Fragment Friday - The Poetry Edition

Where the weaving was at the start...

1.  I jumped in and am doing the Poem A Day thing for April. I figured it's good to keep my hand in on creating something new every day. And I can always happily spend the month or two after editing.

2.  I confess a recent fascination with anaphora. There is something about applied repetition in poems that gives them an almost religious feel. Or maybe it's the shape of the poem I want to write that steers me to anaphora. Have you used it in poems? What's been your experience?

3.  Poetry books I depend on to help me along with Poem A Day.
Diane Lockward's The Crafty Poet.
Steve Kowit's  In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop
Wingbeats: Exercises & Practice in Poetry by Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen, editors.
Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse by Mary Oliver
The Art of the Poetic Line by James Longenbach
The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems by Frances Mayes

4.  I used to have a title first, then write the poem. Now I've done a 180 and write the poem, then search for the perfect title. It seems more natural that way. I find myself disliking prompts that want you to write a poem to random title. What a difference a few years makes.

5.  It's surprising to find there is still a strong resistance to free verse among poets. I suppose it will take another 60 years or so for it to become commonplace. I grew up on rhyming poetry and it has its place, but let's cut free verse some slack. And prose poetry, too, while you're at it. They are all valid poetic forms. Read all, embrace all. And that's the end of my sermon.

and here it is at the end. Springy colors for April.

April Poem A Day Final Musings

Day 24 – The prompts for this Two for Tuesday were to write a love poem and/or write an anti-love poem. I chose to go with love poem and wrote a two stanza compare and contrast on the way we spend our weekends. Day 25 – write about a sport – and of course I picked baseball. I wrote about the feel of getting a hit and rounding the bases to home. Day 26 prompt  was to write an animal poem. I wrote about the dogs and their reactions as I leave their world.

Day 27 – today’s prompt was to take the phrase “The Trouble Is (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of the poem, and then, write the poem.  I first wrote a poem titled “The Trouble Is You” and then wrote one about a shuttle launch titled “The Trouble Is With The Ignition Switch”. Day 28’s prompt was to write a problem poem. I wrote about a math problem, or the problem with solving math problems. Day 29 - For today’s prompt, take a favorite line or image from an earlier poem this month and re-work it into a new poem. I took a line from my very first poem back on Day 1 and wrote a long new poem about sitting on my front porch step and watching the world go by. Day 30 - write a fade away poem. I had to work the Cheshire cat into this poem, even though it’s about a relationship.

For April I managed to write 35 poems based on the prompts, and out of those 35 I probably have 7-9 that I like enough to tackle revising right away. There are a few others that will benefit from revision, or at least have a good line or two in them to rework from. I’m pleased I managed to get through the month writing a poem every day, sometimes two. Now I will revise, revisit, and rework what I have, and hopefully keep writing. So how did your April Poetry Month finish up?


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Poem A Day Musings

Poetic Asides Poem A Day Challenge for April - Day 7's prompt was to write a poem about people interacting without speaking. That was easy for me, I grew up that way, watching for those non-verbal cues to interactions. This one was about watching John Wayne movies with my father. Day 8 was to write a rejected poem. Again I delved into childhood and wrote about bringing home that report card - you know the one, all As except for that nagging B in math. Day 9's prompt was to write a shady poem. Yes my mind went to trees, but to a certain tree, the one I used to climb up into and read books under the shade of it's leafy branches.

Day 10 - This was a Two for Tuesday prompt, write a forest or a tree poem. Since I had just written a tree poem (sorta) the day before, I opted for a forest poem and wrote about hiking in the forest and the sights and sounds. Day 11's prompt was to pick a season (any season) and make it the title of your poem. I chose to write about "The Gloaming Season". Day 12's prompt was to take the phrase “Something (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. I chose "Something Heavenly" and wrote about the night sky. Since Day 13's prompt is "Unlucky", I wrote about an unlucky day that was really a lucky day in disguise. Then I started another poem about having a black cat. Unlucky? Well, not necessarily.

