Day 20 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2025 // Stafford 94

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “[W]rite a rest poem. In this part of the country anyway, there are restrooms and rest areas. And for some the weekend is a time of rest and relaxation. But there is also the rest of interpretations of rest (like the rest of the way, rest of the water, or rest of the poems). Also, if someone wants to turn "rest" into "wrest," I won't wrestle them over it. Have fun and poem before or after resting today!” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt begins with Theodore Roethke’s poem, ‘In Evening Air,’ which you can find in today's NaPoWriMo post, [described as] weird. The rhythm is odd, the rhymes are too, and the language is strangely prophetic and not at all ‘conversational.’ Despite – or maybe because – of this, it has a hypnotic quality, as if it were all inevitable. Your challenge is, with this poem in mind, to write a poem informed by musical phrasing or melody, that employs some form of soundplay (rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration). One way to approach this is to think of a song you know and then basically write new lyrics that fit the original song’s rhythm/phrasing.” Alan's poem today uses very interesting soundplay. Notice particularly how there are basically only two rhyming sounds in 14 lines. And he merges both prompts, getting the rest idea in there throughout. Laying to Rest If you will follow me, the fallow field lies down the road, around the curve, beyond the church. Back there, there used to be a pond that’s gone completely dry, the clay that sealed the bottom silted down and cracked. Revealed by drought and leakage, barrels rested, round, intact, and sunk. We kids thought we had found a treasure of some kind the pond concealed beneath a crust of clay. Our tractor pulled them out—we had stout chains—but then we mulled the matter over. What if they were filled with bodies, trusting victims lulled to misplaced confidence? That thought appealed to all us boys. It’s just ahead, around . . . —Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] I merged both prompts using the stanza form of NaPoWriMo's model poem today. Happy Easter? Or . . . after Theodore Roethke’s “In the Evening” stanza Each year my son Marty proclaims, Happy Zombie Jesus Day! and warmly wishes for the zombie, Easter Bunny brains. Are you shocked? Marty remains stoic either way. He feels no shame. We will still hunt hidden eggs, rest, and wash the dishes. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Marty also puts out a greeting image each year. This one's from 2016. Marty created the book cover of my most recent poetry collection, Dragons & Rayguns (2024). Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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