For today’s prompt, write a persona poem. A persona poem is when you write in the voice of another person, real or imaginary. So maybe a sonnet in the voice of Mickey Mouse, or a stance narrated by the Wright Brothers (yes, both of them), or a haiku from the perspective of Amelia Earhart. And yes, inanimate objects are fair game too (if you want to craft some free verse in the voice of a toothbrush). Have at it!
——————————————————————————————————
Hay(na)ku is a very simple poetic form, and it’s also one of the newest. It was apparently created in 2003 by poet Eileen Tabios.
Hay(na)ku is a 3-line poem with one word in the first line, two words in the second, and three in the third. There are no restrictions beyond this.
A really basic example:
Boys
chase girls
on the playground.
There are already some variations of this new poetic form. For instance, a reverse hay(na)ku has lines of three, two, and one word(s) for lines one, two, and three, respectively. Also, multiple hay(na)ku can be chained together to form longer poems.
PSH April 19, 2025
Really, Whom Am I, really ?
Really, whom am I, really?
Everyone knows who we are
Lies we tell ourselves
Lies that define us
All that we are
This poetry writing prompt submitted by Ellen Sander:
Spell your surname backwards
Line the letters up vertically
Write a poem in which each line starts with a word that begins with the letter on each line.
So ya wanna dump out yo’ trick bag
Ease on in a hip thang
But you ain’t exactly sure what is hip
So you started to let your hair grow
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe
Somehow, ya know there’s much more to the trip
[Chorus]
What is hip?
Tell me, tell me, if you think you know
What is hip?
If you’re hip
The question, “Will it show?”
You’re into a hip trip
Maybe hipper than hip
What is hip?
[Verse 2]
You became a part of a new breed
Been smoking’ only the best weed
Hangin’ out with the so-called “Hippie set.”
Seen in all the right places
Seen with just the right faces
You should be satisfied, but it ain’t quite right
[Chorus]
What is hip?
Tell me, tell me, if you think you know
What is hip?
If you’re hip
The question, “Will it show?”
You’re into a hip trip
Maybe hipper than hip
What is hip?
[Break]
Come on
[Refrain]
Hipness is. What it is
Hipness is. What it is
Hipness is. What it is
Sometimes hipness is, what it ain’t
Note: you probably have guessed my favorite band by now….
Happy Saturday, everyone. We hope you’re ready to write some poems!
Today’s featured participant is Sara Hardy, who took me back to my 1980s childhood with her driving-and -singing poem for Day Eighteen.
Our resource for the day is a bit goofy. It’s the Gallery of Strange Museums. Some of the museums here don’t strike me as all that strange – more very local or specific. But the Wingnut Museum is definitely a bit odd, as is the World’s Largest Spool of Thread (less a museum than a roadside attraction), while the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum is a testament to the fact that people can – and do – make their own fun.
And now for our daily prompt – optional as always. This one is inspired by Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s poem “Song.”
The word “tragedy” comes from the Greek for “goat song.” The song in Kelly’s poem is quite literally a goat song. The poem also describes a tragedy, both in the modern sense of an awful event, and the ancient dramatic sense of a play in which someone does something terrible, and the play’s action shows the consequences.
The poem has a timeless, could-have-happened-anywhere/any when quality that I associate with blues and folk ballads – including murder ballads (a subgenre of song dealing with a gruesome crime, first arising from broadsheet ballads sold at English executions, and which later came to America in forms like “The Knoxville Girl” and then morphed their way into country music).
Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem that tells a story in the style of a blues song or ballad. One way into this prompt may be to use it to retell a family tragedy or story, or to retell a crime or tragic event that occurred in your hometown.
What with time’s way of time marching inexorably on, we suppose it was inevitable. We’ve come to the 2/3-way point of Na/GloPoWriMo.
Our featured participant today is Anna Endom, whose tragedy/ballad poem for Day Nineteen is less tragic (thankfully) than it could be.
A dark theme keeps me here,
Though summer blazes in the vireo’s eye.
Who would be half possessed
By his own nakedness?
Waking’s my care–
I’ll make a broken music, or I’ll die.
2
Ye littles, lie more close!
Make me, O Lord, a last, a simple thing
Time cannot overwhelm.
Once I transcended time:
A bud broke to a rose,
And I rose from a last diminishing.
3
I look down the far light
And I behold the dark side of a tree
Far down a billowing plain,
And when I look again,
It’s lost upon the night–
Night I embrace, a dear proximity.
4
I stand by a low fire
Counting the wisps of flame, and I watch how
Light shifts upon the wall.
I bid stillness be still.
I see, in evening air,
How slowly dark comes down on what we do.
So, let’s face it: this poem is weird. The rhythm is odd, the rhymes are too, and the language is strangely prophetic and not at all “conversational.” Despite – or maybe because – of this, it has a hypnotic quality, as if it were all inevitable. Your challenge is, with this poem in mind, to write a poem informed by musical phrasing or melody, which employs some form of sound play (rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration). One way to approach this is to think of a song you know and then basically write new lyrics that fit the original song’s rhythm/phrasing.