Day 14's prompt was to write a doomsday poem. This prompt didn't yank my poetry chain. I struggled to find any inspiration and finally got something down. If I thought that was bad, Day 15's prompt left me colt. - use the following five words in your poem: slash, button, mask, strap, and balloon. Use them in any order. I wrote something. That's all I'm going to say about that. Day 16. Write a mixed up poem. That I could do. Which brings us to Day 17, a Two for Tuesday prompt. The prompts were 1. Write a science fiction poem.  2. Write a fantasy poem. Right up my alley. I wrote a sci fi poem about the last people on the planet, then wrote a fantasy poem about dragons. Which brings us up to date.

How is your Poem A Day writing going?


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April Poem A Day Challenge Days 2-5

I've been poeming along with Poetic Asides April Poem A Day Challenge. Day 2 was a visitor poem, which I folded into the theme I've been working with. It needs expansion, but the nugget is there. Day 3 was a Two for Tuesday challange, writing an apology poem or an unapologetic poem. I managed to write two poems, the first was an apology poem that wasn't at all apologetic, the second was an unabashedly unapologetic poem. It was so unapologetic it startled me. It also ends rather abruptly, but I kind of like that.

Day 4's prompt was one of the type I hate - fill in the blank title poems. This one was 100%_______. I swung back around to my family theme and wrote about 100% Childhood. Hate the title, it's merely descriptive, and the poem was more about my brief fling being a penpal as a child. It was a longer poem, though, over 40 lines. Will probably come back and revisit that one for a new title and some further description of what my nine year old self wrote to an unknown nine year old 'friend'. Day 5 the prompt was to "write a poem about something before your time". I used a picture of my Dad from when he was in the Army as a jumping off point, comparing his version of being in the military to mine. It's another long poem that's going to benefit from revision. Heck, they all will benefit from revision, although one of the poems I wrote for Day One flowed out so nicely that revision will have to be a careful pruning rather than the weed whacking some other poems need.

How is your poeming going?


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April Poem A Day Challenge Day 1

Day One of the April Poem A Day Challenge over at PoeticAsides.

I plunged right in to the challenge, which was to write a poem about communication. This was a great prompt. Just think of all the ways you can tackle the prompt. I am working on writing my poems to a particular theme, so I wrote that one first, then found a first line for another poem and went from there. This poem hangs together nicely, and is a little less obvious on the communication part as the first poem.

But still, the idea of communication was what triggered the poem, so all is good. Even if the poem ended up not being about communication, that would be fine. The object is to get poems written. I know there will be prompts that don't float my boat as the days go on. Hopefully I can push through and get a poem out of the day anyhow. I've managed to make all 30 days of the challenge before, so I have hopes that I can do it this time. Getting two poems out of one prompt is always encouraging. I think I will post this and go for three – or at least try adding a haiku or a tanka to my daily dose of poetry. 

How about you? How was Day One of your poetry challenge?


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 30

The final Poetic Asides Challenge prompt for the month:

For today's prompt, write a lessons learned poem. If you've been writing to a certain theme, this poem might take a moment to step back and reflect on the BIG PICTURE. If you're like me and couldn't quite stick to one theme throughout the month, then this poem might be about real lessons learned (either this month or during your entire lifetime). Or you might just write a poem about going to school. Or to work. Or this blog. Or something else.

By the way, this is a "Two for Tuesday" prompt, so the opposing prompt would be to write a poem in which someone or something doesn't learn their lesson. Or how they're unable or unwilling to learn their lesson.

My poem was a lessons learned poem, a dialogue with myself on psychology and human nature that comes to the conclusion that we really haven’t come as far as we think we have. I’m already thinking of how to revise it later on, to expand on the ways psychology and human nature clash. It could devolve into a poem on what’s normal, from the psychology side, and from the ordinary person side.

So in it’s own way the poem covers both of the prompts, lessons learned, and lessons we haven’t learned yet. Of course, that’s my way of cheating. I really should write a lessons not learned poem that stands on its own. I might yet on the revisit/editing sessions in December.

Three haiku, one of which could relate to the prompt, and one tanka. The tanka could be a lesson not learned, because I manage to do the same thing over and over again, despite every sign of impending doom. Maybe it should be a lesson relearned?


11/30 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 3
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 46
Haiku - 38
Tanka - 56


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 29

The next to last Poetic Asides prompt:

For today's prompt, write a next steps poem. This might be a good opportunity to try writing a list poem. Or it might be a good time to write about your future plans. It might even be a good chance for you to write about spiral staircases. Who knows?

