Last day, Yay!!! The prompt for today as this season of NaPoWriMo comes to an end is to write a poem about something that returns. Photo by Zane Lee on Unsplash
***
The songs
the birds bring
each spring
remind us
of the stirring
of life, darkness
yielding to the
lengthening light
and cherry blossoms
blooming again.
Hope is the thing
that birds bring
that after death
comes life,
and rebirth.
Off prompt today:
***
After the rising
and the falling
of the things
that surround,
after the letting
off of blood
for forgiveness,
after the release of
the pressure building up,
Breathe
Today’s prompt asks us to describe a bedroom from our past, inspired by Martha Dickinson Bianchi’s description of her aunt’s (Emily Dickinson) cozy room. My room in the house on 39th street came to mind.
***
Long days
longer nights
rubber balls
bounced off walls
till smudged,
comics snuck
under the covers,
childhood fantasies
of meeting George
and the other four
of being Super Man
and Captain America.
Behind all the smell
of things lived in.
These are the things
we can never forget.
For Day 27, the prompt is to write a poem in the form of a review of something not normally reviewed such as a mother-in-law, the moon, or the year 2020…I went for me, the prodigal in need of forgiveness 🙂
***
Offends seventy
times seven times but returns
for forgiveness. Me
For Day 26, on which the prompt is to write a poem based on your answers to an ‘almanac questionnaire’.
***
I reach out to the sun
to quell this longing to be free
to feel its warmth on my face
like the trees do, stark against
the blue skies. The same way the
grape hyacinths, teased out
by the sense of spring
grow out, adding colour
to the gaudy box I now call home.
The childhood dream was to run free
to revel in the clouds of
red earth my feet stirred,
but fear has me penned in.
Hope lingers here.
and freedom too.
Off prompt today:
***
Each night
when the day
begins to fade
into the next
I find myself
slipping into the
haziness of sleep.
But the remains
to the day fester,
rising up from
the innards of my mind
into the reality
of dreams.I reach
for rest but find
I am worn.
The NaPoWriMo prompt for Day 24 is to write about a particular fruit, describing it as closely as possible. Here goes, for the delights of a banana.
***
Nothing delights
a tired tongue
on a hot summer day
like a banana,
the rush of sugar
it gifts to the blood
like salve on burnt skin.
Joy hides beneath its skin
and in each bite salvation.
For Day 23 of NaPoWriMo 2020, the challenge is to write a poem about a particular letter of the alphabet, or perhaps, the letters that form a short word. Y(Why) comes to mind.
***
He rests
in the shadows
of the night
his hands
like a “Y”, raised
in the exasperation
of not knowing.
Why?
Why does day
follow night?
Why is the quiet
of first light ripped
to shreds by the
blinding light
of the noon day sun?
Why does pain persist?
Is it the messenger
of healing or its foe
which we feel as
it is driven off?
Day Twenty-Two, for which the NaPoWriMo.net prompt is to find an idiomatic phrase from a different language or culture, and use it as the jumping-off point for your poem. Something about the Kazakh idiom Сенің арқаңда күн көріп жүрмін (I see the sun on your back) which means “Thank you for being you. I am alive because of your help” seemed particularly apt for the times in which we live. Sourced from this list on the TED Blog.
***
When we –
like two stars
whose arcs just escape
the gentle tug of gravity –
nod as the path squeezes
the distance between us,
I see the sun on your back,
and remember to be grateful
for the things that distance preserves.
The Day 21 prompt is to find a poem in a language that you don’t know and perform a “homophonic translation” on it. I’ve chosen the first stanza of Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali’s Umalasi Nomhlambi Wakhe (The Shepherd and His Flock). Doesn’t make sense but.. *insert shrug*
***
I miss being yellow with anger
if Anna never sends chillies. I am callow,
seasick with a broken mala.
My scent attacked Ursa; I see from back here.
Imisebe yelanga
ifana nembaxambili yesikelo
sisika isibhalala
sentathakusa esibhakabhakeni.
A Geek's Life 