2025 April PAD Challenge: Day 20
Rest Poem
Today I need to take a rest
Today I need to take a rest
I am just getting so tired
Of watching the constant chaos
Every time I turn on the news.
——————————————————————————–
I need to scream, enough, no más! *
Today I need to take a rest
Watching the news gives me the blues
I have to turn off the damn news.
————————————————————————————
There’s just too much bad news and gloom
Too many talking heads spinning lies
Today I need to take a rest
They keep telling alternative facts.
I must tune out, turning it all off
—————————————————————————————-
I sit down and do my yoga
Listening to sweet chill music
Today I need to take a rest.
*Spanish for more “no mas” is a common expression meaning no more, or even we are out of something
Today, I tried my hand at a new (to me) French poetic form named the quatern that incorporates a refrain like in the villanelle and eight-syllable lines like in the kyrielle. Since I’m a big fan of refrains, I think this poetic form rocks.
Quatern Poetic Form Rules
This poem has 16 lines broken up into 4 quatrains (or 4-line stanzas).
Each line is comprised of eight syllables.
The first line is the refrain. In the second stanza, the refrain appears in the second line; in the third stanza, the third line; in the fourth stanza, the fourth (and final) line.
There are no rules for rhyming or iambics.
PSH April 20, 2025
I knew it was time to go.
I knew it was time to go.
I saw the writing on the wall.
I could see there would be a fall.
Things would soon come to a great blow.
Saw that soon there would be madness.
The country may not grow.
had to go before the sideshow.
I knew it was time to go.
Note I retired from government before Trump 1.0, Trump 2.0 is far worse in my opinion.
The Octavin Refrain is an invented form by Luke Prater.
This poetry writing prompt was submitted by Diane Barker:
Time to pull the plug. Write about knowing when to walk away, changing direction or coming to terms with a hard decision. It can be literal or figurative.
Trochaic tetrameter also acceptable. The latter yields a more propulsive rhythm, as opposed to iambs, which tend to lilt.
As the name suggests, the first line is a refrain, repeated as the last (some variation of refrain acceptable).
Rhyme-scheme options as follows –
option 1 – Abb ac aaba
option 2 – Abb aca ba
option 3 – (A bbba cab A)
option 4 – (Abb aca ba Abb aca ba) (high octane)
April 21
Time to pull the plug. Write about knowing when to walk away, changing direction or coming to terms with a hard decision. It can be literal or figurative.
Dew Drop Inn
April 20—Easter eggs (hide something delightful in your poem!)
Ricciardone. Irish quatrain form with 5 syllables in first line, 6 in the others.
Quatrain (or four-line stanza) form
Five syllables in the first line; six syllables in the other three lines
Each line ends with a two-syllable word
Lines two and four rhyme
All end words consonate
Comments:
“Govbot” is a pejorative term quite popular on the right, dating back to the Clinton era, to refer to government workers who are seen as slow-witted drones who could not make it in the free market, which is why they were “govbots” (short for government robots).
The DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency, which the President tasked to root out fraud, waste, and abuse and cut the Federal government’s budget and staff by 50 percent in the process, shutting down agencies, moving many out of DC, etc. The team led by Elon Musk lacks any clear mandate but has acted quickly, causing lots of turmoil, anguish, and litigation by Govbots and others who are opposed to their attempt to slash and burn the government, or to quote Elon Musk, “ take a chainsaw to the Federal government.” This is not just my biased opinion, it is shared widely in the US, where there are massive protests daily against the destruction of the Federal Government, the ending of DEI programs, the shredding of civil liberties, and mass deportations without due process. End my editorial opinion, sorry for the rant.
End comments
Happy Monday, all, and a very happy twenty-first day of Na/GloPoWriMo.
Today, our featured participant is ray, whose Roethke-inspired poem for Day Twenty has an irresistible and friendly rhythm.
And now here’s our daily (optional) prompt. Sawako Nakayas u’s poem “Improvisational Score” is a rather surreal prose poem describing an imaginary musical piece that proceeds in a very unmusical way. Today, try your hand at writing your own poem in which something that normally unfolds in a set and well understood way — like a baseball game or dance recital – goes haywire, but is described as if it is all very normal.
This performance may take place over any duration of time, from zero seconds to many years.
A number of insects are placed in a clear container so that they are as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances. They are given oxygen and food and water, though they may not escape. The container of insects is placed on stage and a light is directed through the container and projected onto a large screen so that the audience may see the insects.
Each musician chooses an insect and plays accordingly.
If two insects begin fighting, the corresponding musicians should also fight, musically or literally.
If an insect dies, the corresponding musician should also die, musically or literally.
“Improvisational Score” from The Ants (Les Figures Press, 2014). Reprinted with the permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Very John Cagian! One of his more infamous pieces was a piano piece 4′33″ (1952) where the pianist mocked playing the piano silently for seven minutes, the music was the audience’s reaction.
