PAD Finish Line Reached

poem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I reached the finish line today of this year’s annual Poem-A-Day Challenge, hosted by Robert Lee Brewer of Writer’s Digest’s Poetic Asides.

Three days spent out in the wilds of the north country near the Canadian border has advantages. The wilds had a cook shack with great food, live entertainment, plenty of friendly folk to keep a body moving and interacting, learning and taking away new experiences and perspectives. It also had nighttime freezing temps, daily sunshine, sprinkles when relaxation was needed, and a small-town parade with all the usual trimmings.

While out there on the high plateau, I kept thinking about poetry and what I’d take away from the Rendezvous that I could use later for either verse or prose. I’d met unique people with otherwise long-lost talents, children who could defend themselves without anger or cook over an open fire without complaint. I’d seen crafts that rivaled any in a museum anywhere. And best of all, I came home knowing that I will go back next year for a repeat.

The PAD challenge continued without me, but I’ve managed to put together something for each of the days missed. I hope you enjoy these small offerings and that you’ll continue to return to this blog after this challenge ends. I have a new, improved blog for the end of the week, with new pages to visit and things to see. Until then, daily posts will continue.

Now, on to poetry.

Day 27 Prompt: “The Trouble is (blank)” Fill in blank, make it the title, and write poem.

The Trouble is Time Bending

 

Arbitrary limits,

On something non-existent,

Takes no talent, no finess.

Limiting nothing takes

More than care,

Requiring belief

That increments from

One mind equal

Production possibilities.

How can seconds become

Minutes or hours, when

Only days/nights exist in time?

Does breathing count

As a measuring stick, or pulse,

When clocks don’t function?

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

Day 28 Prompt: Write a problem poem.

What Price Time

 

Forcing life into minutes and hours,

Taking life from the living,

Becoming machines, wound up

For the pleasure of someone else.

Can we not function except to

Sweep hands and crystal faces?

Are we mindless with this labyrinth,

Marking existence with clicks and clangs?

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

Day 29 Prompt: Take a favorite line from an earlier poem this month, and rework it into a new poem.

Prayers Danced in Circles

 

Call forth with drum and song

Answers from Creator’s hand.

Step lively in obedience,

Sing with heart’s voice to

Weave supplication upward

Toward Creator’s ear.

Circles with unending,

Beginning, revolving in circuit,

To define all life as one,

Connected and connecting.

Such is Earth, Water, Fire, and Air—

Each touching each, depending,

Giving, moving forward as willed,

Calling singers, dancers to moving circles,

Calling forth prayers to the heavens.

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

Day 30 Prompt: Write a take-away poem. Open interpretation.

Too Long, Too Short

 

Thirty days hath April,

Poems coming still,

A challenge for all.

Nothing too small

To contribute in word

Thoughts, noun or verb.

Is thirty days too long, too short,

For birthing poems for sport?

Should we make this habit,

A daily ritual, or run as rabbit?

© Claudette J. Young 2012

 

 

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• march thirty one: national poetry month – 30 poems in 30 days, April 30 (marchthirtyone.wordpress.com)
• http://miskmask.wordpress.com/
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• http://meenarose.wordpress.com/

The End Is Near

The Doomsday Conspiracy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Doomsday is the theme for the day, and seemingly for the year. Poetic Asides used that trend for its prompt of the day is this April poetry challenge. Write a Doomsday poem. That’s about as straightforward a prompt as any could find.

So here’s my take on the subject for today.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Coming, Pay Attention

White bears with patchy hair

Move inland in search of lair.

Seabirds take new route home,

Veering distant, old paths to roam.

Bees that make honey so sweet

Die away, less pollen to sweep.

Water/land dwellers all,

Gasping, grasping, failing, fall.

Weather gone insane ‘tween now and then,

Leaving us to ask, “This happened when?”

© Claudette J. Young

 

Enjoy your weekend, folks. Stay safe if you’re in the storm zone, watch the beaches for denizens of the surf that can cause harm, or sit in the sun with drink in hand. After all, it might be your last enjoyable weekend for a while.

Related articles

• We Are Doomed By Atlas (kmcgeepoet.wordpress.com)
• http://miskmask.wordpress.com/
• http://wojisme.wordpress.com/
• http://news.yahoo.com/polar-bears-symptoms-mystery-disease-u-agency-000646981.html

Whether–April Showers with Words

April will soon control the calendar and some writers’ lives—at least for 30 days. The favorite month of Parisians will take on a poetic ring on many websites across the globe. April is National Poetry Month, giving poets of every stripe impetus to fling words to passersby at every opportunity.

Robert Brewer’s Poetic Asides, an uncommonly good poetry blog operated through Writer’s Digest, issues a challenge each year to poets. The poets are set the task of creating a poem per day to a specific writing prompt. Many manage to post several poems per day, escalating the tension for others to “try to match this” on the blog.

Oddly enough, camaraderie is the norm here, with poets commenting on each other’s efforts, supporting and encouraging rather than critiquing. “The Street,” as the blog is known by regular contributors, fosters its patrons as community members with something to say and value to add to the whole. Not many blogs can claim that ability.

Along the same lines, other poetry blogs across cyberville also have their own challenges on a regular basis and will be cranking up the thermostat to get words on the screen and rhyme into the heart.

One of these sites is Poetic Bloomings, operated by Marie Elena Good and Walt Wojtanik. This daily blog has much to offer both poet and reader. Sunday’s writing prompt challenge might visual, emotional, or situational. It could be fiction/non-fiction. Each day has purpose and is filled with contributor participation. It’s a marvelous site all around.

Whether you wander over to The River or go to see the Sea Giraffes, you’ll find poetry everywhere at the click of the mouse. Of course, these sites have poetry all the time, but it gets accentuated at this time of year. Enjoy it.

I’ve chosen to take up Brewer’s gauntlet this time around again. I couldn’t participate last year since I was on the road, but this year will give me a chance to write enough to fill out a nice book of poetry with an eclectic flair, but themed nonetheless. I’m looking forward to it.

Brewer also issued a second challenge this year for those who felt their platforms needed reconstruction work done or those who hadn’t yet built their platforms. It consists of a task per day for the writer to build a viable, effective platform. The goal is a power platform by the end of the month of April.

Yep, you guessed it. I’m signing up for that one, too. Is it just me or does it seem like I just can’t leave a challenge lying on the table without at least giving it a shot? I hate not knowing whether I can do something or not.

Whether April has me showering words across specific blogs or in submissions to publications, I will be part of Ares’ madness come the first. That Fool’s Day could be the beginning of something very good or simply exhausting, but I will learn from it and that’s worth my time.