Day 11 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2023

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, we have our second two-for-Tuesday prompt, which means you get two prompts, and they are:   1) Write a form poem, and/or . . .   2) Write an anti-form poem.  By form, I'm thinking of the various poetic forms, but it's completely fine if you've thought of another interpretation of form.” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo suggestion: “This prompt challenges you to play around with the idea of overheard language. First, take a look at Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “One Boy Told Me.” It’s delightfully quirky, and reads as a list, more or less, of things that she’s heard the boy of the title – her son, perhaps? – say. Now, write a poem that takes as its starting point something overheard that made you laugh, or something someone told you once that struck you as funny.” Amanda “I love you upside down in the sky like flowers,” she said, looking up at wispy cirrus clouds. She must have been three at that time, and Mary Ann and I looked at each other, laughing a little bit at how precocious our little genius was, a poet in the making. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Working with all three prompts again this Tuesday — two from Brewer and one from Thorson. Brewer's notion of form enters here with a 5-7-5 haiku tied to a small paragraph, three lines but not haiku. A bit like a haibun, I suppose, but really just trying to encompass the "form/anti-form" aspects of the Brewer prompt. Well, not "anti-form" so much as rather just "non-form"? Or maybe "non-poetic-form"? Though of course prose is also a poetic form, so tough two-for-Tuesday opposition this time. Today, Alan told me about his poem, "The two prompts call for something overheard and a form poem. I managed both. "Last night, I had the opportunity to hear Pulitzer Prize finalist Maurice Manning read at a Knoxville, Tennessee, event, and that reminded me that he created a poetic form he refers to as the 'honky tanka,' a form he describes in his chapter of The Rag-Picker’s Guide to Poetry: Poems, Poets, Process, thirty words, six lines, five words per line, and some rhyming if you can manage it. "The 'overheard' part of the prompt comes from a direct quote I happened to catch on the news. Fortunately, it’s still on the internet, so I could confirm what I heard." A Republican Tennessee District Representative Who Voted to Expel Three Democratic Representatives Concedes the Two Expelled Black Representatives May Be Reappointed and Manages Not to Say “Uppity” “I hope and pray . . . when they come back, that they can work hard, have a good direction, and show honesty and integrity, and they will definitely get respect from me.” —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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