For those who don’t know about John Cage, here is a Co-Pilot Bio and a bio for Sawka Nakayas as well.
John Cage
john Cage
John Cage (1912–1992) was an American avant-garde composer and music theorist known for his pioneering work in indeterminacy, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments. His influence on 20th-century music was profound, challenging traditional notions of composition and performance. Cage was deeply inspired by Zen Buddhism and Eastern philosophies, which led him to embrace chance operations in his compositions.
Notable Works
4′33″ (1952) – A silent composition where the ambient sounds of the environment become the music.
Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48) – A cycle of pieces for prepared piano.
Music of Changes (1951) – A work composed using the I Ching.
Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957–58) – A highly indeterminate composition.
Oratorio (1979) – A piece inspired by James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.
Sawako Nakayas is a Japanese-American poet, translator, and performer whose work explores language, performance, and translation. She has lived in Japan, the U.S., France, and China, and her poetry often engages with transnational themes.
Notable Works
Pink Waves (2022)
Some Girls Walk Into the Country They Are From (2020)
Hurry Home Honey (2009)
Texture Notes (2010)
The Ants (2014)
Mouth: Eats Color – A multilingual work blending original and translated poetry.
Nakayas has also translated works by Japanese poets such as Chika Sagawa and Tatsumi Hijikata, contributing significantly to cross-cultural literary exchange.
2025 April PAD Challenge: Day 21
The Day Of My Jogging Accident
Begin Poem
That morning I went for a run.
Fell down a path in the dark.
The run ended as a short run.
That fateful morning was pitch-dark.
14 operations – no fun!
end poem
prompt
We’re now three weeks deep in this challenge; way to bring it. Let’s finish strong!
For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Day,” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles might include: “Opposite Day,” “Green Day,” “Earth Day,” “The Last Ever Day,” and/or “The Day Before Yesterday.” Even “Holiday” would work honestly.
Criteria
The Quintilla is a Spanish poetic form that, as you may have guessed from the name, uses five-line stanzas. Here are the guidelines:
Five-line stanzas.
Eight syllables per line.
An ab rhyme scheme in which at least two lines use the “a” rhyme and at least two lines use the “b” rhyme…
But the stanza cannot end with a rhyming couplet.
Based on a true jogging accident, in 1996 I fell down a ladder in the dark, endured 14 operations over nine months, almost lost my leg and life as I developed an MDR staph infection that almost killed me. Fortunately, since was wife was a military officer and I worked for the State Department, I was covered under military health care, they took good care of me while the State Department was not at all sympathetic, and I did not have to battle insurance companies.
PSH April 21, 2025
Burma Shave Signs from the Past
For many years
From the 1920s to the early 70s
Burma Shave
It was shaving cream
Company
Sadly, it went out
Business
Decades ago
The Burma Shave
Advertisements
Often humorous
Or a traffic safety message
Burma Shave signs
Were a feature
Of the American rural landscape
The classic Burma Shave sign
It was a cowboy poetry
rhyming poem
ending with a tag line
“Burma Shave”
The modern interstate highway system
Banned them
As too distracting
To motorists
Perhaps they were
But they were still
An interesting bit
Of American poetic wit
And wisdom
Just a few
I remember
From road trips
In the late 60s
Before they faded away
Into American history
“Pricky Pears
Prickly pears
Are picked
For pickles
No peach picks
A face that prickles
Burma Shave”
“Substitutes
Substitutes
Resemble
Tail-chasing pup
Follow and follow
But never catch up
Burma Shave”
Co-Pilot provided background info
The Burma-Shave ads were a clever and iconic advertising campaign for a brushless shaving cream introduced in 1925 by the Burma-Vita company. These ads became a staple of American highways from 1926 to 1963. The campaign featured a series of small, sequential roadside signs, each displaying a line of a humorous or rhyming poem, with the final sign always bearing the brand name, “Burma-Shave.” The signs were designed to entertain drivers and passengers during long road trips, making them a beloved part of the driving experience.
The campaign’s popularity peaked in the 1930s and 1940s, with over 7,000 sets of signs across the United States. However, the rise of the Interstate Highway System and faster vehicle speeds in the late 1950s made the signs less effective, leading to their discontinuation in 1963.
note: you could still find them on backwater highways until the mid 70’s, they are all long gone now.
Prompt
THINGS YOU’D NEVER HEAR
–in a weather report
–over the announcement system at an airport
–as a public service announcement
–in a sermon
THINGS YOU’D NEVER READ
–in a romance novel
–in a science fiction book
–as a pamphlet in a doctor’s office
–on a get-well card
THINGS/PEOPLE YOU’D NEVER SEE
–at a yard sale
–on a sign at a protest rally
–on a menu
–on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list
*************************************************************************
Example–from Joe Kelty’s Poem: ROAD SIGNS WE NEVER SEE
NO TURN ON BLUE
SPEED LIMIT 46.24 MPH
PASS WITH ABANDON
WRONG RIGHT-OF-WAY
GO FOR IT
NEXT REST AREA 900 MILES. HOLD ON.
