Day 23 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2026 / Stafford 97

Hello again, friends! My poem today is #97 in this year's Stafford Challenge (and #462, including last year's Stafford Challenge poem count). Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “Try your hand today at your own take on a villanelle, and have the poem end on a question.” Here's a great page on the villanelle: https://poets.org/glossary/villanelle Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, write a juxtaposition poem.” I'm happy today to present a villanelle on my hometown and its juxtaposition of variations, for example, bringing together native San Franciscans with other residents born elsewhere, including foreign countries. City of Juxtapositions             —villanelle Come with me to the place where I was born — San Francisco. Each night I was soothed to sleep by distant foghorns crooning, “Come with me to Dreamland.” They called out to people foreign-born, “San Francisco can be your refuge, your home. You out there feeling lost and forlorn, come.” Youth moved to the City when I was a teen, to the Haight-Ashbury, and turned San Francisco into a sanctuary. We loved it, too, we San Franciscans, native-born. Come with me to San Francisco? —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Haight-Ashbury District in San Francisco, Cole and Haight Streets. (Photo Source) Today, Alan is also combining prompts, with the juxtaposition of professorial exigencies with what Gotera wants (who is that guy?). Gotera Wants a Poem Every Day Gotera wants a poem every day in April, when I have enough to do, and yet I try to write one anyway, though April, in its headlong rush to May, has reams of paperwork I must work through. Gotera wants a poem every day as if exhausting meetings leave some way for one’s creative side to feel fed, too, and yet I try to write. One, any way he can, preserves a preference for play, like Johnny Cash, when he sang “Boy Named Sue.” Gotera wants a poem. “Everyday I Write the Book”—Costello’s songs convey the notion love’s an act of art. That’s true, and yet I try. To write one any way I can, a promise kept, a vow, let’s say (although remaining rhymes are far too few) Gotera wants a poem every day, and yet, why try to write one, anyway? —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Very funny, Alan. Great alterations in the refrains, especially through syntactic manipulation. Thanks for visiting, everyone. See you again tomorrow? Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

Day 8 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2026 / Stafford 82

Welcome back, friends! My poem today is #82 in this year's Stafford Challenge (and #447, including the number of poems from last year's challenge). Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “In your poem for today, use a simple phrase repeatedly, and then make statements that invert or contradict that phrase.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, write a paranoid poem.” I'm combining both prompts, as usual, in today's poem. Paranoid             —curtal sonnet They are after me. They are after me. I can hardly walk down the street, today or any day. That bird on the branch, there, dogs me everywhere. They are after me. That bird’s song is a report to them . . . “they.” That girl across the street — don’t look at her! — has got a gun. She just looks like she’s ten. They are after me. You say, who are they? Well, I don’t know. They have never shown their faces. Maybe I’ve just imagined them.                                         No, they're everywhere. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Image by izafi on pixabay.com Today, Alan is combining both prompts in a protest villanelle. P O E M   R E M O V E D while being submitted for publication.   Please come back later. The poem may return at some time in the future. Thank you!     Another courageous poem, Alan. Bravo again! Thanks for coming by. See you again tomorrow! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

