My own Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, and occasional commentary on all of the above.
Prompt: Write a poem about a landmark. It can be a famous landmark (like Mount Rushmore or the Sphinx) or a little more subdued (like the town water tower or an interesting sign).
SIGNPOSTS
On the northside:
grass clippings,
popsicle sticks,
Sunday newspaper circulars.
On the southside:
crushed soda cans,
crumpled lottery tickets,
church service schedules.
Prompt: Pick an animal; make that animal the title of your poem; then, write a poem.
CHICKENS
The family pet is a precarious
decision, like adopting someone
you know will die before you
and yours.
We could not agree on a dog
or a cat; the former too much
like a third child, the latter yet
another unpredictable in-law.
Guinea pigs were a consideration,
but since we left the Bronx,
willingly taking in a rodent
didn’t make much sense.
Six more months into this
recession and backyard chickens
would fit right in with canned food
and ammo in the basement.
Eggs in the morning, amusement
throughout the day, and when times
get rough, heartbreak is lessened
by a delicious dinnertime memorial.
Prompt: Take the phrase “The problem with (blank)” and replace the “(blank)” with a word or phrase. Make this the title of your poem and then write a poem to fit with or juxtapose against that title.
THE PROBLEM WITH ADAM SANDLER
Dick and fart jokes aren’t
nearly as funny on the fifth
telling, and the sadsack schmuck
with a heart of gold who gets
the girl anyway lost its appeal
years ago.
Well-deserved kudos for Jewish pride
don’t offset the absolutely unforgiveable,
inhumane and sadistic casting of
Rob Schneider in every movie.
Prompt: Write an outsider poem. You can be the outsider; someone else can be the outsider; or it can even be an animal or inanimate object that’s the outsider.
HEARTBURN
She wears it on her sleeve
because it does not fit
in her chest, too full
of life to be contained,
much too easy to break.
Prompt: Write an origin poem. It can be the origin of a word, person, plant, idea, etc.
METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING
Pen, pencil, paper,
notebook, Moleskine, laptop,
iPhone, quiet park, café table,
noisy bar, bathroom stall,
lower back, scarred wrist,
broken heart…
A poem is not truly alive
until it is read out loud
for someone else to feel.
April is National Poetry Month, so it’s a perfect opportunity to live up to my URL and flashback to the late 90s when I worked at The Academy of American Poets and was terrorizing the NYC poetry slam scene!
I’ve attempted National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) twice, cranking out 15,000 words on the second try, but tomorrow, for the first time ever, I’ll be participating in the Poem-A-Day (PAD) Challenge!
The inimitable Robert Brewer — editor of Writer’s Market and Poet’s Market, and proprietor of the wonderful blog, Poetic Asides — will be posting a daily prompt and I, along with at least 150 others (and counting), are commiting to write a poem inspired by that prompt.
Every. Day.
Doesn’t mean any of them will be good, but every day in the month of April, before the clock strikes midnight, I’ll be posting a new poem here and over at Poetic Asides.
I went to the Frelinghuysen Arboretum a few weeks ago to check out Ken Druse give a presentation of his amazing new book, Planthropology: The Myths, Mysteries, and Miracles of My Garden Favorites, and took my wife’s fancy new camera with me to take pictures.
After the presentation, I wandered the snow-covered grounds of the Arboretum and took a few pictures before heading over to Greenwood Gardens for a rare tour of the grounds and took a ton more pictures. While far from the level of Druse’s work, I think I did pretty good for the first time, while also realizing I’m more of a tree, statuary and structural person than plants, though the time of year could have had something to do with that. Check them out on Flickr (plus a few below the cut).
Speaking of Druse, if you asked him what his favorite plant is, his answer would most likely be “whichever one I’m looking at. Every plant has an incredible story.”
In Planthropology, he proves his point, engagingly bringing plants of all kinds to vivid life with entertaining and enlightening stories that will intrigue gardeners and non-gardeners alike. It’s a visual feast that will make waiting for warmer weather to return more bearable, and it’s not just inspirational reading for avid gardeners, but also an ideal gift for helping family and friends get a better appreciation for your own passion, perhaps even inspiring them to get outside and join you.
My second stab at garden writing for Horticulture came out of this trip, too, along with a whole new appreciation for gardening and gardeners themselves.