CRISSCROSS CENTER LINE
ROAD SLIPPERY WHEN PRESENT
FLOOR IT HERE TO CORNER
NOSEDIVE, 1 MILE
TAILGATING ZONE
MERGE OR BE SORRY
CAUTION: THREE-WAY TRAFFIC . . .
Dew Drop Inn
April 21—A country not your own
First Visit to Korea
In 1979
I first went to Korea
In those Peace Corps
After a long plane ride
My first international flight
I ended up in South Korea
At the old Gimpo airport
A chaotic crazy drive
Through Seoul
To the town of Chuncheon
Where we did our training course
For four months
First visit to another land
First foreign travel
To a strange land
Exotic people
Strange sounds and sights
And the smells of incense
And the food ah the food
korean feast jpg
But over time
Became my second home
45 years later
I returned to Korea
Ending up living
Next door to Gimpo airport
Where my journey began
45 years ago
Welcome back, everyone, for the twenty-second day of National/Global Poetry Writing Month.
Our featured participant today is Cutting Hail, who brings us not just one poem in response to Day 21’s “instructional” prompt, but three!
Today’s daily resource is the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence, Italy. If you are at all interested in Renaissance Italian masters, it’s the right place to get an eyeful of Titians, Caravaggio, Botticelli’s, Canaletto, and da Vincis.
And now for today’s optional prompt! Did you take music lessons as a child? Despite having all the musical talent of a dried-out lemon, I took two years of piano lessons. I was required to practice for half an hour a day and showed my disgruntlement by playing certain very annoying songs – like Turkey in the Straw – over and over, as loudly as possible. But while
I thought of the lessons as a kind of torture, I’m glad as an adult to have taken them – if only for the greater dexterity it gave to my hands!
In her poem, Thanking My Mother for Piano Lessons, Diane Wakoski’s is far more grateful than I ever managed to be, describing the act of playing as a “relief” from loneliness and worry, and as enlarging her life with something beautiful. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem about something you’ve done – whether it’s music lessons, or playing soccer, crocheting, or fishing, or learning how to change a tire – that gave you a similar kind of satisfaction, and perhaps still does.
2025 April PAD Challenge: Day 22
Please Tell Us The People The Truth Soledad
Please tell us the truth
Hey govbots, no more lies, no mas! *
We don’t need any more half-truth
*Spanish for no more can be politically as here or simply we are out of something or stop doing something quite a flexible wording
Govbots pejorative term for government workers among the right, dating back to the Clinton era, meaning government workers who are mindless drones following rules and procedures
On the 22nd day of the 2025 April Poem-A-Day Challenge, writers are challenged with the fourth Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month.
It’s time for the fourth (but not final) Two-for-Tuesday prompt:
Write a poem and/or…
Write a don’t tell me poem.
You get to decide what that means; you might even tell me in your poem.
The Soledad is a Spanish poetic form. It has the following guidelines:
Three-line poem (or stanzas).
Eight-syllable lines.
Rhyme scheme: aba.
Internal consonance and assonance.
PSH April 22, 2025
Reprograming My Mind
It is so easy
Watching the news
And following social media
To become outraged
Enraged and depressed
That is what they want
From us
Keeping us
From seeing
The beauty
The joy
And even happiness
That is still around us
Whenever I get too depressed
With constant doom-scrolling
I stop and think about
All the good things
In my life
And especially
How I met and married
The lady of my dreams
And day-to-day
Noise of the
perpetual outrage machine
The media has become
Fades away
Replaced by a sense
Of joy and yes
Even happiness
Which no one
can take away
From us
Reprogram your mind
Get rid of negativity
And concentrate
On the positive
And the things
You can do
To make this
A better world
So go forth
And find
Your inner joy
And happiness
Whatever form
That may take
Prompt provided, but I am skipping this one – too much of a headache to wrap my tired 69-year old brain around! Instead, I decided to write something positive for a welcome change to my otherwise gloomy poems
High above Sky City
near the Incheon airport
In South Korea.
I heard them
then saw them
Hideous black
Korean magpie
Krachi mocking birds.
Looking at me
Cackling at me
Laughing at me
Mocking me.
Calling me names
I asked
“Say birds,
What do you
Want from me?”
They laughed,
“Nothing
But your doom
human!”
And they flew
Around me
dive bombing me.
surrounding me
calling me names.
In Korean,
And English.
As I fled
The trail
With the demon birds
hot on my trail.
Note:
Korean magpies, sometimes called mockingbirds, are common in more rural areas, and they do often laugh as people walk by. Very eerie sound, and the birds are quite big. The above is based on a nightmare I had after a real encounter on a trail back in 2018, pre-COVID era, when I was living near the airport and often took long walks through the nearby hills.