I wasn’t sure how to approach this one and finally wrote two poems, both introspective in nature. The first was about how easy it is to trap yourself in your own little world (and the steps to getting out), the second was about taking baby steps on the road to enlightenment in a “I want it all I want it now” society.

I’m not happy with either poem, they are too introspective, too narrow in focus and too me centric. I need to approach editing with an eye towards finding the universal and connecting the reader. Of course, that will be the editing goal for all the poems written this month. It’s easy to write about Me, I, and Myself, much harder to put the situation in terms We can understand.

One method I’ve used to shake things up is to look at a poem, if written in first person, change it to third person, and on the rare occasion, second person. It forces you to think differently about word choice and meaning. Sometimes it’s easier to get to the gist of what you wanted to say. Sometimes the poem won’t work no matter what you do, and the kind thing is to pull it from life support – hopefully stealing the good line or two to rework into a different poem.

Two haiku on the prompt, and two tanka, one on the prompt, one on the weather.


11/29 TALLY
Poems - 2
Haiku - 2
Tanka - 2

To Date Total
Poems - 45
Haiku - 35
Tanka - 55


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 28

Sunday Poetic Asides:

For today's prompt, write a "what really happened" poem. Use a real event (or an event from a popular movie) and spin it in another direction. Or use an event described in one of your poems earlier this month and spin it in a new direction. Or refute something that was never even in question. Or just poem any way that you can, because we're almost to the finish line.

I really liked this prompt, lots of ways to go with it. I finally settled on a subject I've visited before but didn't do justice to the first time around. I wrote "Pandora's Side Of The Story". I think the woman got screwed over on the whole letting evil out of the box thing, since it was all a big con by Zeus in the first place. So I wrote a rather lengthy poem telling Pandora's take on things. Her side is a bit different, as you might imagine, especially her thoughts on what leaving hope in the box really meant.

I like this prompt enough that I think I will revisit it in other forms. I've played with the idea before, poems telling the woman's side of the story – Lot's wife among others. It makes you think a little more on how we accept certain ideas as presented without delving a little deeper.

One haiku on the spitty, windy, snowy weather, and a tanka on the cat. It's getting easier to write a haiku that I'm happy with. That alone has made daily writing worthwhile.


11/28 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 43
Haiku - 33
Tanka - 53



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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 27

From Poetic Asides:
For today's prompt, take the phrase "Blame the (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, use the new phrase as the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Some example titles might include: "Blame the rain," "Blame the loud-mouthed jerk in the row behind us," "Blame the ref," etc.

Another fill in the blank title prompt. I reacted with relative disinterest, although I managed to write a short poem – Blame The Future, where I blame all my present day problems on things that haven't happened yet. Because it's more fun to have a futuristic scapegoat than a present day one.

I must be getting used to title prompts, because I didn't have a great deal of trouble with this one. Or the habit of writing to the prompt has taken hold and I can tackle whatever comes. Or maybe I just got lucky today.

Only one haiku, and one tanka, both on the season we're experiencing at the moment. Hey, when you don't know what to write about, write about the weather.


11/27 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 42
Haiku - 32
Tanka - 52


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 26

Post Turkey Day Poetic Asides:

For today's prompt, write an "on the run" poem. You can decide who or what is on the run and what might be causing them to run. For myself, I had to link today's poem to my poem yesterday. But you can run in any direction you want.

The prompt didn't inspire me to any great heights. I blame the post Thanksgiving torpor. It didn't help that work was so slow I was actually excited to see a client walk through the door to break up the monotony. But I made myself buckle down and think "on the run".

The main image I got was that of the two Corgis running pell mell down the fence line as they try and keep up with the Retriever on one side of the Doberman on the other. For every graceful Dobie bound there are three furious Corgi strides. Somehow, the short-legged twosome manage to keep up. It's one hundred feet from one gate to the back fence, and the Corgis and neighbor dogs run it dozens of times a day. No wonder they are in such good shape. So my poem is about the pure joy of two Corgis 'on the run' up an down the fence line.

