chocolate

chocolate    I want chocolate cake. nested within near eggshell thin bakery pink cardboard woven into confusing flaps testing youth’s eager appetite. two halves of existence.  one side cake, one side me.  that is to say cake and everything not-cake.  including me. even learned the rightmost recipe for being marooned alone at home with cake. half-glass grapes & [...]

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what leaping is

what leaping is    every thing if you have a patient eye is beneath the clothes, an arc an arching leap the finger of cloud drawn over overhead, indeed, within the sheeted blue itself, as all describe this glove this earth, which in turn negotiates another arc as Galileo as Copernicus were ripening their eyes [...]

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poems and squirrels

poems and squirrels    I’d rather be mapping the behavior of squirrels than write a poem. I’d rather eat breakfast out than write a poem. ok, some oatmeal at home is about the same, a poem equality. I’d rather watch the waves, counting sevens, than write a poem.  easy choice. I’d rather ride the ferry boat [...]

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farmers

farmers    life on the farm is a practical life. I mean you’re practically bare, just you and the dirt, and yea, the blessings of sky, the curses of blights.  or maybe no. maybe you just grow dirt. some of us clean and straighten olding rusting nails.  any waste is food missing from your plate. but mostly, [...]

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saying goodbye (napowrimo #30)

read write poem   napowrimo #30 prompt by the Read Write Poem Staff   free day (and farewell) Today is the last day of (Inter)National Poetry Month and the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge. The prompt today is a free day — you are free to use any prompt you have not yet written to from those provided this [...]

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Robots work to stop leak (napowrimo #29)

read write poem   napowrimo #29 prompt by D.S. Apfelbaum   front page news You’re almost there, and inspiration for your next to the last NaPoWriMo poem is at your fingertips! D.S. Apfelbaum recalls what William Carlos Williams once wrote, “It is difficult/ to get the news from poems,” but asks, “Who says you can’t get poems from the [...]

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when moons collide (napowrimo #28)

read write poem   napowrimo #28 prompt by Julie Jordan Scott   intuition Arthur Koestler wrote: “The moment of truth, the sudden emergence of a new insight, is an act of intuition.” Akin to a “sixth sense,” intuition brings pieces together. It gives the gift of heightened awareness. One single, specific memory I have from a math class comes [...]

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napowrimo what? (napowrimo #27)

read write poem   napowrimo #27 prompt by Carolee Sherwood   let someone else take the lead Carolee Sherwood wonders if you’re running on fumes like she is. She hopes her prompt takes some of the heat off and points your exhausted brain down the path where your 27th poem lies. Take a word that’s part of you — [...]

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box (napowrimo #26)

read write poem   napowrimo #26 prompt by Jill Crammond Wickham   get scrappy It’s getting late in the month, and finishing NaPoWriMo is going to take every bit of resourcefulness you have. Jill Crammond Wickham reminds us about the bits and pieces of poems we may be carrying around. Today, before you start writing, you need to do [...]

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Metered step (napowrimo #25)

read write poem   napowrimo #25 prompt by Joseph Harker   first things first It’s Day #25, and you may be getting tired. In Joseph Harker’s prompt today, let others do the heavy lifting of inspiration. Keep an ear out for the first sentence (or even word) that is said to you after you read this prompt. (Poetic license: [...]

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Periodic Table (napowrimo #24)

read write poem   napowrimo #24 prompt by Marie Gauthier   find a phrase With words like codswallop, it’s clear that Read Write Poem member Marie Gauthier means business! Now is not the time to let your NaPoWriMo work ethic slack. Clichés, idioms, what-have-you. As points of inspiration, you might think they’re dead in the water, but that’s a [...]

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Rag doll (napowrimo #23)

read write poem   napowrimo #23 prompt by Sage Cohen   unlikely couples Read Write Poem member Sage Cohen has a terrific suggestion for today’s poems: Write a poem in which you combine a speaker and an event that normally don’t go together (such as sports broadcasters and poetry writing), as Jay Leeming does in his poem, “Man Writes [...]

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weather report (napowrimo #22)

read write poem   napowrimo #22 prompt by Catherine   a wordle! Today’s prompt is from Read Write Poem member Catherine who provided the contents for today’s prompt, a Wordle. Use one, or use them all, in the poem you write today. reverberate dizzy squall tomorrow fierce emporium flinch rust saffron pepper tendril crow (a minimalist poem today, again) [...]

