Day 13 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day

Today — Day ONE THREE of NaPoWriMo — Maureen Thorson offers a simple prompt: write a ghazal. Great! I’ve been jonesing to write one. Robert Lee Brewer’s prompt is equally fun: write an unlucky poem. It’s not only Day 13 of NaPoWriMo, it’s — gulp — Friday the 13th. (Cue smiley face.) Catherine is merging these two prompts adeptly today. “In terms of Brewer's prompt,” she says, “I imagine this was a pretty unlucky day for John the Baptist.” Ain't that the honest-to-God solemn truth! ======== ====== = ==== == ===== == === ==== == ==== === ==== = ====== ====== ====== ===== = == ==== ====== ======= = ===== == = ======== =========== ========= = ========= ==== ======= == == ======= = ==== === === ====== = ======= ==== ====== ========= === ====== ==== ====== ===== == ===== == ===== == == ==== ======== ===== = ====== ==== ==== ========== ===== ========= === == ======= ======= ========= ==== ========= ======= ======== = ======= ======== == ===== === ======= == ======== ========= ======= == === ========== == === ====== ===== = ======= ========= == == ============ == ======== == ===== ===== == ==== === ====== ==== ====== == ========= = ======= =========== === ========= === ==== == = ====== ===== ====== === ===== ===== ==== === == === ===== = =======                         Poem removed for publication purposes. Sorry. It may return at some point. Thanks. —Draft by Catherine Pritchard Childress     [do not copy or quote ... thanks] I’m going to announce today’s featured NaPoWriMo blogger early in this post — you’ll see why. We’re proud to feature Andrea Boltwood’s Circle the Blog: A Rebuttal to Writer’s Block. Andrea gears this fun blog for (her) junior high and high school students; she is also providing daily poem prompts for her “April Writing Challenge 2012” as well as example poems. I really like her "pink Transformer" triolet from yesterday. Today, Andrea’s prompt is “Write a persona poem." Yo, trifecta today, the possibility of merging three prompts: unlucky persona ghazal. Gentlemen and ladies, start your engines! Hold on, I’ve lost my keys. Uh-oh . . . I just read beyond Andrea’s “write a persona poem.” It’s to be a persona poem “from the point of view of something you find in your closet. You get bonus points if you can guess what I am.” I might not do that exactly. Though I might. Okay, now start your engines! Unlucky persona ghazal from the closet coming up. Bad Luck Man’s Beagle Speaks, Hiding in the Closet My sad master is mad today. Rwwrr-rwrr. Bad luck has come to our house. Such a nasty cur, bad luck. Up there on the rod is my master’s winter coat, ripped along the side. Torn by his broken mirror. Bad luck. “Bad luck. Just bad luck.” What my master keeps saying. What happened? He says it over and over. “Bad luck.” My master tried to kick me today. I’m chewing on one of his shoes. Makes me feel good. There’s more. Bad luck. More shoes, I mean. Chomp munch gnaw. The leather tastes like my master’s feet. I love my master. Bad luck. I want to go outside. I need to. To shit. And piss. Sniff. But I can’t leave this closet. Grrr. Piss-poor bad luck. Be careful, friends. Be careful bad luck doesn’t come to your pack. You don’t need it. Bite it, your bad luck. I wish we hadn’t let bad luck in. Though I can’t see it. I’m sad and mad too. I want to fight, kick our bad luck. I'll growl, “I am Rrwwwrrr Rover, wolf of this house-pack. My fangs will rip you, Bad Luck. This is war, Bad Luck.” —Draft by Vince Gotera     [do not copy or quote ... thanks] Okay, so I cheated a little. The dog is not usually found in the closet, but he is today. And the couplets are not as disconnected from one another as in the traditional ghazal. But hey, I’m proud of it. My first ghazal, yo. And it’s funny (I hope). PLUS, we got our poems done before dark! Friends, would you please tell us what you think in a comment below? Much obliged. See you for the end of the Week Two tomorrow. 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