Day 14 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2024

Once again, an intro from before — Day 14, 2014 — double 14 today, like our double 13 yesterday! Day 14. A fortnight in. I've always found it interesting that "fortnight" and "fourteen" share the same opening sounds. Is there a connection there, do you think? A shared root sometime in the past, perhaps. And now, today's prompts. Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “[W]rite a poem of at least ten lines in which each line begins with the same word (e.g., 'Because,' 'Forget,' 'Not,' 'If'). This technique of beginning multiple lines with the same word or phrase is called anaphora, and has long been used to give poems a driving rhythm and/or a sense of puzzlebox mystery. ” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “[W]rite an ekphrastic poem. An ekphrastic poem is a poem inspired by a piece of art, whether that's a painting, a sculpture, mixed media, or something beyond all that.” Most ekphrastic poems you'll see are connected to visual art, but they can also involve other arts; poet Maggie Queeney says ekphrastic poems can also "describe durational art that engages multiple senses, such as plays, videos, music, or installation art" ("Across Genres"). The other day, I wrote an ekphrastic tall tale using an art piece by my daughter Amelia Blue Gotera. Since one of today's prompts calls for an ekphrastic poem, I'm going to do it again with her sculpture "If You Build It" (2022). This was on exhibit in Cedar Falls's Main Street for a year. I'll start off today with a photo of the sculpture that will be my model. From this angle, I almost see a dog sitting, though of course the sculpture is not representational. Once again, a curtal sonnet (abcabc dbcdc, with 10 syllable lines). Amelia Blue Gotera, "If You Build It" (2022) After Amelia’s Sculpture Yellow sculpture, welded aluminum. Yellows — glitzy goldenrod, daffodil. Yellow, the gleaming glory of our sun. Yellow dog, sitting quietly, so calm. YOLO — you only live once — seek a thrill. Jello, island pineapple and lemon. Yelo — Philippine ice — for desserts like Halo-halo, tropical fruits and gels. Cielo, the sun’s blue sky kingdom, heaven. Yellow — vibrant dynamo, electric.                                   Voila, Mia’s bright fun. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Well, that was a blast. To satisfy the anaphora prompt, I started each line with "yellow" or a sound-alike word, even the ending "voila" which, admittedly, is quite distant but nevertheless an echo. Here are a couple more photos of the sculpture, first, with Amelia, and then second, at night. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

NaPoWriMo / PAD 2024 • Pick a day: 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

Day 13 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2024

Continuing to quote fun blog intros, here's one from Day 13 of 2013 . . . double 13! As I'm certain you're aware, some people consider 13 an unlucky number. "Friday the 13th" is thought by many a particularly unlucky combination of day and date. In my hometown of San Francisco, there is no 13th Avenue; between 12th and 14th Avenues lies Funston Avenue. Some buildings around the US have no 13th floor, a fact that led to the name of one of the early psychedelic bands, The 13th Floor Elevators, who had a hit song titled "You're Gonna Miss Me" in 1966, one of my favorite rock songs ever. Not many people know the song features the jug as an instrument, the electric jug. Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “[W]rite a living poem. What makes a living poem may be different for everyone. Some people may like to live it up, while others may focus solely on being alive.” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: "[O]ur optional prompt for the day asks you to play with rhyme. Start by creating a “word bank” of ten simple words. They should only have one or two syllables apiece. Five should correspond to each of the five senses (i.e., one word that is a thing you can see, one word that is a type of sound, one word that is a thing you can taste, etc). Three more should be concrete nouns of whatever character you choose (i.e., 'bridge,' 'sun,' 'airplane,' 'cat'), and the last two should be verbs. Now, come up with rhymes for each of your ten words. .&nbsp.&nbsp. Use your expanded word-bank, with rhymes, as the seeds for your poem. Your effort doesn’t actually have to rhyme in the sense of having each line end with a rhymed word, but try to use as much soundplay in your poem as possible." Here's my word bank. Each category below shows the initial words I chose in the first line and the corresponding rhyme words in the second line. Sense   Verbs   Nouns moon strewn flame came fly why thunder wonder wings things roar more musk brusque scales fails salt fault bark spark The character I was thinking of was a dragon, and that influenced some of the word choices. Okay, today's poem is again a curtal sonnet (abcabc dbcdc, with 10 syllables per line). I was able to use 11 words from the 20 words in the word bank. This poem merges both prompts, as usual. Dragon Flight Under the salt moon, I fly up, feather- light and musk-scented. Thunder is a brusque intruder in my reverie. My wings pivot me into lightning, the ether blazing across the wingtips, electric flame in my wake, fiery spitballs spinning. The sky strewn with pebbled clouds, rough tree bark wind buffeting my scales, glowing coals like gold-vermilion blossoms. I roar loud, sing arias into brisk air, bright blue sparks.                                       Ain’t this some living? —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] "Dragon Flight 1" by Vince Gotera I used to have a phone that had this great drawing app in it. I've forgotten the name of the app. Anyway, I often made these little drawings, frequently of dragons. Here's another one of a dragon flying. "Dragon Flight 2" by Vince Gotera Yesterday, I featured my daughter Amelia's art, and today we have a couple of mine. Incidentally, I've written two poems about flying on two consecutive days. I seem to do that fairly often. My ex-wife Mary Ann is a lucid dreamer and can fly in her dreams at will. She trained herself to do that with dream journals. I hope to learn that sometime! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