One haiku, and one tanka, neither on the topic, really. But that's okay, they are getting easier to write. I start with a mental image of the weather of the day and go from there. Sometimes it's a nature poem, sometimes it's something a bit more removed from that initial thought process. Weather, animals, the look of the sky all serve for jumping off points.


11/26 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 41
Haiku - 31
Tanka - 51


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 25

Thanksgiving Day from Poetic Asides:

For today's prompt, write an animal poem. Your poem can mention an animal in its title or somewhere in the body of the poem. The animal doesn't have to be the main focus of the poem, but your poem should mention an animal somewhere in it. For instance, my poem from yesterday would've counted, because it mentioned a blue jay. However, I've written a new poem for today (as you should too).

This was actually an easy prompt for me, I write a fair amount of animal poems anyhow. Of course I had to write the usual cat and dogs poem as in cats and dogs, living together.

Then my challenge to myself was to find another animal to write about. I usually do bird poems, and didn't want to wax poetic on the Thanksgiving turkey. Instead I picked a bison.

Living on the plains bison imagery is all around, and some days you can stand out on the prairie and imagine the passage of thousands of buffalo through the grass. I have bison jewelry, bison bones and a bit of bison fur to be spun into yarn. With bison tokens all around me, it seemed the logical choice for a poem.

Animal haiku poems come a bit easily also. The tanka one was a bit harder to bring to heel.

11/25 TALLY
Poems - 2
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 40
Haiku - 30
Tanka - 50


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 24

Here we are on Day 24 with the Poetic Asides prompt:

For today's prompt, write a spaces poem. Your poem could involve white space, outer space, inner space, a parking space, the space between one day and the next, or something other type of spacing. Allow yourself enough space to play around.

Another good prompt for wide open interpretation. I played around in one poem with the idea of silence being a space in between the noises, and how that space could be welcoming or intimidating, depending on your mindset.

For fun I tackled another poem about outer space, and how the distance from Earth to other places looks deceptive from where I'm standing. Here on Earth, being Earth-centric, or an Earth-O-Phile.

It was easier to write a haiku based on this prompt, same with a tanka. I'm getting better at condensing an idea down to haiku form, then expanding it slightly to be a tanka. You'd think it would be the other way around, squishing a poem down smaller and smaller, but it's not.

11/24 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 38
Haiku - 29
Tanka - 49


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 23

Hey, it's Tuesday, and from Poetic Asides--

For today's "Two for Tuesday" prompt, write one of the following (or both if you're an overachiever):
1.    Write a form poem. This poem can cover any subject you want, but it should be written using a poetic form. Could be haiku, sestina, triolet, shadorma, paradelle, or some other poetic form. (Click here to see a list of 35 poetic forms.)
2.    Write an anti-form poem. This poem doesn't have to follow a poetic form, but it should communicate the poet's distaste for poetic forms.

I’m not anti-form at all, so option two didn’t interest me at first. Considering I’ve been writing a haiku and tanka a day along with the poetry prompt of the day, I felt like it would be cheating to do a haiku or tanka. I decided one form I wanted to do more with was a haibun. I’ve played around with a haibun or two, not with as much enthusiasm as I have with haiku and tanka. I would do a renga, but alas, I have no one to tag team with on such short notice.

Other forms I considered are an elegy, a kyrielle, and a villanelle. I usually like a trip down Form Road, because it forces me to think in terms I wouldn’t normally use. Always good for shaking up poetic lethargy.

So I ended up doing a haibun, than an elegy of sorts, and then another poem that has nothing to do with the prompt but followed on the heels of the elegy. I may revisit the prompt later and try a villanelle when I feel more like repeating myself.

One haiku and two tanka later...

11/23 TALLY
Poems - 3
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 2

To Date Total
Poems - 37
Haiku - 28
Tanka - 48


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 22

The Poetic Asides Prompt:

No, really, the prompt today is to write a poem that takes a stand. This could be a political stand, religious stand, personal stand, or I guess a poem about the ability to stand--or setting up a stand (think vegetable stand or newspaper stand, etc.). Whatever your thing, be sure to take a poetic stand today.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about “take a stand” is resistance, rebellion, and downright stubbornness. At least that’s the way MY mind works. But what to rebel against? So many things. If I weren’t on a time crunch to get these prompt ramblings posted, I’d entertain ideas from our studio audience.

