Mounting Month’s Challenges

Is it a matter of scheduling, I ask myself. Does it matter in what order I work within the framework of the challenges I’ve accepted for this month? By the looks of today’s desk load, order has little to do with writing this month.

Yesterday I played with PA’s poetry prompt challenge: communication. When I left there, I moved over to Poetic Bloomings to see what havoc I could wreak in that venue. The Apr. 1 prompt there was “Superheroes and Capes.”

Still feeling a bit on the obstreperous side, I posted this specially written offering to the world of superheroes. Remember, definition is a matter of perspective.

A Sigh of Sound

Susurration slides past those unintended,

Targeting sweet young ears with soft meaning,

Teasing, taunting, telling of bliss to come.

Whispers waft on a tongue’s breeze, seeking

Vulnerable minds to influence with knowledge

Untrue, compelling a change of heart with power.

Soon his soft whispers would secure those within reach,

Taking control where none was needed, rousing

Testaments to his wisdom, while groveling for pats.

Whispers waft on a tongue’s breeze, seeking

Power from those without special gifts or

An invisibility cloak to shield one’s presence from view.

After an hour’s respite from verse, I took up the third challenge for the day: Robert Brewer’s Author Platform Development Task-A-Day Challenge. I know, I’m a glutton for these things. In this case, though, I will heap praise and appreciation on Robert  in coming months for doing me such a great favor.

For the first time, after four years, I’m settling down to doing this major task for my future’s sake. I’m being given the tools to do it—for free. How much better does it get than that?

I’ve managed to complete the first two days’ worth of tasks. They weren’t onerous, by any means, but they did need thought and honesty with myself about goals, aspirations, skills developed, etc. It’s one thing to tell yourself and others that you can do something. You’re corralling a different animal when you ask yourself how confident you are about each of the items on your list.

I got through it, and along the way I discovered forgotten skills that I haven’t used in a years, but which I can still draw on for future needs. That reaffirmation was definitely worth the time and effort that went into the definitions and lists I created yesterday and this morning.

When I finished with the platform challenge for the day, poetry claimed my attention. The PA Poem-A-Day Challenge for today was the prompt: Visitor.

The aspect of prompt writing that I thoroughly enjoy is that the writer/poet can approach the writing from whatever perspective lies within the body of the prompt. If detailed restrictions aren’t given, the prompt is completely open to interpretation. That’s when the fun roars through the mind, taking the writer with it.

Since “Visitor” has so many possibilities, from so many perspectives, I decided to begin small and work my way up. Here’s what I did this morning. Later today, I’ll add another.

Simply Natural 

Nature surges behind

Walls assigned to ads,

A silent lure to the viewer,

Without words, without money,

Always available to see,

To experience, to awaken

Dulled senses to the world.

I hope you enjoy these prompt responses. To change out the mix of poems, here is another, though not written to prompt other than my own urgings.

Jesus Loves

I came upon this phrase I loved,

That appeared at ease,

Poised, a silhouette on the page,

Etched against the white,

Waiting for my adoration,

Innocent of guile.

Its voice called to me,

A siren song heard within breath

Expelled softly, slow

As time upon Earth’s diurnal

Turning, face to sun,

Willing life into creatures here.

Would that allusion came to me

As effortlessly,

To capture the mind’s attention,

To create a vision

Powerful, subtle, within notes

Built of supreme joy.

Have a marvelous week, everyone. Please stop by each day to see what I’ve  added to the collection being created here.

Related articles

• (inter)national poetry month ~ April 2012 “B” better late….. (haikulovesongs.wordpress.com)
• A poem a day begins (lisachebyblog.wordpress.com)