NaPoWriMo / PAD 2024 • Pick a day: 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

Day 12 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2024

Here's an intro from Day 12 in 2014: Day Twelve. The Dirty Dozen, 12 eggs in a carton, 12 apostles, 12 tribes of Israel, the duodecimal number system (base 12), the Twelve Days of Christmas, 12 Angry Men, 12 beer cans in a case, 12-step progam, 12 inches on a ruler, 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 months in a year — 12 items in this list of 12's!   ヅ And now, for the suggestions we're working with today. Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “[W]rite a poem that plays with the idea of a “tall tale.” American tall tales feature larger-than-life characters like Paul Bunyan (who is literally larger than life), Bulltop Stormalong (also gigantic), and Pecos Bill (apparently normal-sized, but he doesn’t let it slow him down).” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “[W]rite a funny poem. Keep in mind that funny isn't always ‘ha-ha’ funny. For instance, your poem could include a funny smell or talk about a funny (or weird) person or situation.” Melding today's prompts with a curtal sonnet once more (the sixth one this month). Again, the rhyme pattern of the curtal sonnet is abcabc dbcdc, with full rhymes today. Also, this is an ekphrastic poem (written about a visual art object), inspired by an art piece created by my daughter Amelia, from several winged basses she drew as a Christmas present for me in 2021. Tall Tale The Gibson SG bass hanging on the wall at Bob’s Guitars woke up suddenly at midnight, shook himself, and grew gold and gray bat wings. The bass, who was now calling himself Paul, tried a little glide through the store. All right! I can fly! Paul said. This is a funny thing, for sure. He cranked his pegs to be in fine tune, opened the glass door, and with great delight, soared into the sky, deep bass notes ringing in his wake. Singing, What great fun! Paul soon                                     flew into the sun, rising. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Art by my daughter Amelia Blue Gotera. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

NaPoWriMo / PAD 2024 • Pick a day: 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