I really should know better than to try and force the prompt into my underlying themes. Mostly, the poem rebels and goes where it wants to with the prompt. But lately… the poems have been self-subjecting to the usual themes.

I got one poem that talked about how I see myself from the outside as opposed to how I know myself to really be. The two selves should really get together and have coffee sometime, but that didn’t happen in this poem, although self one came to a grudging realization that all was not happy in self two’s world.

Poem two took a stand against medications that are supposed to help you get better, but really just suck you into being dependent on them. My rebellion poem that ended up being more plaintive than rabble rousing.

Three haiku and one tanka, all on the recent snowfall we’ve had.

11/22 TALLY
Poems - 2
Haiku - 3
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 34
Haiku - 27
Tanka - 46


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 21

Sunday and Poetic Asides:

The prompt for today is to write a permission poem. You don't need my (or anyone else's) permission to write your poem today, but it should somehow involve the concept of giving, refusing, asking, etc. permission.

Another broad prompt that's intriguing in all the ways you can approach the topic of permission.
I jumped right in with a poem about giving myself permission to be myself—harder than you might think.

I wrote a second poem on the same topic but with a different slant, a Sunday-Come-To-Meeting talk with myself on not taking myself so seriously. Those were the poems that gave permission.

Next came a poem that refused permission. It didn't even ask before it went ahead and did exactly what it wanted to do. Of course, in the end, the poem got a bit anxious, and did what it professed it wasn't going to do. Ask someone else's opinion about what needed to be done. Pesky poems.

Three tanka and two haiku, one tanka on the prompt that I actually like better than the poems I wrote for the prompt. Somehow, summing up the prompt in the five lines of the tanka made it more immediate than the twelve line poems. That's the beauty of Japanese short forms. they force you to discard everything but the essentials.


11/21 TALLY
Poems - 3
Haiku - 2
Tanka - 3

To Date Total
Poems - 32
Haiku - 24
Tanka - 45

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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 20

Poetic Asides prompt for the day:

For today's prompt, write a "what's wrong or right" poem. As with any of these prompts, there are many ways to come at this one. However, since I'm in a hurry to hit the road, my mind is completely blanking on all of them. So, whether it's right or wrong--wrong or right--I'm just gonna get down to poeming. Have a great unsupervised day!

Another wide open prompt, which is both good and bad. The good is it leaves itself open to a wide variety of possibilities. The bad – a wide variety of possibilities. When faced with so much choice my brain tends to leap from idea to idea, never pausing long enough to develop any poem ideas.

One way to tackle it was to look at "what's wrong/right with ____?" and then filling in the blank and answering the question. Another way to approach the prompt would be to describe the flip sides of something, as "what's right/wrong about ______?"

Of course I did neither of those things, and instead approached the prompt as a success/failure ratio, where all my rights and wrongs get added up with a rather unexpected result.

One haiku and one tanka, neither on the prompt, but both on the weather. Again. 

11/20 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 29
Haiku - 22
Tanka - 42



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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 19

Friday. Poetic Asides:

For today's prompt, write a poem with a hole in it. The hole could be referenced in the poem, which could be about subjects such as hitting a golf ball in the hole, punching a hole in the wall, or even visiting a hole in the wall bar. Of course, with everyone flexing their concrete poetry skills lately, I'm sure at least a few poets might take a stab at writing a poem with an actual hole in the middle (maybe a doughnut-shaped poem?). Another possibility is to write a poem with a hole in its logic, but I'm sure you can find any number of loop-holes for attacking this prompt.

Another good prompt that was hard to wrap my head around at first. I know what I wanted to say, it was just finding the right way to say it. I made a false start that has a good line or two in it – another .5 poem that will need surgery as well as revision.

I had to run through the various types of hole and come up with the over done hole in the heart. That was my aborted attempt to say something new on the topic. I may still be able to pull it off, but not right now.

My second poem ricocheted off the idea of a hole in the universe, which, like the movies, zoomed in and became a bit more personal. I wrote on what it was like to be the hole in the middle of everything. And nothing.

The poems come a bit easier when I don't try and outthink them, or try and outwit the prompt. If I just relax and go with the ideas that come to mind readily, things go much smoother. Hopefully I can carry that method forward after November is done.