Co-pilot background on Korean mockingbirds
Mockingbirds are not native to Korea, so there isn’t a specific Korean name for them. However, Korea is home to a rich variety of bird species, some of which mimic sounds like mockingbirds do. For example, the Eurasian magpie, known as “까치” (kka chí) in Korean, is a common bird that is admired for its intelligence and vocal abilities.
As for endangered species, South Korea has several bird species that are nationally protected due to their vulnerable status. You can find detailed lists of these species on resources like the Ministry of Environment’s website or the Birds Korea Checklist.
Happy Wednesday, everyone, and happy twenty-third day of National/Global Poetry Writing Month.
Today, our featured participant is Elizabeth Bouquet, who brings us a poem with a poem in it in response to Day Twenty-Two’s lessons-based prompt.
Our resource for the day is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum’s online image collection is practically endless, and to call it varied would be an understatement. There’s over 2,000 images just of baseball cards! To say nothing of candelabra featuring what appears to be a scandalized swan, a processional sword belonging to the guardsman of a sixteenth-century German duke, and a couch that I would very much like to fall upon in a melodramatic swoon.
And last but not least, here’s today’s (optional) prompt. Humans might be the only species to compose music, but we’re quite famously not the only ones to make it. Birdsong is all around us – even in cities, there are sparrows chirping, starlings making a racket. And it’s hardly surprising that birdsong has inspired poets. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem that focuses on birdsong. Need examples? Try A.E. Stallings’ “Blackbird Etude,” or for an old-school throwback, Shelley’s “To a Skylark.”
2025 April PAD Challenge: Day 23
Too Many Books
Have too many
Books
For me to read
Friends
I need to start decluttering
I own too many books and CDs to keep
My books
It is hard to say goodbye
To my friends
Love reading my old classics
So much I’ve learned from all my classic books
Each one, a friend through long years of my life
I’ll miss them
I can’t believe how fast we’re breezing through this month. One week of poeming after today!
For today’s prompt, write a poem book. Today is World Book Day, which may be one of my favorite holidays moving forward, because I love books. Your poem could be inspired by a book, an author, a character, a scene, and/or however you’d like to come to this one. Heck, write about a bookstore, library, card catalogue, or any other bookish thing you can imagine.
Criteria
You know Pi as the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. But Pi is also used as poetry form. I discovered a small explanation on the page of Jan Haag, who has written several poems in Pi form.
The Pi is built up in words and follows the mathematical number that stands for Pi:
PI = 3.141592653589793
In lines:
Pi Form
line 1: 3 words
line 2: 1 word
line 3: 4 words
line 4: 1 word
line 5: 5 words
line 6: 9 words
line 7: 2 words
line 8: 6 words
line 9: 5 words
line 10: 3 words
line 11: 5 words
line 12: 8 words
line 13: 9 words
line 14: 7 words
line 15: 9 words
line 16: 3 words.
Hey, once I was a boogie singer
Playing in a rock ‘n’ roll band
I never had any problems, yeah
Burning down the one-night stands
Then everything around me, yeah
It got to start feeling so low
And I decided quickly, yes, I did, heh
To disco down and check out the show
Yeah, they were dancing and singing
And moving to the grooving
And just when it hit me
Somebody turned around and shouted…
“Play that funky music, white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music, white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ’til you die” (heh, heh)
‘Til you die, yeah, uh
Here, here, ha
Well, I tried to understand this (yeah)
Heh, I thought that they were out of their minds
How could I be so foolish? How could I?
To not see I was the one behind?
So still I kept on fighting
Well, losing every step of the way (hey, what’d you do?)
I said, “I must go back there,” I got to go back
And check to see if things still the same
Yeah, they were dancing and singing
And moving to the grooving
And just when it hit me
Somebody turned around and shouted…
“Play that funky music, white boy (yeah)
Play that funky music right, oh
Play that funky music, white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ’til you die” (heh)
‘Til you die (yeah)
Oh, ’til you die
Gonna play some electrified funky music, yow
Ah, ha, ha
Hey, wait a minute, now first it wasn’t easy
Changing rock ‘n’ roll and minds
Yeah, things were getting shaky (yeah)
I thought I’d have to leave it behind, uh
Ooh, but now it’s so much better, it’s so much better
I’m funking out in every way
But I’ll never lose that feeling, no, I won’t
Of how I learned my lesson that day
When they were dancing and singing
And moving to the grooving
And just when it hit me
Somebody turned around and shouted
“Play that funky music, white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music, white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ’til you die” (heh)
‘Til you die (yeah)
Oh, ’til you die, yeah
Come on, let’s go!
(They shouted, “play that funky music”) play that funky music
(Play that funky music) you gotta keep on playing funky music
(Play that funky music) play that funky music
(Play that funky music) come on and take you higher
Play that funky music, white boy
Play that funky music right, yeah
Play that funky music, white boy
Play that funky music right, yeah
Play that funky music (white boy)
Play that funky music (right, yeah)
Play that funky music (honky)
Play that funky music (right, ha)
Play that funky…
Songwriters: Robert W. Parisi. For non-commercial use only.
Welcome back, everyone, to Day Twenty-Four of our annual poetry-writing challenge!
