Thursday, April 18, 2013

Day 18 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2013


Day 18, everyone. Not many interesting fun facts about the number 18, I'm afraid. 18 = 2 x 32 . . . the number 2 used 2 different ways. And the number 3 appearing 2 different times in this format: 18 = 2 x 3 x 3. Nothing but 3's, 4 of them: 18 = 3 x 3 + 3 x 3. Or how about 6 3's: 18 = 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3. Just a bit of nerdy foolin' around.

Okay, on to the prompts. Maureen Thorson challenges us today to "write a poem that begins and ends with the same word. You could try for something in medias res, that begins and ends with 'and,' for example." (NaPoWriMo). Robert Lee Brewer suggests an "I Am _____" title for today's poem, such as "'I Am Superman,' 'I Am Wonder Woman,' 'I Am Out of Nickels,' 'I Am Running Low on Patience,' and so on" (Poetic Asides).

Well, haven't done this for a while, but today I worked from both prompts finally, again. A pleasure. Here you go, friends.

I Am Dragon


Rawrr. Oh, that isn't nearly loud enough. Ahem . . .
RAWRRRR. Ahem ahem. That's rough on the throat.
My windpipe is sore from practicing breathing flame.

Listen, I'm a dragon, yes, but I'm only thirteen.
A teenage dragon, I guess you'd say. I'm supposed
to learn to be fearsome, scare ladies and knights.

My master, the one and only Smaug, is nauseated
with me. (He said "nauseous" but I know that's wrong.)
Smaug, in sneering disgust, told me he's indisposed

and wants me to go away. He will see me no longer
till I can roar properly. I've already failed hoarding.
"Roar with verve and fire like the Romanian Longhorn

you are!" So I try and try. On the practice of hoarding,
I didn't see the point. I'd rather give gold to the poor.
They need it more than I do, right? So I sent out word

my meager rehearsal pile of coins and gems was up for
grabs. Humans came in hordes. Smaug's in a slow burn.
So I'm grounded. Still roaring. Rawrr. Sigh. Rawrr.

—Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]

There's some poetic foolin' around then. On the serious side, I am using terza rima — obsessed with that lately, it seems — aba bcb cdc ded efe faf, with the middle word in the last stanza, "burn," looping back to slant rhyme with the envelope a rhyme words in the first stanza, "Ahem" and "flame."

Done with 3/5 of National Poetry Month, and 2/5 (or 12 days) left to go. Won't you comment, please? Look for a blue link below that says "Post a comment"; if you don't see that, look in the red line that says "Posted by" and click on the word "comments." Ingat, everyone.   ;-)





Added 4/19/13:   After reading this post my friend Rachel Morgan turned me on to a cool flash fiction featuring a kid dinosaur (sorta) by Bruce Holland Rogers . . . check it out. Coolest though was finding as illustration for that story an 1896 dinosaur painting titled "Leaping Laelaps" by Charles Knight. I love the spontaneity and fun of Knight's dinosaurs, which I hope are also personality features of my dragon.

Interestingly, the Wikimedia page for this public-domain painting says this "historical image is not a factually accurate dinosaur restoration. Reason: Too many fingers, no dewclaw, crocodilian osteoderms." Well, of course, people! These are not actually laelaps; they are teenage dragons who have not yet sprouted their adult wings.



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





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