National Poetry Month Day Twenty-two

Prompt:  Write a ten-line poem in which each line has ten syllables.  Try to include words or images that have to do with math, money, dates, or anything that includes numbers (telephone numbers, addresses, zip codes, etc.)  If you need an opening line, begin the poem with one of the following, “On a scale of one to ten…” or “Because the numbers say…” or “It doesn’t add up…”

Numbers Game

One person sat all alone in a room.

Two pencils and blank pieces of paper.

Three voices spoke to the one that was there.

Four others told her, “Give up, Basket Case.”

Five wads of paper lay in the trash can.

Six hours; a long time to stare at the walls.

Seven pages written, maybe this time.

Eight times she’d tried to share the story.

Nine times fall down.  Yes, but you can stand up

Ten.

National Poetry Month Day Twenty One

Prompt:  Write a poem that initially gives the impression that it is going to be a joke, that something funny is going to take place.  A twist, allow the poem to travel into a sad or dark place so that the reader is surprised where the poem ends up.

Revision

There’s something strange

Coming out of Uranus.

Looks like a cloud of gas.

Great balls of fire!

It’s an incoming asteroid!

The Third Rock disappeared

In a cloud of steam.

“Start over,” He said.

“Those naked apes were worse

Than the dinosaurs.

If I hadn’t stopped them

They would have trashed the place

The way they did Mars.”

National Poetry Month Day Twenty

Prompt:  Write a poem in which you incorporate two outlandish lies.  These “lies” can be untruths about you (the poet) or they can be historical or contemporary.  For example:  “The South won the Civil War.”

—But Maybe

The squirrels we see in park and yard

Seem hardly worth remote regard.

Fuzzy, cute and scatterbrained

They keep a canine entertained.

But in the trees they’ve hatched a plot

To vanquish us without a shot.

And so beware the evil squirrels

Because they plan to rule the world.

National Poetry Month Day Nineteen

Prompt:  Write a poem in the form of a letter to someone who has died.  Maybe the individual is a friend or relative, maybe someone famous you have never met. Use the poem as a device to connect present with the past using images to share what you are feeling.  End the poem with something you wish the person would have known when s/he was alive.

Dear John

I last saw you on the Blue Line to Logan.

You would have been fifty-six in 2016

if you hadn’t flown that Piper into the night.

You had every gift but the length of years.

Your family mourned.

The nation mourned.

You could have changed history.

Bigly.

National Poetry Month Day Eighteen

Prompt:  For the title of your poem complete the following:  “what if?” and structure your poem so that it contains three stanzas of any length in which you explore your “what if.”  In the first stanza, mention a famous poet and a type of flower or plant.  In the second stanza, mention the title of a book and a word that starts with “z.” In the final stanza, reference a musical instrument and use a simile:  ____ is like a _____.”

What if Lewis Carroll's Rabbit Took Lucy on a Date?

She wore kaleidoscope diamonds and cellophane flowers

He wore velvet and waistcoat of finest brocade

She came in a newspaper taxi to meet him

“You’re late.” Then he smiled, “Let us join the parade.”

Down the tunnel they tumbled in a dream sort of way

Past bookshelves and marmalade colored like sky

They blundered like zombies on into The Shining

To a party where wild things danced on a pie.

Bald guys with big eyes played didgeridoos

“Do you like it?” said Rabbit as he took her hand.

“Oh yes,” replied Lucy with stars in her eyes,

“Like a wonderful nightmare and Custer’s Last Stand.”

National Poetry Month Day Seventeen

Prompt:  Grab the nearest book or magazine and write down 14 random words.  Now write a 14 line poem in which one world is used in each line until you have used all the words.  Maybe write in the form of a sonnet.  Extra credit:  have your title subtly refer to the name of the book or magazine.

SYLVAN

Trees weave toes together

Sharing food, sharing fear

Associate to persevere

In death give life forever.

Drink the rain, feed on deer

Make energy from atmosphere

Recycling the weather.

Long arms bend whenever

Wind whispers, wind screams

Branches sweep, branches swing.

Jade leaves, gold and evergreen

Linked location where birds sing.

Leaves hiss with sibilance

Connected in a common dance.

National Poetry Month Day Sixteen

Prompt:  Write a twelve line poem about a relationship (friend, romantic, family) using some or all of these words that deal with “reversing:” about face, u-turn, 180, flip-flop, turnaround, withdraw, reel in, back pedal, second thoughts, cold feet, null and void, unsay, call off.

ONE-EIGHTY

This is the part where we jump out of the airplane.

 I’m having second thoughts.

You’re getting cold feet?  This will be fun.

If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

Aw, you’re never too old to learn something stupid.

Pilot! U-turn this bird. I’m calling it off.

You can’t back out now.

I’ll just go home and zoom in on Google Earth real fast.

Nope.  Your anxiety is null and void.

I officially withdraw from this challenge.

Well then, just stand here and hold this ripcord.

Stop pushing!  Hey…..

l

< 

^

l

> 

^

Y

!