One haiku and one tanka, neither on the prompt directly – maybe covertly.

11/19 TALLY
Poems - 1.5
Haiku - 1
Tanka - 1

To Date Total
Poems - 28
Haiku - 21
Tanka - 41



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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 18

Today’s public service message from Poetic Asides:

For today's prompt, write a lost & found poem. I suppose you could focus on either what's lost or what's found--or both. Or you could focus on how things change after something lost. Or after something is found. Or...I'm starting to lose my train of thought. I'm sure you've probably got the idea.

For some reason opposites always flummox me, at first. My mind naturally ping pongs from one extreme to the other so prompts like this should be right up my alley. I just have to give free rein to myself to consider everything on the spectrum, from lost all the way through found and beyond.

My poem for this prompt ended up being a see-saw, describing a rather noise filled mental state and lost marbles that eventually find themselves. A bit weirder and more metaphoric than usual, but half the fun of doing these prompts is allowing myself to explore other avenues of poem writing. I’ve discovered that no matter how hard I try, my poems always contain some underlying themes and ideas, so now I’ve learned to relax and let it happen.

I've also learned to not rush the ending. Some poems end rather abruptly it seems to me, but on a later reading, it seems they end in just the right spot. Of course, time and editing will tell.

A few haiku today, and a tanka or two.

11/18 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 2
Tanka - 2

To Date Total
Poems - 26.5
Haiku - 24
Tanka - 40

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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 17

It's Wednesday, and time for another Poetic Asides prompt:

For today's prompt, take the phrase "Tell me why (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Possible titles could include: "Tell me why 1+1=2," "Tell me why I'm wrong," "Tell me why my hand always gets stuck in the Pringle's container," etc. Get silly; get serious; get poeming!

Ah, the dreaded fill in the blank title poem prompt. I'm a little more okay with it than I was previously, although I did have to ponder a while on the phrase.

I thought of going with the phrase as is – Tell Me Why – and then moved on to variations on the Tell Me Why this or that until I stumbled across Tell Me Why You Love Me. At first I rejected it but my mind kept circling back, so I wrote a poem for that title. As Robert was saying in his lead up to the prompt, sometimes themes emerge slowly.

It was slow in emerging, because who am I to demand you tell me why you love me was my reasoning. I stayed with it and the poem that came about dealt with reasons and insecurities over why the narrator would ask this question.

Is it a love poem? Well, sort of. Like all my love poems, it's a bit prickly, like a balled up hedgehog. Does it answer the demand the title posed? Not in so many words, but that's okay too. 

There were two haiku and two tanka that could relate to the prompt, depends on how far you want to stretch your definition of Tell Me Why.


11/17 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 2
Tanka - 2

To Date Total
Poems - 25.5
Haiku - 22
Tanka - 38


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November 2010 Poem A Day Challenge - Day 16

Tuesday again! Already! Here is the prompt for the day from Poetic Asides:

It's a two-for-Tuesday prompt today. Here are the prompts:
1.    Write a stacking poem. The poem could be about stacking objects. Or it could be about stacking ideas, stacking the deck, stacking the odds against something happening, etc.
2.    Write an unstacking poem. Just the opposite of the first prompt. Unstack objects or tear down the obstacles stacked in your way, etc.

As usual, the Tuesday prompts are opposites. Which is good in a way, because either my poems format themselves neatly along those lines, or they contain both parts of the prompt in one poem.

My mind did the usual run through of the prompt and came up with stacking hay bales (but, alas I have no horses), stacking dominos, stacking bricks and pancake stacks. Unstacking became tossing hay bales off the pile, computer programs, and untangling skeins of yarn. Hey, I never said my thought process was logical.

Somehow I ended up with the image of stacking plates on poles and trying to balance the whole spinning mess and the resulting chaos. There are pieces of what I want to say in the poem, but it isn’t as clear as it could be. I know some time away before revision will help a lot with focus and ‘unstacking’ the meaning hidden within.

Two haiku and three tanka today, loosely related to the prompt.


11/16 TALLY
Poems - 1
Haiku - 2
Tanka - 3

To Date Total
Poems - 24.5
Haiku - 20
Tanka - 36



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