Day Four ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2022

Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “I’d like to challenge you to write a poem . . . in the form of a poetry prompt.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “write a catch up poem. This is not to be confused with a ketchup (or catsup) poem, but hey, write one of those if the poetic spirit moves you! ” Today's poem, which merges the two prompts, riffs on Banana Ketchup, a Philippine condiment. While the poem is not written in hay(na)ku — it's a free verse list poem — it uses the word hay(na)ku as a stand-in for the Philippine banana and also for poetry in general. Banana Ketchup 1. Write the banana tree growing in the sideyard by the veranda. 2. Write the banana tree’s palm-like fronds sweeping the sky. 3. Write bunches of hay(na)ku, hanging down from the tree trunk. 4. Write an elegy for the purple flower heart below the hay(na)ku. 5. Write the bolo knife that will harvest the hay(na)ku bunches. 6. Write each hay(na)ku’s yellow skin peeled back from the sweet. 7. Write peanut oil, garlic, vinegar, ginger, honey, mashed hay(na)ku. 8. Write the blending, simmering, stirring in red color, the bottling. 9. Write the label on the bottle: Banana Ketchup. The Philippines. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Banana ketchup was invented by Maria Orosa, a Filipino food technologist, during WWII, because of a shortage of tomatoes in the Philippines."Before creating the first banana ketchup recipe, Orosa had already made waves in her home country through her various innovations, from freezing mangoes to inventing the palayok oven. She also created provisions that Filipino soldiers consumed during World War II, such as a nutrient-rich soya bean drink called Soyalac. The National Historical Institute recognized Orosa as a humanitarian and war hero" (Meet the war hero who invented banana ketchup). Here is the Google doodle celebrating Maria Orosa on 29 November 2019: Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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Day 24 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2019

Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo suggestion: “Today’s (optional) prompt is to write a poem that . . . is inspired by a reference book. Locate a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia, open it at random, and consider the two pages in front of you to be your inspirational playground for the day. Maybe a strange word will catch your eye, or perhaps the mishmash of information will provide you with the germ of a poem.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “For today’s prompt, take the phrase ‘Complete (blank),’ replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write your poem. Possible titles include: ‘Complete Best Day I Ever Had,” ‘Complete Guide to Writing Poems,’ ‘Completely Wrong Way,’ and ‘Completed Set.’ ” To merge the prompts, I looked up complete in a thesaurus, which was cheating, a little — I didn’t use a random page but rather the spread that had that word. Today, I’ve got an abecedarian list poem for you, a kind of mini-thesaurus of words related to complete in its different guises: to finish (verb), total (adjective), and so on. I used my dad’s Roget’s Thesaurus, inscribed on the inside cover with Martin Gotera, Dec. 8, 1959 in my mom's handwriting, or printing, actually. As much as it pleases me to use his book, which I remember seeing and even using as a child, it did mean that more recent usages are not there. So while the majority of the words are below are from those two pages, I did have to go out on the internet also. Complete Vocab arrangement, abundance balance, blend chock-full, combination, cap-a-pie deliver the goods eke out fait accompli, fulfill go the whole hog hook, line, and sinker integration, inclusive jam-packed knock off lock, stock, and barrel mass, mixture, merge native, nature out-and-out perfect, put the lid on quite, quintessential replete, ripe synthesis thorough, total universal validate, veritable whole nine yards exhaust, execute yield zealous, zip up —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]         Looking up complete in Papa’s thesaurus         (click on this image to see it larger) Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don’t find the word “comments” in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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Day Nine ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2019

At Poem-a-Day headquarters, Robert Lee Brewer says: “Time for our second Two for Tuesday of the month! Pick one prompt or use both . . . your choice!             1. Write a love poem. All you need is love.             2. Write an anti-love poem. Or not. Remember: There are many forms of love: romantic love, friend and family love, love of being alive, etc.” Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “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 Shonagon, a Japanese writer who lived more than 1000 years ago. She wrote a journal that came to be known as The Pillow Book. In it 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!” Mashing up all three prompts in a list poem, a pretty straightforward take. Things We Love and Hate at the Same Time Rain           Summer sun     Blizzards                 Wind           Dogwood pollen The dark New leather shoes               Turtleneck sweaters         Grammar               Money                       Rumors City streets downtown         Skyscrapers                 Zombies       Beowulf TV       The Internet                     The Kardashians               Klezmer music        Cars Calculus       Centipedes and silverfish                 Grass clippings         Sugar Love —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don’t find the word “comments” in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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Day Six ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2013