Day 11 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2025 // Stafford 85

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “write a nature poem. Your poem could be about natural nature (think flowers, rivers, mountains, pebbles, weeds, trees, insects, fish, etc.), but don't neglect other iterations of nature (like human nature or the nature of baseball and so on).” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “Your challenge is . . . to write a poem that incorporates song lyrics – ideally, incorporating them as opposing phrases or refrains.” The model poem today is Kyle Dargan’s “Diaspora: A Narcolepsy Hymn,” a non-rhyming villanelle. Merging the prompts as usual. The "nature" connection is a bit offhand . . . just added a new detail to the myth I'm playing with. The poem is a standard villanelle, with quite short lines, I'm proud to say. If you don't know the myth, click here: Orpheus. Orpheus Using lyrics from Smashing Pumpkins and Johnny Cash The world is a vampire. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher. I’m Orpheus, called Nature Boy, enchanting trees, stones, but the world is a vampire and took Eurydice, my lover. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher. Hades allowed me to take her, but don’t look back. Damn, the world is a vampire. Almost up, I turned. After going down, down, down, again flames went higher. Eurydice disappeared. For nothing, I went down, and the flames go higher. The world is a vampire. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein, Orpheus Glances Back at Eurydice (1806) Because the Johnny Cash lyric was so long (twice as long as the Smashing Pumpkin lyric), part of it had to come first in the previous line before that refrain each time. The middle of the Cash lyric also restricted my rhyme options. Fun challenge, though! Worked out well, I think. Here's Alan's poem today. He's also merging both prompts and using song lyrics. Aubade Incorporating Lynyrd Skynyrd Lyrics Though this feeling I can’t change, I would not, sweet love. The night whose sighs passed from us breath to breath, so strange to take three steps, lie down, lie with, arise— If I leave here tomorrow for a path into the swamp, music from the peepers and the free bird, call me the breeze that would return. Let us be sleepers with things goin’ on. I ain’t the one, a simple kind of man, to be untrue. You make Saturday night special, and your eyes like the skies are so blue. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] About this poem, Alan wrote, "I think I have covered both the prompts, and special credit to those who pick out the nine Lynyrd Skynyrd songs alluded to in this piece." Come on, friends, what songs? Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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Day 17 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2023

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “For today's prompt, write a nerve poem. Some folks are nervous; others have some nerve; still others seem to get on everyone's nerves. We all have a nervous system, and well, my nerves aren't wracked worrying that everyone will figure some way to poem out of this prompt.” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “write a poem that contains the name of a specific variety of edible plant – preferably one that grows in your area. . . . In the poem, try to make a specific comparison between some aspect of the plant’s lifespan and your own – or the life of someone close to you. Also, include at least one repeating phrase.” Okay, curtal sonnet, both prompts, but no repeating phrase. Enjoy! The Dandelion Wars Dandelions dot my lawn, mosaic of bright yellow blooms swaying in the breeze threatening explosions of windborne seeds. What nerve those dandelions have, to take over my green expanse, promise to seize even more land. What to do? Eat the weeds! Harvest dandelion roots, leaves, flowers. The whole plant, except the milky stems, is edible. The leaves can spice your salads. Make tea with the roots. Vile thieves, your hour                         is here. Vengeance indeed! —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]             Image by NoName_13 from Pixabay And here is Alan's take on the two prompts. Nice use of repeating phrases! Sweet Potato Villanelle A nerve aligned between the moon and sweet night air (a waning moon), the waiting slight potato slip, plowed earth beneath your feet, the last of late spring’s hard-edged frosts complete, plow in the day and wait to plant at night. A nerve aligned between the moon and sweet potato slip—an impulse—forces meet and splice, the furrowed earth and just the right potato slip. Plowed earth beneath one’s feet— too early yet to go unshod, some sleet fell just two weeks ago—can set aright a nerve aligned between the moon and sweet turned earth, the season’s rhythm, and the beat of one’s involuntary heart. Delight, potato slip, plowed earth beneath one’s feet, the waning moon, the body souled, complete as cycled harmony, impulsive light, a nerve aligned between the moon and sweet potato slip, plowed earth beneath one’s feet. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Ooo . . . gotta love a good villanelle. Tasty! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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Day Five ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2019

Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: "[T]oday we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates at least one of the following: (1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way. If you can use two elements, great — and if you can do all three, wow!" Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: "For today’s prompt, write a stolen poem. And no, don’t steal anyone’s poem! But you can write about doing such a thing. Or stealing hearts, stealing time, stealing minds. Or steeling your mind (remember: I don’t care if you play on my original prompt). Steal away into a comfortable place to write and break some lines today." Melding both prompts as usual. I've got a villanelle for you, where the refrain lines are excerpted from arguably the most well-known 20th-century villanelle, "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas. While I've stolen the refrain lines, a la Brewer, they're only half stolen, because I'm lifting only the first half of the lines; Thomas's refrains are "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light," but I'm using only the first half of each refrain. Anyway, I've certainly covered the first two of Thorson's three elements there, but I may have also satisfied Thorson's "phrases that oppose each other" element, since there's an opposition here, with "fancy armor" and "Chivalry and valor" pitted against "extreme naked / rage." The poem is about the History Channel show Knight Fight, where participants don metal armor and fight each other with medieval weapons — swords, spears, maces, axes, and the like — not sharp, but nonetheless hard steel, full contact. Fascinating show, mega-testosterone and heavy metal, in the original sense. Fight Club or MMA with forged metal, not just fists. Knight Fight                 TV show where contestants                 in armor battle with blunt                 swords . . . all metal, no foam. Do not go gentle when wielding that sword. You gotta rage, rage against your opponent, who’s swinging a battleax at your head. Do not go gentle- man, genteel knight in fancy armor. Channel extreme naked rage. Rage! Against you runs everything you know about honor. Chivalry and valor do not go gentle when blunted blades are hammering against your body. It’s rage against rage in that arena. The crowd is screaming for blood. Steel pounds flesh, armored. Do not go gentle. Rage rage again rage. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] 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.  ヅ

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Day Six ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2015

Day Six. Now 1/5 of the way through National Poem. Still 4/5 to go so lots more NaPoWriMo and Poem-a-Day pieces to read out there on the web. Twenty-four more days of poetic goodness. Be sure to check out the comments to each day in the NaPoWriMo and PAD webpages where participants post their day's poems. Speaking of which . . . Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo suggested form today is the aubade: "morning poems, about dawn and daybreak, [which often] take the form of lovers' morning farewells." Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Dans le Lit / In Bed (1893) Robert Lee Brewer's PAD challenge for day six is a "things-not-as-they-appear poem." An interesting challenge to try to combine these two prompts, especially if one takes on the aubade as a poem about lovers awakening at morning. Well, I think I successfully combined the two prompts. You be the judge. Here you go. Aubade Steve grinned, waking up to see Stephanie’s cute face, freckled, soft pink lips parted slightly, lace lingerie showing pale throat. Spring morning sun’s rays streaming in to light Steph’s bobbed hair on ginger fire. Her eyes opened, cobalt. “Can’t believe you’re here,” he said. She smiled, then her tongue — black, forked — shot out, her teeth yellow and crooked, fanged. He screamed. Then woke up. Alone. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] This is a terza rima haiku sonnet, a form I invented. The first four stanzas are each a 5-7-5 haiku (in form, not sense), followed by a closing couplet of 7-7. The rhymes are terza rima, interlocked triple rhyme — aba bcb cdc ded ee — often slant rhymed. Give the form a try! Alan's intro today: "I attempted to combine the two prompts again, the aubade and the 'things are not as they seem' challenges." Elopement Aubade Beyond your sleeping form I see the sun; It rises on our unfamiliar day. No longer two, we start today as one. It’s not the life we thought we had begun. Without their blessing, we fear what they’d pray. Beyond your sleeping form I see the sun. Afraid, committed to our loving run, You fell asleep with hurt from what they’d say. No longer two, we start today as one. They thought our love was only play and fun and learned, too late, their own was in decay. Beyond your sleeping form I see the sun. Regrets? I’ve none at all. I’ve none. The state line’s just a few more miles away. No longer two, we start today as one. And you, my darling, think of what we’ve done with happiness. Be brave. We’ll find our way. Beyond your sleeping form I see the sun. No longer two, we start today as one. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Alan, great job with the villanelle and also with the prompt combining. My favorite line is "Regrets? I've none at all. I've none." The repetition of "I've none" suggests the possibility that the speaker doth protest too much. And that there are deeper, perhaps contradictory meanings in the poem. Bravo. 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.  ヅ

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