The second poem of the fourth week of the online retreat. This is my room now— my furniture my art on the walls my TV in the corner my rugs on the floor Some reminders remain— the old dining room table the clock on the wall the lamps by the window the world’s ugliest shag [...]
The second poem of the third week of the online retreat. The keys are cards, blue and green, with icons in white. I assume the one with the lamp on it controls the lighting. I am incorrect. They are only keys. If this studio were a condo, it’d go for $600k, easy. That’s a bit [...]
The second poem of the second week of the online retreat. (Slightly revised.) The old neighborhood ain’t what it used to be, I’m afraid. Used to be you might could do whatever you want, wouldn’t have no trouble doin’ it, neither. Like any place, it took gettin’ used to at first, but once you figured [...]
I’m participating in an online poetry retreat for the rest of the month. This is my second poem. The present: always a murky construct with its blurred edges and its unwillingness to play it straight How much can you hide from the camera? Who are you keeping yourself from? The past: a paragon of clarity [...]
The napowrimo.net prompt for day 2: ‘write a poem about a specific place — a particular house or store or school or office. Try to incorporate concrete details, like street names, distances (“three and a half blocks from the post office”), the types of trees or flowers, the color of the shirts on the people [...]
Here I use the napowrimo.net prompt: to write a poem that ends with a question. To worry about the current is to drift, rudderless without fathoming the depths after having suggested the ocean cruise instead of the train trip across America Would you at least have paid for a sleeper? (2 April 2019)
Here I use the prompt provided by poet (and bookstore owner) Chris Jarmick on his blog, POETRYisEVERYTHING. This prompt is basically the same as last year’s Napowrimo.net prompt for Day 18. As I did then, the poem I used for my line-by-line backwards response was ‘Ophelia’ from Janée J. Baugher’s book Coördinates of Yes. This time, [...]
Using the prompt from Napowrimo.net—to ‘write a poem that plays with voice.’ Adopting one of the suggestions, I took an earlier poem and imagined the other side of the conversation (as such)… 88 and counting (duet version) 1 I went down the list and counted You have left eighty-eight pieces of yourself behind so far [...]
My second poem for National Poetry Writing Month combines the prompts from Napowrimo.net (write a poem inspired by, or in the form of, a recipe) and the Napowrimo Facebook page (write a poem inspired by your favorite piece of art)… Alchemical trails Mix light dark color texture doubt hesitation Place a frame [...]
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is to ‘write a poem that takes the form of a family portrait.’ We never did those in my family, so (as Mad magazine might put it) blecch! If you were to go by the evidence we never existed Nowhere will you find all of us together at the same time A man in [...]