Our featured participant for the day is haphazard, whose birdsong poem for Day Twenty-Three places primacy on the “gaps in the music.”
Today’s daily resource is the Art Institute of Chicago, where just searching the collection for the word “stars,” I found this amazing quilt, a very fancy-looking Soviet plate, and an illustration of the constellation Leo from a medieval Arabic astronomical guide.
And now for today’s (optional) prompt. One fundamental aspect of music is its communal nature. While a single person can make music, of course, it’s often made in groups. Rock bands, orchestras, church choirs – they all involve making music together. And often, we’re playing or performing music that was written by, or inspired by, other people.
In her poem, Duet, Lisa Russ Spaar tells the story of two sisters making music together, based on two pre-existing songs by different artists. Today, we challenge you to write a poem that involves people making music together, and that references – with a lyric or line – a song or poem that is important to you.
PSH April 23, 2025 Poetry Writing Prompt from Franci Levine-Grater
Looking at my house filled with memories Kimo Poem
Look at an item, or a picture of an item, which is important or sentimental to you and write about memories and feelings it elicits. Do NOT describe the item. Rather, use it as an inspiration to access why it is sentimental to you.
3 lines
No rhymes.
10 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 6 in the third.
Also, the kimo is focused on a single frozen image (kind of like a snapshot). So it’s uncommon to have any movement happening in kimo poems.
With apologies for the delay (I’m traveling, and just plain fell asleep last night before updating today’s post!), today’s featured participant is Wren Jones, who brings us a flashback to Springsteen in response to Day Twenty-Four’s making-music-together prompt.
It’s a pleasure to browse through the images here. I particularly liked these anklets that aren’t just jewelry but a sort of personal piggy bank, this portrait of the fabulously mustachioed J.M. Curette, and this highly decorative flask, originally meant to hold gunpowder!
Finally, here is our optional prompt for the day. In her poem, Senzo, Evie Shockley recounts the experience of being at a live concert, relating it the act of writing poetry. Today we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that recounts an experience of your own hearing live music and tells how it moves you. It could be a Rolling Stones concert, your little sister’s middle school musical, or just someone whistling – it just needs to be something meaningful to you.
2025 April PAD Challenge: Day 24
O Dark Hundred Nightmares
Midnight
Insomnia takes hold of me
nightmares terrifying me
0 dark hundred
late nights
What if
What if nightmares take over
Replaying in my mind
What if what if
what if
Worries
Going down dark, twisted rabbit holes
Natural disasters
Fear of my death
The end
Comment:
Note: O Dark hundred hours is a military/intel slang phrase that refers to the hours just before dawn between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., depending on location and time of year. This is when bad things happen in the night, as military and intel special forces wake up for a dawn operation. Here and in other similar poems and short stories, it refers to when people most often have nightmares around 3 a.m. in the middle of the night, or O Dark hundred.
Bonus Poem
O dark hundred insomnia blues
Sam Adams had the insomnia blues
he could not sleep.
He stared at the ceiling.
That stared back at him
With an evil grin
Mocking him it seems.
His mind plays an endless tape
of fears doom, and endless fears
As he goes down the proverbial rabbit hole
Lost in an endless anxiety feedback freak out loop.
The latest dark SF series he saw
the latest scary news
Political dystopian futures
Endless possibilities play out.
The latest news of war
the latest fears of incipient fascism
The latest news about the stock market
climate change weather disasters
Monster storms and flooding
His town burning up around him.
What if I have the big Alzheimer’s, or dementia?
What if I have Cancer, Covid, Lyme disease, or Monkeypox?
What if World War Three breaks out?
4:30 a.m.
What if I am at the mall
When a mad gunman opens fire?
Or a terrorist bomb goes off?
Or I am the victim of a random act of violence?
5:15 a.m.
What if the zombie apocalypse starts?
What if, what if, what if……
6:30 a.m.
Until day-break blasts him awake
as the dawning sun fills the room.
Ending that night’s insomnia blues.
Until the next night’s episode begins
at O Dark Hundred.
Prompt
For today’s prompt, write a time of day poem. You can pick a specific time of day (like the songs “3 A.M. Eternal,” by The KLF, or “12:51,” by The Strokes), or it can be a more generalized thing (like “early morning” or “lunch time” or whatever). Snack time is one of my favorite times of day, for sure. (And don’t forget poeming time!)
Criteria
This poetry form is not a difficult one. The form finds its origin in Spain. Not much is known about the history of the form, so we’ll stick to the details.
How is the Cinquain set up?
xx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx
xx
(2/8/6/4/2 syllables.)
If you center the poem, the shape looks like a top, quite cute
PSH Cut-up Remixed consular officers have the best stories
Bob Jones chief
Mumbai
9-11
oversee
immigrant visas,
adjudicator
fraud unit
“administrative processing”
Had best stories,
“So, what can we do for you?”
————————————————————————————————————
“ Yes, my father is dying
He said to her,
“Do you have any proof
And she said yes,
———————————–
that letter
It was fraudulent.
