Written for National Poetry Writing Month NaPoWriMo
Day 11 - April 11th
Today, taking a leaf from Elhillo’s work, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of origin. Where are you from? Not just geographically, but emotionally, physically, spiritually? And having come from there, where are you now?
Day 9 prompt is: Our (optional) prompt for the day asks you to engage in another kind of cross-cultural exercise, as it is inspired by the work of Sei Shōnagon, a Japanese writer who lived more than 1000 years ago. She wrote a journal that came to be known as The Pillow Book. She recorded daily observations, court gossip, poems, aphorisms, and musings, including lists with titles like “Things That Have Lost Their Power,” “Adorable Things,” and “Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write your own Sei Shonagon-style list of “things.” What things? Well, that’s for you to decide! Some of her writing
In some of her writing she could be quite caustic and offensive with her thoughts. I chose this dark side as my muse today.
Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of gifts and joy. What would you give yourself, if you could have anything? What would you give someone else?
And now, for our (optional) prompt. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of the possible. What does that mean? Well, take a look at these poems by Raena Shirali and Rachel Mennies. Both poems are squarely focused not on what has happened, or what will happen, but on what might happen if the conditions are right. Today, write a poem that emphasizes the power of “if,” of the woulds and coulds and shoulds of the world.
Walking through life knowing deep in my soul where I was meant to be Thoughts and actions not those of the pack I could clearly see
I did not understand the path for my journey Instinctively, I would arrive It was as if I were acting in a play, and the final scene I would contrive
Heights of happiness Depths of depression Wondering what I’d become Confused by the wait Never giving up hope Knowing what would come
At times despairing Thinking I might be wrong Just another lost soul With age comes serenity and needed patience Waiting for the perfect role
See it and believe it Visualize it, breathe it Imagine it and it will be mine Have I lived this life before? Knowing fulfillment or did I just see the sign?
Today’s prompt is based in a poem by Larry Levis called “The Two Trees.” It is a poem that seems to meander, full of little digressions, odd bits of information, but fundamentally, it is a poem that takes time. I’d like to challenge you to write something that involves a story or action that unfolds over an appreciable length of time.