Amelia and Melina Gotera, Hearst Center, February 2014

Yesterday, I posted about the February 2014 Final Thursday Reading in which I was the featured presenter. If you watched yesterday's video, you saw that my daughters were also interviewed. They had performed music in the open mic section of that night's event. It was quite an interesting performance for Amelia and Melina. As an acoustic duo (voice and guitar) they play at bars and coffeehouses, and this was their first time playing for an artsy crowd (and I mean that in the best possible sense). Their usual fans and audience members can be a racuous crowd but at the Hearst — our city's arts center — the people in attendance were quiet and attentive. As much as they love and appreciate their bar fans, Melina and Amelia told me later how refreshing this audience experience was for them. It was certainly a wonderful evening for me. I loved being able to perform on the same stage, same night, with Amelia and Melina. That night was also a kind of preview for our performing together the following week: my band The Random Five played a benefit concert at the Lutheran Student Center at the University of Northern Iowa on March 7 and Amelia and Melina opened for us. Anyway, at the same time that yesterday's video was launched on YouTube, the Cedar Falls Cable TV station uploaded a video Amelia and Melina's whole performance that evening. And I am proud and pleased to present that video below. I hope you enjoy it. As I mentioned yesterday, parts of this video are also dark because of the way the room was lit that evening. Many thanks to Shelby Gappa for her great work. If you would like to hear part of Shelby's interview of Amelia and Melina, watch yesterday's video. Won't you comment, please, friends? To make a comment, look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. If you don't see that, look in the red line that starts Posted by Vince, then find the word comments and click it once. Ingat, everyone.   ヅ Amelia and Melina Gotera, Hearst Center, February 2014 http://youtu.be/2sXn0rFdrOE

My Final Thursday Reading, February 2014

On the last Thursday of February earlier this year, 27 February 2014, I had the privilege of being the featured reader for the Final Thursday Reading Series here in Cedar Falls. In this event, I read some fiction and some poems; I also sang a couple of songs on an electric guitar, my trusty Gibson SG. A few days ago, the news department of the City of Cedar Falls posted on YouTube a video they had filmed of that event, and I'm honored to call your attention to it. My colleague at the University of Northern Iowa, Jim O'Loughlin, founder of the series, had been for the first time in over ten years unable to attend and MC the reading. So in a way, this will be Jim's chance to "attend" the reading, however late. Well, at least, a brief 4-minute program about that reading. Parts of the video are dark because of the way the room was lit that evening. The person who opens the video is Rachel Morgan, English prof at UNI, who was subbing for Jim O'Loughlin. Many thanks to Shelby Gappa, the reporter in the video, for her great work. Incidentally, the still from the video (see below) shows my two daughters, Amelia and Melina, who were at the reading that night. Check back tomorrow for a video featuring them at the same event. I hope you'll check out the Final Thursday Readings. They take place at the Hearst Center for the Arts on the last Thursday of each month in the school year, except for November when that month's reading is held the week before Thanksgiving. As always many thanks to Jim O'Loughlin for creating and maintaining this important mainstay of our cultural life here in Cedar Falls. Won't you comment, please, friends? To make a comment, look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. If you don't see that, look in the red line that starts Posted by Vince, then find the word comments and click it once. Ingat, everyone.   ヅ Vince Gotera, Final Thursday Reading, February 2014 http://youtu.be/LGRGnVBtYx4

Amelia's Graduation

On Sunday, May 24, Amelia graduated from Cedar Falls High School. Hurray! It was a wonderful Memorial Day weekend: Mary Ann's parents, Nanny and Papa, came out from Indiana along with Mary Ann's brother David with his wife Karen and daughter Madison. The ceremony itself was very cool . . . pretty decent speeches plus a lot of joy and good spirits in the McLeod Center, the University of Northern Iowa's basketball and volleyball stadium. Amelia sang for the last time with the Concert Choir: "He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother." A fitting song for a class of good friends with caring feelings about one another. The two photos above that were actually taken at the commencement are a little grainy. Quite a distance away in not very bright light, I'm afraid. I tweaked them as much as I could in good old Photoshop. Click to see any of the pics larger. In any case, you can clearly see how happy Amelia was at the ceremony. Whoopee! After the ceremony, with sibs Amanda, Gabe, and Melina. With Nanny and Papa (Jerry and Mary Blue). With friends Chelsea and Joey. Congratulations! Many, many congratulations from your family and friends, Amelia — O Lovable One (as your name means). We wish you the best of luck in your college endeavors starting August. In the meantime, we hope you have a marvelous, red-letter summer! Mom and I — your sibs Marty, Amanda, Melina, and Gabe — we all love you, love you, love you. Again, brava!