2022 Poem-A-Day Challenge, Prompts (Days) 21 & 22

Huh. I guess my viewpoint has shifted since the beginning of this challenge.

At the outset, I would have said I don’t want to share anything personal. Now, when I sit down to write, everything starts out personal. (I find I edit quite a bit now, too.) Not out of self-consciousness, but out of a sense that I want this project to be fun for me. I find short, concise poetry to be much more fun than unstructured free verse or prose poems.

I did write a funny (to me, anyway) prose poem last night. I love/hate when poetry ideas come to me when I can’t write them down. Too bad driving, showers, and dog walks (sans phone) happen to be great brainstorming moments.

Oh! Yesterday, I tried Dutch Bros Coffee for the first time. The location I visited has a walk-up window. (Super convenient for this early-morning walker.) I’d put it on par with Starbucks.

Prompt (Day) 21: Write a Sound Poem

I’d like to memorialize that April 2022 is the month during which I became interested in birds. Like genuinely interested. I checked the Audubon app and everything! It turns out we in Central Texas have at least 6 birds that could be most active during my early-morning dog walks. It is so cool to hear a bird and know exactly which bird you’re hearing!

This poem is gogyohka style. Five lines, no syllable requirements. Can I live in Japanese poetry? I love rules and form.

Painted buntings and
Eastern Phoebes tweet their joy
into the drizzling
darkness
of the morning.

Prompt (Day) 22: Write an Organism Poem

When I read this prompt, the first thought I had was a memory of—I think—a childhood favorite book about dinosaurs? Or space? I’m sure I have the book laying around somewhere.

Anyway, my memory of the book inspired a prose poem which ended up being too personal to share. When I write about people, I prefer they be people no longer part of my life. It doesn’t feel fair to me to share stories and thoughts that arise from my current relationships. Better I connect with my family and friends while I can, you know?

For this poem, I chose the shadorma style. Of Spanish origin, this poetry form has 6 lines of 3-5-3-3-7-3 syllables. This developed from the prose poem I wrote.

They say we
came from soup, water
which fueled
modern life, forging organisms.
A miracle, no?

There’s a bonus mondo (one line question and response) poem here, too. The mondo came out spontaneously between pouring myself a bowl of popcorn and playing Yahtzee!

What is that sound? Cicadas scream into the void.