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Prodigal child (napowrimo #21)

read write poem   napowrimo #21 prompt by Kristen McHenry   perfectly flawed Today’s prompt is from Read Write Poem member Kristen McHenry: “In ancient times, Persian rug makers were deeply religious and believed that only God could make something perfect. They would deliberately drop in a small faulty stitch, a flaw, into each Persian rug. In doing so, [...]

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Peter (napowrimo #20)

read write poem   napowrimo #20 prompt by Jessica GC   the hero poem As a child, Jessica GC says she had two heroes: Wonder Woman and her mother. “To me, they were one and the same,” says Jessica. “Both had long dark hair. Both were strikingly beautiful, and both had incredible strength.” Write a poem in which you [...]

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cowboy in blue (napowrimo #19)

read write poem   napowrimo #19 prompt by Rallentanda   light bulb moments For today’s NaPoWriMo prompt, Read Write Poem member Rallentanda introduces a word that’s new to many of us: éclat. Online dictionaries list several definitions, but it is the etymology that inspires the meaning chosen for today’s prompt. The word éclat is French, and we’re paying attention [...]

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res cue! (napowrimo #18)

read write poem   napowrimo #18 prompt by Irene   meow! “I’m cursed. I’m a tiger,” says Read Write Poem member Irene. She’s talking about the Year of the Tiger, and it’s the inspiration for her NaPoWriMo prompt: The tiger is a creature known to create wildness and tumult. In Chinese superstition, it is not a year to marry [...]

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sacred bloody thumbs (napowrimo #17)

read write poem   napowrimo #17 prompt by Neil Reid   something elemental Look at you! Writing past the half-way mark! Today, Neil Reid (that’s me) invites us to keep going by writing about the elements: Let’s be elemental. Fire, earth, water, wind. They touch our lives every day. Choose one that interests you, then take a point of [...]

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Unpacked (napowrimo #16)

read write poem   napowrimo #16 prompt by Julie Jordan Scott   what’s that smell? RWP member Julie Jordan Scott launches her NaPoWriMo prompt with a quote from Diane Ackerman: “Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years.” Julie reports having discovered in her own notes 17 pages on the [...]

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Suddenly honey (napowrimo #15)

read write poem   napowrimo #15 prompt by Dale Favier   carrying a tune Do you have the courage to attempt today’s prompt, written by RWP member Dale? If you haven’t practiced being silly in a while, this is the perfect assignment for you: In a nice private place, pick out a stanza, or a few lines, that you [...]

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Double helix (napowrimo #14)

read write poem   napowrimo #14 prompt by Nicole Nicholson  you want me to write a what? Nicole Nicholson has a big challenge for us on Day 14: Write a cleave poem. What’s a cleave poem, you ask? It’s three poems in one. The whole idea works something like this (quoting the creator of the form, Dr. Phuoc-Tan [...]

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Poem Starting with a Line from Norman Dubie (napowrimo #13)

read write poem   napowrimo #13 prompt by Sarah J. Sloat   smoke a dubie Today is Day 13, also known as your lucky day. Sarah J. Sloat has a wonderful prompt for you; it’s bound to get you going! She says, I’m partial to the tried-and-true prompt that calls for starting a poem with a line written by [...]

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monsters under the bed (napowrimon #12)

read write poem   napowrimo #12 prompt by Carolee Sherwood   secret codes We are more than one-third through NaPoWriMo. If you feel like you’ve started to make things up (two parts desperation, one part coffee grinds), then Carolee Sherwood’s prompt for Day 12 will play into your hand. Make up a secret code. Begin by writing a few [...]

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Mother undone (napowrimo #11)

read write poem   napowrimo #11 prompt by Angie Werren   The thing you didn’t choose RWP member Angie Werren invites us to write about the choice we didn’t make: Everyday we make choices. Some are small: English breakfast or Lipton? the highway or back roads? Some are more significant: convertible or mini-van? farmhouse or condo? Some choices lead [...]

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I remember you (napowrimo #10)

read write poem   napowrimo #10 prompt by Pamela Sayers celebrate! RWP member Pamela Sayers says, “I live in Mexico, and one of the things I love most about this country is that people here celebrate their family and friends to the utmost.” And it is in that spirit that Pamela asks us to write about any [...]

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