Day 9 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2026 / Stafford 83

Hello again, friends! My poem today is #83 in this year's Stafford Challenge (and #448, including last year's poem count). Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “Today, try writing [a] poem in the voice of an animal or plant, or a poem that describes a specific animal or plant with references to historical events or scientific facts.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, write a '_____ But _____' poem.” I'm combining both prompts, as usual, in today's poem. My speaker is a Marvel alien who is arguably an animal AND a plant. You can see Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Groot, But Groot I am Groot. If you can’t understand, this says I am an extraterrestrial alien. I look like a tree. I saved a human from my peers and was exiled from Planet X to wander the galaxy. I am Groot. This says, I’m a Flora collosus. I cannot die as long as even a twig of me remains, because I can regenerate. I am Groot. I am saying I have a best friend, Rocket Raccoon. We are on a team, the Guardians, with Star-Lord, green-skinned Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, and telepathic Mantis. I love them. We love each other. I am Groot. This says, I am Groot. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Art by Flaviano Armentaro (Wikipedia) Today, Alan is combining both prompts as a well in a plaintive call for truth-seeing. Not Bug But Function “[S]ome worms induce crickets and other terrestrial insects to commit suicide in water, enabling the exit of the parasite into an aquatic environment favorable to its reproduction.” Libersat, Frederic, et al. “Mind Control: How Parasites Manipulate Cognitive Functions in Their Insect Hosts.” Frontiers in Psychology vol. 9 572. 1 May. 2018, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00572 (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5938628/). Not ally but deceiver, not enabler but manipulator, not dealmaker, not liberator, not savior, not leader, not king. Oh, would some power the gift give us to see ourselves as the world sees us, to turn from those who’ve highjacked Jesus, poor foolish nation, and earn trust back; its loss bereaves us, the world’s devastation! —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Alan, I love how your epigraph is just about longer than the poem itself! Beautifully done. 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 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. By Law, the Local Judge Candidates Cannot Proclaim Party Affiliation, but This One Posted on Social Media Images of His Attendance at a MAGA Prayer Breakfast Sometimes, some evil folks are hurting you. They may not know your name or what you are. It’s not just paranoia when it’s true. The ones who claim to love you through and through can cut deep wounds inside that show no scar. Sometimes, some evil folks are hurting you in ways you can’t describe, when, from their view, they’re cold and distant like the North Star. It’s not just paranoia when it’s true by your experience. What can you do should you condense in pain while others stare sometimes? Some evil folks are hurting you for fun, you wingless fly, you legless cob, your new and raw recovery from their unprovoked war. It’s not just paranoia when it’s true your neighbors helping them are monsters, too, who “did not vote for this,” damned, unaware sometimes some evil folks are hurting you. It’s not just paranoia when it’s true. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] 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 7 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2026 / Stafford 81

Great to have you back here! My poem today is #81 in this year's Stafford Challenge (and #446, including last year's poem count). Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “In her poem, “Front Yard Rhyme,” Cecily Parks evokes the sing-songy beats that accompany girls’ clapping games, and jump-rope and skipping rhymes. Today, we challenge you to write your own poem that emulates these songs – something to snap, clap, and jump around to.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt:  1) Write a dawn poem, and/or . . . 2) Write a dusk poem.” Here's my poem today, where I'm combining three prompts, the NaPoWriMo one plus both Poem-a-Day ones. Jump Rope Dawn and Dusk Miss Sunrise Dawn, Dawn, Dawn All dressed in plum, plum, plum Turned deep sky blue, blue, blue Clouds of white hue, hue, hue Till sunset dusk, dusk, dusk With scent of musk, musk, musk At midnight dark, dark, dark For horned owls hark, hark, hark —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Photo by xuanduongvan87 on pixabay.com Today, Alan is combining both prompts, in a parodic protest poem. MAGA Double Dutch Before the sun comes up this morning, he will send another warning, sitting on his golden throne, thumbtyping on his cell phone, phone-in interview on Fox, bombing schools with Tomahawks, breakfast prayers with obscene swears, cashing in with billionaires. Putin’s puppet, Bibi’s toy, how many years old is this boy? One, two, three . . . In the gloaming, raging, foaming, threatening, impotent rage, take us back to Happy Days, take us back to Golden Age, take us back to the Stone Age, photographs of ghoulish smiles redacted from Epstein files. Prove to us that you’re no fool— walk on the Reflecting Pool. Putin’s puppet, Bibi’s toy, How many years old is this boy? One, two, three . . . —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] A courageous poem, Alan. Bravo! 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 6 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2026 / Stafford 80

