National Poetry Month Day Eight

Prompt:  Write a poem that uses one of the following as a first line. “Because the earth’s axis is tilted by 23½ degrees…” or “Because the sun will fade into a in a billion years…”  or  “Because only 59% of the moon’s surface is visible from Earth…” Allow your poem to be cosmic and galactic but include a few ordinary household items.

A Great Disturbance in the Force

“Because the Earth’s axis

is tilted by 23½ degrees

and I didn’t allow for it.”

That’s what my dorky brother said

When his toy rocket

shot into the chicken coop

and one of the chickens landed

in the cow trough

so the cow jumped the fence

and ran through the garden

tipping over the wheel barrow;

scaring the cat

so she jumped on the dog

then they ran through

the clothesline

and pulled down the sheets

which surprised me

and I stepped on my hat

and kicked the dog

and got in trouble.

Then Mom assigned me

To clean the bathrooms.

National Poetry Month Day Seven

Prompt:  Write a poem that explores beauty, love, joy in painful, tragic or sad time.  Allow the reader to experience these opposite feelings by juxtaposing beautiful images with less pleasing ones.  For example: falling in love during a hurricane, giving birth after being evicted.  Or write in first person that is inspirational to you in a not-so-perfect world.

Hell in Montana

A mushroom cloud

Appeared on the horizon

And stayed there

All summer.

Yellowstone burned.

Miles of forest

Seared, torched, charcoaled.

Armies with axes

An air force of bombers

Struggled against

The forces of nature

Advanced, retreated,

But stood their ground

At the Old Faithful Inn.

September 9, 1988

Seven stories of history

Faced a wall of flame.

With sprinklers and hoses

They drenched the roof

Choppers dropped slurry

The firestorm roared.

By late afternoon

The inferno moved on

The largest log structure

Stood, flags flying

In the clearing smoke,

Thanks to brave people
Who faced down the blaze.

National Poetry Month Day Six

Prompt:  Synesthesia is the mixing of senses. Use as many synesthesia inspired phrases as you can in a poem.  Write in couplets.

Never Miss the Chance to Dance

A tumble of tutu

A running of rainbows

The peanut butter-jelly

Trip of tubby toes

Bouncing to the candy bop

Laughing in her bubble babble,

She spins into the kitchen

Sharing sunshine as she goes.

National Poetry Month Day Five

Prompt:  Write a 15-20 line poem in which the first word always begins with the same word e.g. Praise, begin, let, understand, trust, believe, etc.  Address it to someone specific, or an inanimate object.  Extra credit: use name of city or science team.

Spring

Spring! That time of year when the sun

springs up directly in the east, flowers

spring from the soil and frozen

springs thaw.  Blackbirds return and sing

Spring!

Spring!   And so, my off-

spring,

spring from your bed.  I hate to

spring it to you but Daylight Savings time

sprung the clocks ahead an hour.

Spring forward!  Do not fall back into that bed of sagging

springs.  If you don’t

spring up and

spring into action, you will be late for school and your class will go to

Springfield without you.

National Poetry Month Day Four

Prompt:  Write a rant poem based on something that annoys you.  Make it a poem, not a manifesto.  Avoid cliché or abstract language.  Write in the form of a prose poem—a paragraph without stanza breaks or intended line breaks.

Bang Head Here

I’m sorry for world horrors and disasters.  Still, I take comfort in kindness and companionship.  The earth is filled with countless beauties—which I can’t see because someone is standing in front of them trying to take a photo of their big head.  And what about those fools who think they can rule the world!  Oh, and bad grammar, poor spelling and folks who want to, “axe” me a question but can’t be, “pacific.”  And sticky floors.  And hair on my bar of soap.  Not to mention people who want to make every conversation about themselves while they constantly check their phone.   So I catch a break from crazy in a quiet, empty place to enjoy a cup of yogurt--and find I have no spoon.

National Poetry Month Day Three

Prompt:  Something magical happens. Someone tells a secret that reveals something about your life.  Extra credit.  Use citrus, prism, shallow, chickens, silk, lemons, shenanigans, chagrin, chariot, spin, prim, sin, splendid

Magic Number

Say the magic:  “One point six one eight.”

Behold a portal to a splendid world.

Step in lightly, there see spirals spin.

Seed-heads, pine cones, snaily shells,

Flower petals whirl and swim,

Rotation of the hurricanes,

Repeated in the galaxies,

Crystal prisms, chickens, lemons

The DNA of everything

Is numbered by this golden mean.

National Poetry Month, Day Two

Prompt: Write a poem that sneaks in two intentional timeline errors.

Secret Weapons

The courier hurried down the road,

Dropped bicycle in the mud.

“The troops are primed, machine guns mounted,

But Brits are more than can be counted.”

Jackson smiled, “We have Lafitte.

We’ll never go down to defeat.

He’ll help us safeguard New Orleans.

He as a fleet of submarines.”