————————————————————————————————–
Mr Patel had died
about two weeks before.
“So, Miss Patel
when was the last time
you spoke to your father?”
————————————————————————————————– “Oh, I spoke to him just now
he is still alive
“OK well,
there’s just one problem.
Do you believe in ghosts?”
” What?”
——————————————————————————————-
“Well, you see here’s the problem.
There’s only one way you
could have spoken
to your father today
————————————————————————————————–and that is if you spoke
to a ghost
he died two weeks ago”.
Another day
in the life of a visa officer
—————————————————————————————————
doing his part
to enforce broken system.
Just another bad government gig
The immigration system has been broken for decades and is riddled with fraud, but most immigrants are decent, hardworking people. I disagree with the mass deportation campaign and the practice of sweeping people off the streets. Instead, they should have fixed the system, which would need to include a path to legalization for those who are otherwise law-abiding, long-term residents. It is far better for everyone if they have legal status rather than living in the shadows. I also believe we must make it easier for legal immigration and give priority to those who study in the U.S. and are poised to become the next innovators here. The current policy is shortsighted, cruel, and counterproductive.
Experiment with Cross-Outs and Cut-ups Using Old Drafts of Poetry as Raw Material!
This prompt invites you to rework forgotten/abandoned drafts by both/either redacting/covering up selected words (cross-outs) and cutting lines out of hard copies and re-ordering them on a piece of paper, gluing them down when you are satisfied (cut-ups). Magazines are also good raw material for cross-out and cut-up poetry and found poems. Either using intuition, or complete random selection. The point is not to overthink it. You’ll need scissors and glue or tape and some blank paper and a marking pen.
Lewis Carroll answered the question of “How do I be a poet?” in 1883:
“For first you write a sentence,
And then you chop it small;
Then mix the bits, and sort them out
Just as they chance to fall:
The order of the phrases makes
No difference at all.”
Tristan Tzara, in the 1920s, proposed to create a poem on the spot by pulling words out of a hat. In the 1950s Brion Gysin cut newspaper articles into sections and rearranged the sections at random. William Burroughs asserts. “Cuts ups are for everyone,” just as Tzara remarked that “poetry is for everyone.”
April 24—Duty
visa fraud stories
Bob Jones was an immigrant visa chief
for the United States of America
consular officers have the best stories,
and cases that will always be remembered.
———————————————————————————————————————–
On that November day,
an Indian American citizen
came to the consulate to see him.
———————————————————————————————————————–She had a request.
would he be willing to consider
her Sibling’s cases.
Her father had immigrated
to the United States
and become a citizen.
And she had become
a citizen as well.
She had four siblings
who were in their 30s
all of whom were living in India
and all of those visas
————————————————————————————————
were held up for “administrative processing”
on suspicion of marriage fraud,
or rather fake single status,
which was the biggest category
of visa fraud.
Her father had petitioned
for them and
as unmarried children of U.S. citizens,
the wait was
about three years,
whereas for married children of U.S. citizens,
the wait would be about seven years.
In this case,
he suspected
that they were committing
marriage fraud
by pretending
to be unmarried
and the case
had been held up
They knew culturally speaking
that rural Gujarati women
and men in their 30s
would all be married
and that they were faking
being single on paper
to speed up visa processing.
Once they were Green card holders
They would marry their spouses
So in five years
They would all be together
Instead of ten years
He understood
and even felt sympathetic
but the law was the law
-and he had to
enforce the visa law
even the insane rules.
– He asked her,
“So, what can we do for you?”
————————————————————————————————–
“ Yes, my father is dying
in the hospital
—————————————————————————————-
and it is his dying wish
to reunite the family
in the United States
could you please
reconsider issuing
the visas to them?”
He said to her,
————————————————————————————————
“Do you have any proof
that your father
is in the hospital?”
————————————————————————————————–
And she said yes,
and she pulled out
a letter written
by an Indian doctor
in New Jersey
saying that Mister Patel
was seriously ill
and that it
was his dying wish
to have his children
reunited in the United States,
and see him before he died.
and that the consulate
should reconsider
issuing visas
for the children.
There was something
about that letter
that struck him as fraudulent.
and so he called the hospital
and he confirmed
with the duty doctor
that Mr. Patel
had died
about two weeks before.
————————————————————————————————–
He called Miss Patel
and gave her the bad news.
He started by saying.
“So, Miss Patel
when was the last time
you spoke to your father?”
“Oh, I spoke to him just now
he is still alive and waiting
for his children to arrive
to see him before he dies.”
“He is alive right now?”
Oh, yes, he is still alive
and he’s waiting
for the immigrant visas
to be processed.”
“OK well, there’s just one problem.
Do you believe in ghosts?”
” What?”
——————————————————————————————-
“Well, you see here’s the problem.
There’s only one way you
could have spoken
to your father today
and that is if you spoke
to a ghost because
according to the hospital,
he died two weeks ago”.
