Day 25 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2026 / Stafford 99

Hello, friends! My poem today is #99 in this year's Stafford Challenge (and #464, including last year's Stafford Challenge poem count). Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: Write a “poem in which you use at least three metaphors for a single thing, include an exclamation, ruminate on the definition of a word, and come back in the closing line to the image or idea with which you opened the poem.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, write a remix poem. Pick a poem you wrote earlier this month and re-create it in a new way. Maybe you take a sonnet and turn it into free verse, or a haiku. Maybe your free verse can be turned into a triolet or villanelle. Or you can mash up multiple poems into a new creation. ” Today I'm remixing yesterday's poem, the first half. And following the NaPoWriMo prompt pretty much to the letter. Riddle             —curtal sonnet A skin-winged blackbird that isn’t a bird. A winter-long sleeper that’s not a bear but lives in caves. Under starry night skies, invisible singer that can’t be heard. Three inches long, a foot wide. In your hair she’d make you scream, “Help!” Mating ecstasies in autumn, delayed fertilization in spring. Delayed? What could that mean? In her the sperm is stored, then she is fertilized during first flight after hibernation.             Little Brown Bat . . . wondrous! —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Little Brown Bat (Photo Source) I don't have Alan's poem yet but I wanted to get this post up (I almost missed yesterday 'cause it was such a busy day that I didn't start blogging till close to midnight). Come on back later for Alan's poem . . . you know it'll be marvelous! Thanks for visiting the blog, everyone. See you again tomorrow? Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