Welcome, faithful readers! Today's poem for Day 6 is #80 in this year's Stafford Challenge (and #445, including last year's total). Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “In your poem today, try writing with a breezy, conversational tone, while including at least one thing that could only happen in a dream.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, write a water poem.” In his poem today, Alan is combining the two prompts again, once more in a love poem addressed to his beloved. Round This Town We were dating back then, Sweetheart, and I was working for my dad on summer days he needed me, DJing when he didn’t, and we spent a Saturday at Smith Lake, a place I hadn’t been for years because I nearly drowned there once. You wore a two-strap one-piece suit, and I was in my trunks, and we stayed in some shallows feeling, well, rambunctious, even you were getting handsy just beneath the surface. I was woozy, brain deprived of oxygen, the blood gone south, and I recalled a playful phrase from a hit at work, a song recorded by a legend’s boy where he threw in the words I said to you, just “Sugar Booger.” Well, you let me know right quick that I should not repeat those words again, and I have not aloud since then, but I remember what I felt that time I said it out loud then, how I think it out loud now. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Lovely and fun poem! About this, Alan wrote, "It was 'Honky Tonkin’,' Vince—Hank Williams, Jr., had a hit with it. Never was as good as his dad—" Here's my poem today, where I'm also combining both prompts. I hope I achieved a "breezy, conversational tone," though maybe that's true of most of my poems. Dreaming of Water             —curtal sonnet I don’t recall almost drowning when I was two. Dad said, “It was me who saved you!” I’ve wondered if he was supposed to be watching me at a pool and looked away? Anyway, thanks, Dad! When I go into cold water now — a swimming pool, rarely — my chest tightens up and a sense of dread comes over me. Last night, drifting off to sleep, I felt I was floating in air, trees below, then on my chest sank a great weight.                                         Water, so heavy. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Photo by Pexels on pixabay.com Thanks for coming by, folks. I hope you enjoyed our poems today. Come on back tomorrow! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

Day 5 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2026 / Stafford 79

Hello again, friends! Today's poem for Day 5 is #79 in this year's Stafford Challenge (and #444, including the count from last year). Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “Today, your challenge is to . . . write a poem in which you talk about disliking something – particularly something utterly innocuous, like clover.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, write a safety poem.” In his poem today, Alan is writing about things happening at the university where he works. He is merging the two prompts. Missing the Urinal I do not mean the way you think I mean. The renovations to our building made it necessary to convert our johns to gender-free, essentially to build small rooms, a toilet in each one, the sinks in common space outside. I don’t pretend the state considered privacy for folks who are nonbinary or trans to be the reason for this change. The cost to build additional facilities on each floor of the building was too much to spend. It was not safety first. Some of the men— I’m at a university, so I apply that term with reservation—piss without concern. They leave seats down. They don’t wipe up; I doubt some even aim at all. In men’s rooms, urinals are kept in view to keep such disregard in check, but this much privacy lets careless men behave like privileged boys who have someone they don’t acknowledge follow close behind to clean up after them like every mess of every type they’ve ever, ever made. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] https://cuningham.com/2018/06/25/all-inclusive-restrooms. I recently learned about a poetic form, the ZipOde — five lines where the number of words in each line matches the corresponding digit in one's zip code. If there's a zero, the matching line can contain an emoji or a symbol or a number of words (1-9). My zip code is 50701 and you'll see below how I handle the two zeroes. Here are the instructions for writing ZipOdes: https://omiami.org/pages/zip-odes. There, you'll see how to handle postal codes that have letters. Again, I'm merging both prompts in my poem. ICE             —ZipOde from 50701 Supposedly working for our safety . . . zero truth there. Gotta dislike — no, despise — ICE . . . zero accountability. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Thanks for reading our poems, folks. Come back tomorrow and see how Alan and I handle the prompts, especially when we merge them. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