Poem-A-Day Challenge: Day 7
Prompt: “Two for Tuesday”: Write a “clean” poem or write a “dirty” poem. URBAN PLAYGROUND On my block trees were few and far between, caged for their own good, roots straining against concrete manacles for freedom. Dirt was plentiful, manmade — soda cans, candy wrappers, cigarette butts, lottery tickets — nothing that could nurture a
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Day 6
Prompt: Write a poem about something missing. It can be about an actual physical object or something you just can’t put your finger on. NEVER AS SIMPLE AS IT SEEMS Home used to be defined by the brief view of Yankee Stadium from the 4 train as it pulled into the station. The House that
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Day 5
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
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Day 4
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
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Day 3
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
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Day 2
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
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Day 1
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
2009 Poem-A-Day Challenge
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,
The Force is Strong in Him
My 8-year-old son has become a huge Star Wars fan over the past several months, without overt encouragement, as he’s now seen all seven movies, and the new Clone Wars animated series has become appointment viewing for us almost every Friday night. He has three lightsabers, two of which he bought with his own allowance;
Spindle: New Content for March
Just in time for our impromptu open mic/party tonight — Spindle gets a little bit LOUDER — I’ve posted another round of great content up on Spindle for your reading pleasure! * New poetry by Celeste Doaks, Don Pomerantz and Jacob Rakovan * New short fiction by Diane Simmons and David Winter With this latest