Day 11 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day

Greetings, everyone! Great news: The Man with the Blue Guitar has the good fortune of being today's featured blog at NaPoWriMo.net. Here's what Maureen Thorson says about us: "Vince is posting his own poems as well as those of Catherine Pritchard Childress, mixing and matching prompts from various sites, providing a dash of entertaining commentary, and his own featured poem-a-day site to boot. That’s right — our featured blog of the day features a blog of the day!" How cool is that? Fireworks, veggie brats, and cole slaw! Hip hip! Thanks a million, Maureen. All right, getting back to the poem-a-day business at hand, Maureen suggests: "write a poem of the five senses. Pick an experience that is very sensory, and of which you have a strong sense memory [then] try to bring all five senses into it." As we swing into the middle third of the month, Robert Lee Brewer says: "For today’s prompt, pick a season (any season) and make it the title of your poem; then, write your poem. For instance, your poem might be titled “Winter” or “Spring” or “Rabbit Season” (if you have a sense of humor and like Looney Tunes cartoons)." Okay, here's my Day 11 acrostic combining Maureen's sensorium and Robert's seasons. The title is part of the acrostic, by the way. season of the witch, 1966 your favorite donovan song’s leatherette guitars never glowed so shimmery as that one dulcet moment emanating from the mirror like homespun marmalade stars braided comets kaleidoscope marbles careening through soft musky brittle wind donovan’s corkscrew hair smelling of periwinkle silence or pearlescent salt evergreen bark sleek as crocodile skin bright scintillant snowflakes flickering into your brain’s blue crevasses indigo and magnolia flaring the acid-tasseled witch arms outstretched straight sprout platinum feathers. —Draft by Vince Gotera     [do not copy or quote ... thanks] In her poem for Day 11, Catherine strikes out on her own, ignoring all prompts. Brava, Catherine! Maurader You think you're clever, That I don't recognize you? I know your kind, Intentions masked like a bandit Behind practiced lines that begin strong, but finally lose their power. You think I haven't met you before, exploring in a pack? Roaming about, searching For something you don't have at home, Plundering 'til you find What is valuable, Taking it for your own. —Draft by Catherine Pritchard Childress     [do not copy or quote ... thanks] Today we feature Skylaar Amann's self-titled blog Skylaar — such a lovely name. Ms. Amann has a precise yet light touch with sprightly and subtle soundplay: "Chiton dressed in leather, / mollusc slithering by tide / pools, periwinkles / and limpet shells" (day 6) or "I'm a greenling, / changeling, ageless / Mab in aquamarine. / Selkie draped / in seaweed, trapped" (day 7). Slant rhyme in leather, slithering; consonance of p's and l's in pools, periwinkles; assonance in changeling, ageless; alliteration in Selkie, seaweed; and almost full rhyme in draped, trapped. Just beautiful. Okay, that's our paean to Day 11. Won't you please comment below? Look for a box below in which to type. If you don't see a box, then look below this post for the word "comments" in bright red, preceded by a number. Many thanks. Meet you right here on the rise of the twelfth day? Copacetic. Ingat. POEM-A-DAY 2012 • Pick a day in April: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30