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

Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “We’re calling today Sonnet Sunday, as we’re challenging you to write in what is probably the most robust poetic form in English. . . . Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own sonnet.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: Write “a number poem. You can include a number in the title of the poem, or drop a number somewhere in the middle or end of the poem. Count sheep, poem by numbers, or share 10 ways to write a poem.” Today, I'm merging both prompts again. Since I've written curtal sonnets many of the days so far, I thought I'd up the ante today by writing a double curtal sonnet: two curtal sonnets linked together in one poem. I'm using decasyllabics — 10 syllables per line — which can look strange when there are digits. Keep in mind that the decasyllabics are determined by speaking the lines aloud. For example, the third line below "8,493 years" looks very short but there are 10 syllables in it: "eight / thou- / sand / four / hun- / dred / nine- / ty / three / years." Why Numbers? There are 93 million miles between Earth and the Sun. It would take a person 8,493 years to walk it. An ant would take 21 million years to walk that far. We humans can walk over 2000 times faster than an ant. But ants can carry 50 times their body weight. Could any human lift something just 10 times their weight? Never. Nature’s laws won’t allow it. Gravity                                         can’t be sidestepped, ever. You’d need 1.3 million Earths to fill the Sun. Using today’s population, that would be 10 quadrillion 400 trillion people. How many ants then? Well, a huge number. Some 20 quadrillion ants on our Earth alone! If you wondered that actual ant count, it’s 2 times 10 to the 22nd. So now someone might just ask: Who cares? Our days are numbered. With math, we’re free. The world’s within our ken.                                         We’re unencumbered. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Here's what Alan said about today's poem: "I think I have fulfilled the obligations of both prompts. I have been thinking about the difference between law, justice, and mercy, the difference between power and the responsibility to wield it, and the notion not only of sacrificing children but the varying ideas of what merits such a sacrifice." Three This holiday I’m tasked to think of three long days of death before the Christ arose from loving sacrifice of life for those who’d turn from sin and follow Him. To me, that promise seemed uncomplicated. He accepted what his Father wanted, chose the agony, and even in the throes of death asked God show mankind clemency. In Nashville, not so long ago, a school lost three young kids, three adults, too, but rule of law let lethal weapons easily pass through civilian hands; another cruel procedure let the State of Tennessee expel two of the three who would oppose. —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Alan, I'm so impressed at how you use these writing opportunities to address such important issues of social justice. Bravo! Everyone, just a quick observation about Alan's unorthodox technique in this Petrarchan sonnet. In the opening eight lines, he used an "-ose" rhyme (the b rhyme) which he brought back at the end (where "-ee" was the expected rhyme sound) in order to emphasize the word "oppose." The "-ee" rhyme in the last line is made internal, in the word "three" in the middle, which just so happens to be the theme of the poem. Brilliantly done! Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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