Day Six. Seis, anim, 'e-ono, sitta, sechs, seacht, gatandatu, kotoashec, jav, and enquë. That's six in Spanish, Filipino, Hawaiian, Arabic, German, Irish, Kinyarawanda, Mesquakie, Klingon, and Quenya, the language spoken by Tolkien's Elves. That list of sixes is almost a poem already, isn't it? Now on to today's prompts. Robert Lee Brewer, in the Poetic Asides blog, says: "For today's prompt, write a post poem. Post could be short for post office – or traditional mail. Post could be a wood or metal post. Or post could mean relate to words like postpone, post-punk, or whatever." "I challenge you to write a valediction [or] poem of farewell," writes Maureen Thorson, on the NaPoWriMo site. "Perhaps the most famous one is John Donne's A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, which turns the act of saying good-bye into a very tender love poem. But your poem could say 'good-bye' (and maybe good riddance!) to anything or anyone. A good-bye to winter might be in order, for example. Or good-bye to the week-old easter eggs in your refrigerator. Light or serious, long or short, it's up to you!" Once again, I am trying to do both prompts, if only in my title. It's a list poem, also, a form I recently assigned to my poetry-writing students at the University of Northern Iowa. Goodbye, Youth Hello, Post Bran Flakes My 14-year-old son Gabe's order: three eggs (scrambled) bacon AND sausage hash browns (extra crispy) raspberry waffles (with     whipped cream and     maple syrup) orange juice (extra pulp) milk (two glasses) hot chocolate My order: bran cereal milk (skim, 1/4 cup) coffee (no sugar or cream) heart (mine . . . to eat out) —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Okay, kind of a cheesy way to get "post" in there, but the "goodbye" theme isn't bad. Comment below, okay? I'd love to hear from you. See you tomorrow? Ingat, everyone.   ;-) P.S.  For old times' sake, here's one from my ol' poem-a-day writing buddy Catherine Childress Pritchard. Remember her NaPoWriMo daily poems on this blog last year? Catherine's doing the poem-a-day challenge this month also. Here's the poem she wrote today for Day Six. Laundry My clothes line is not awash with angels like Wilbur imagined in blouses and smocks but blanketed with the bold blocks of a quilt cleansed from the impurities of dog hair, child’s vomit, spilled juice, chicken pox scabs— motherhood’s filth, tied and self-bound. —Draft by Catherine Childress Pritchard    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Wow, Catherine, that's a heck of a closer . . . "tied and self-bound" of course refers to the quilt, but it also, more importantly, reverberates with these particular details into an arresting comment on the self — everyone's selves — and parenthood. Thanks for letting me post that. We at the North American Review were very proud this week to host Catherine's "Next Big Thing" interview on the NAR Blog. Check it out, friends. And, as always, comment below, please. Thanks! Ingat. POEM-A-DAY 2013 • Pick a day in April: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Day Eight ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day

Day Eight ... start of a new NaPoWriMo week. And also Easter week. Happy Easter to everyone for whom this day is special! Today, Maureen Thorson prompts us to "Go outside. That's about it. Take a walk, on this lovely Sunday. Or a drive. (Or if it's not lovely where you are at all, maybe just remember your last good walk or drive)." Catherine's poem for Day Eight follows Maureen's lead. You Being the Moon and I Being a Poet Shining through the bamboo shade covering my bedroom window, you are stark and sure of your place, full in the April sky, asserting yourself onto the wall beside my desk as if to remind me I should be inspired to write about you.     But I am only reminded of a night you weren’t so bright and crisp, when I crossed blurred lines, slowly making my way to the car, so distracted by sibilant confession, I was driving before I noticed you hanging above me like a peach, fuzzy edges glowing pink and yellow, the colors of promise and love. —Draft by Catherine Pritchard Childress     [do not copy or quote ... thanks] Robert Lee Brewer suggests we "write a rejected poem. [One] that work[s] the idea of rejection into the poem somehow. This could take the form of a poet lamenting rejection, though also a rejected friend or student or whatever." My poem for Day Eight responds to this prompt. Sorting Through Discards Behind Goodwill Plastic picture of Jesus with eyes that follow you, a tear painted below the outside corner of each eye, gang tattoo-style, with Wite-Out. Cracked mirror, with a fancy beveled edge, chipped. Thick sweater with black and white moose outlines. Pair of pointy, 1960s Beatle boots, black — the left with its Cuban heel broken off. Yellow-stained baby crib mattress. Princess phone in pink, rotary-dial, with no earpiece. Electric blue Schwinn 5-speed bike from the 1950s, no brakes, twisted back wheel. Small 1970s tabletop TV in wood veneer, no knobs, broken antenna. Plastic kids' toy guitar, emblazoned with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans's smiling faces, only the G string left. Large He-Man action figure — the left lower leg removed, its knee replaced with a Skeletor head. Empty shell of a 1980s Mac computer — watermark across the screen plus a faint fishy smell. Stack of thirteen 8-track tapes in red, black and blue: Carole King, Elvis, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. Barry Manilow CD case, the CD inside badly scratched. Cardboard-backed print of Manet's painting Luncheon on the Grass — on the back someone had written in red "From the first Salon des Refusés." Tarnished copper PlanetX token — on the back side: A PLACE THIS MUCH FUN DESERVES ITS OWN PLANET. —Draft by Vince Gotera     [do not copy or quote ... thanks] I'm glad of the opportunity here to present a list poem. I've been suggesting to my poetry students at the University of Northern Iowa that they try a list poem, but I haven't been able to find suitable examples online. I hope this poem will inspire my students to try the form. Okay, eight days, eight poems apiece. All is well. Hope you're cruising around the blogosphere taking in the sights: the Poem-a-Day work all over the place. Starting a new thing . . . I'll feature a NaPoWriMo website or blog each day from here on out. For my first shout-out, check out J. I. Kleinberg's NaPoWriMo work in chocolate is a verb. Wonderful visual found poems. Take a look around the blog also, beyond the NaPoWriMo stuff, the various categories: colors, flavors, frolics, and so on. Such fun! Have a wonderful week, all. Please leave us a comment below — we would love to hear what you think about our poems, today and so far. See you around here on Day Nine? Ingat. POEM-A-DAY 2012 • Pick a day in April: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30