Thursday, April 9, 2020

Day Nine ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2020


Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “write a ‘concrete’ poem — a poem in which the lines and words are organized to take a shape that reflects in some way the theme of the poem. This might seem like a very modernist idea, but poets have been writing concrete poems since the 1600s! Your poem can take a simple shape, like a box or ball, or maybe you’ll have fun trying something more elaborate.”

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “write an ekphrastic poem. An ekphrastic poem is one that’s inspired by a work of art, whether that’s a painting, photograph, sculpture, or some other creation.” Robert's post today provides five images that one could write on; click here if you're interested in seeing them.

I’ve chosen to write my ekphrasis on this image from Brewer's five visual prompts.


Today, I’ve written another poem in my aswang monster novella, which I described yesterday. This poem is set around the same time as yesterday’s poem on Malcolm, with Clara thinking about her husband Santiago at war, knowing his deepest desires are in opposition to their promise to each other not to give in to their monstrous impulses.

The Soldier’s Wife
                       

I sit in the bay window looking out
on Kearny Street in Chinatown, the
sun setting while where Tiyago is
in the Pacific, the sun rose just
a short while ago. Our day
and night reversed.
I wonder if
he
is
spilling red
blood there changed
to aswang dog form. It’s
just so hard for him, missing
the chase in midnight moonlight,
stark fear in the eyes of the quarry.
I want to say, yes, my love, drink.

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

About today's poem, Alan writes, “I thought a poem about the commercialization of Easter would be appropriate, so I took Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’ and gave it a visual reversal so that the stanzas are shaped like Imperial Tie Fighters.”

Easter Things
           

Lord, I walked into a big-box store
Sparse stocked
As if no more
Than faith openly mocked
Could shake finances to the core
In a pandemic. There, aligned
Along the center aisle
What could I find?
A pile
Of Easter baskets, Star Wars designed.

I have known that faith over forty years,
A dream,
One that endears:
A small group might redeem
All life itself, overcome fears
And then an image reappears,
An old, familiar trope:
A child appears,
Our hope,
An egg-shaped crib and long, green bunny ears.

—Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]

Fun poem, Alan! And rhyme too! Also, everyone, this is an ekphrastic poem as well, riffing on cinema. I think there's a widespread belief that ekphrasis in poetry is only done in response to art. Not true . . . ekphrastic poems can be written on music, on videos, on any kind of art apart from writing.

Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don’t find the word “comments” in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks!

Ingat, everyone.   


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3 comments:

Maria L. Berg said...

I'm using the prompts from PAD and NaPoWriMo simultaneously as well. I like how you created your shape. The words felt like they were flowing through the hourglass.

Bruce Niedt said...

Ha! Guess who did the same thing? I used the hourglass photo too, as inspiration for the concrete form. Check mine out, and also the hay(na)ku sonnet I wrote today!

Vince Gotera said...

Thanks, Maria.

Thanks too, Bruce. Did you see my hay(na)ku post for Day 10? Look at the bottom of the post!




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