Day 11 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2013

Day Double-One. Eleven pipers piping, yo! At present, the Doctor is number 11 — that's in Doctor Who, for you non-Gallifreyans. A website called "Fun Facts About the Number Eleven" says theologian Ernest L. Martin "claims the date of birth of Christ to be September 11, 3 B.C." Interesting date, hey? Trusty ol' Wikipedia lists many interesting facts connected to the number 11: "After Judas Iscariot was disgraced, the remaining apostles of Jesus were sometimes described as 'the Eleven.' [Also several Canadian 11-things:] The stylized maple leaf on the Flag of Canada has 11 points. The Canadian one-dollar coin is a hendecagon, an 11-sided polygon. Clocks depicted on Canadian currency, for example the Canadian fifty-dollar bill, show 11:00." What is it about Canada and the number 11. Anyone know? Would you please tell me in a comment below? Robert Lee Brewer's prompt today in Poetic Asides is "take the phrase 'In Case of (blank),' replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Possible titles could include 'In Case of Emergency,' 'In Case of Oversleeping,' 'In Case of Snoring,' or something else." Maureen Thorson's suggestion for day 11 in NaPoWriMo is "write a tanka. This, like the 'American' cinquain, is a poem based on syllables, with the pattern being 5-7-5-7-7. They work best when those final two 7-syllable lines contain a sort of turn or surprise that the first three lines might not wholly anticipate." Yet again, I'm mixing the two prompts into one poem. Ready, set . . . bang! In Case of the . . . “unlikely event,” make sure your seat back’s upright, stow your tray table, and kiss your . . . no, concentrate on growing some big-ass wings. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Taking the easy road today. Though not, as we April poets sometimes do, just haiku-ing it, but rather tanka-ing. Though I hope I'm not tanking.   :-D   I want to give props here to my poetry-writing student Justine Wagner, who wrote a poem recently using the phrase in the unlikely event as the repeated it's all good euphemism used by airlines. Thanks a lot, Justine! While I'm at it, props also to Alexandra Bissell, from whom I borrowed "Icarus" as subject on Day 2 and also "Hourglass" on Day 3, subjects that appeared in a couple of her poems recently. Many thanks, Alexandra. Looking forward to our "dozenth" day tomorrow. Ingat, everyone.   ;-)   Comment below, okay? POEM-A-DAY 2013 • 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