And he showed
her fax from the hospital
confirming Mr. Patel’s demise.
————————————————————————————————–She started crying.
Then he said.
“Well, you know the problem
is that you and your siblings
just committed visa fraud.
They are going to be stuck
in India and not allowed to travel
to the United States
for the next 99 years.
But planes fly both ways
and you can go visit them
every year if you want
but they’re not coming
into the United States.
And you can file for them
And in eight years seek
A visa waiver for the ineligibility
It is sometimes granted.”
– She cried
and he entered them
in the system for visa
misrepresentation.
This one was
but one of the many
heart-breaking stories
illustrating
how broken the US immigration system was.
In this particular case,
if the father was still alive,
he might have
reconsidered the case
and issued the visas
for humanitarian reasons
ignoring marriage fraud,
which was always difficult to prove,
but when the father
died the petition died with him.
He said to himself
well that’s just another day
in the life of a visa officer
————————————————————————————————–
doing his part
to enforce
a broken immigration system.
But, thinking back on it all,
he felt blessed to be working
serving the country he loved
-and helping immigrants,
students and visitors
visit America
while deterring fraudsters,
and helping American citizens
who found themselves
in trouble in a foreign land.
Not bad for a government gig
He always said.
The immigration system has been broken for decades and is riddled with fraud, but most immigrants are decent, hardworking people. I disagree with the mass deportation campaign and the practice of sweeping people off the streets. Instead, they should have fixed the system, which would need to include a path to legalization for those who are otherwise law-abiding, long-term residents. It is far better for everyone if they have legal status rather than living in the shadows. I also believe we must make it easier for legal immigration and give priority to those who study in the U.S. and are poised to become the next innovators here. The current policy is shortsighted, cruel, and counterproductive.
With apologies for the delay (I’m traveling, and just plain fell asleep last night before updating today’s post!), today’s featured participant is Wren Jones, who brings us a flashback to Springsteen in response to Day Twenty-Four’s making-music-together prompt.
It’s a pleasure to browse through the images here. I particularly liked these anklets that aren’t just jewelry but a sort of personal piggy bank, this portrait of the fabulously mustachioed J.M. Curette, and this highly decorative flask, originally meant to hold gunpowder!
Finally, here is our optional prompt for the day. In her poem, Senzo, Evie Shockley recounts the experience of being at a live concert, relating it the act of writing poetry. Today we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that recounts an experience of your own hearing live music and tells how it moves you. It could be a Rolling Stones concert, your little sister’s middle school musical, or just someone whistling – it just needs to be something meaningful to you.
2025 April PAD Challenge: Day 25
April 25 I shall always remember
One night in early September
A night I will always remember
For on that date, my dream lady came to life
It was on that September date
I knew that I had met my fate
When I saw her, sparks flew from heart to heart
Tripadi Poems
The Tripadi is a Bengali poetic form. Here are the guidelines:
Tercets (or three-line stanzas).
Lines one and two end rhyme with each other.
Lines one and two have eight syllables.
Line three has ten syllables.
Poem may consist of one tercet or several.
f you write a poem from this prompt, post it as a comment underneath the prompt in the Poetry Superhighway Facebook Group.
As you can see, the original golden shovel takes more than a line from the poem. In fact, it pulls every word from the Brooks poem, and it does it twice.
This form is sort of in the tradition of the cento and erasure, but it offers a lot more room for creativity than other poetry found.
Jake, your collection for April 23 offers a rich variety of tone and subject, and there is real pleasure in the movement between them.
The mocking birds piece is wild and vivid, capturing a surreal sense of menace with a playful edge-the birds cackling in Korean and English is a brilliant, slightly absurd detail.
Your piece on “reprogramming your mind” is a warm, important counterpoint: it reminds readers (and perhaps yourself) that joy still exists if we choose to seek it, without falling into preachiness.
The short memory about your house feels quiet and grounded, and the Shakespeare piece is a real highlight: personal, affectionate, and tinged with a sense of time passing.
Your affection for the classics shines through clearly.
If anything, the different pieces might feel a little loosely stitched when read together, but as a daily writing project, this kind of natural shift between moods feels entirely fitting.
A heartfelt and honest set.
Tim thanks as always
Jake, your collection for April 23 offers a rich variety of tone and subject, and there is real pleasure in the movement between them.
The mocking birds piece is wild and vivid, capturing a surreal sense of menace with a playful edge-the birds cackling in Korean and English is a brilliant, slightly absurd detail.
Your piece on “reprogramming your mind” is a warm, important counterpoint: it reminds readers (and perhaps yourself) that joy still exists if we choose to seek it, without falling into preachiness.
The short memory about your house feels quiet and grounded, and the Shakespeare piece is a real highlight: personal, affectionate, and tinged with a sense of time passing.
Your affection for the classics shines through clearly.
If anything, the different pieces might feel a little loosely stitched when read together, but as a daily writing project, this kind of natural shift between moods feels entirely fitting.
A heartfelt and honest set.
Tim thanks as always
