’m now all caught up. One more to wrap up the series for the year. I might be going out with a whimper but I’ll take the participation prize.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #28 (Index)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write an index poem

napowrimo.net

One might consider this cheating…or perhaps a stroke of genius? I’d like to think it’s a little of both.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #27 (GOAT)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write a poem titled “The _______ of _______” where this first blank is a very particular kind of plant or animal and the second bland is an abstract noun. The poem should contain at least one simile that plays on double meanings or otherwise doesn’t quite make sense.

napowrimo.net

The GOAT of Humility

Yo, Gruff, you da GOAT, man!

Nah, man, I’m just a regular old goat,
A tin nibbler, a chin tickler,
A tarnished old horn, A broken thorn,
Put out to pasture by the devil’s pastor.

I struggled with this one. I lost a couple days due to travel and trying to catch up but I feel like my mojo is stuck in another time zone.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #26 (Portrait)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write a portrait poem that focuses on or plays with the meaning of the subject’s name.

napowrimo.net

Monty

Monty, born of my mind
From Mountains of Green;
In the valleys between
The peaks and rivers,
Wallowing in mud, you will find.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #25 (Flower)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write a love poem including a reference to a flower, a parenthetical and non-typical line breaks.

napowrimo.net

(The Phot—
Oh!)

(the phot—
oh!)

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #24 (Review)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write a poetic review of something that isn’t normally reviewed.

napowrimo.net

Nothing is Underrated

Nothing is underrated;
From nothing, pauses sprout and bloom
Into passing moments;
Birthing infant thoughts
Who dip their tongues to the well —
Drinking time sweet and slow;
Growing plump with ripened promise
They hang heavy from bended branch
Ready to be harvested and savored;
Or return to earth it’s borrowed time
All this from nothing.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #23 (Numbered)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Write a poem that has multiple numbered sections. Attempt to have each section be in dialogue with each other.

napowrimo.net

Prologue
Having set the stage,
She sits quietly
Allowing silence
To grow patiently

Act I
I see you over there
Shy and scared
Across from me
In the empty chair

Act II
Peering over from the couch
An older me looking expectantly
His eyes shadowed by decades
I’ve yet to see

Act III
Things were said
Tears were shed
Behind a curtain of confidentiality
Details to be left unsaid.

Epilogue
She notes the time
And gives the sign
Good work, she says to us
See you again next time.

Be well,

Monty

2023 NaPoWriMo #22 (Dickinson)

April is here again and that means its National Poetry Writing Month and for my second year I’ll be joining the 30 poems in 30 days challenge hosted by napowrimo.net. For this challenge, a poetry prompt will be provided daily during the month of April and if I can keep on track I’ll achieve the 30 poems in 30 days goal. So enough chatter…let’s go! It’s time for NaPoWriMo!

Work with an Emily Dickinson poem and remove all the dashes and line breaks. Rebreak the lines. Add or remove words as desired. Make it your own.

napowrimo.net

I Came Down the Walk
From Emily Dickenson’s “A Bird, came down the Walk -“

I came down the walk
bit a worm in half and ate the fellow raw;
drank cool dew from the grass
And hopped sidewise to let a beetle pass.

She sat there on a bench
Not knowing that I saw her watching me;
Her eyes like frightened beads
Like one in danger, cautious.

I offered her a crumb
unfurled my feathers
and toward the light I flew
hoping she got the clue.

What more could I do?

I picked the poem at random (it was my second random selection. I passed on the first as it was too short to do much with). My first intuition was to change to the bird as first person, then I let things flow from there.

Be well,

Monty