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To join the fun visit NaPoWriMo.net.
For an explanation of cinquain, visit here.
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To participate in this writing challenge, visit NaPoWriMo.net.
For an explanation of cinquain, see this post.
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This week the ‘Prompt Nights’ challenge offers us the choice of writing either poetry or prose, with a theme that tips its hat to April Fools’ Day. So to celebrate this day of fun and frivolity, I decided to “focus” on a bit of frivolous prose.
FOCUS:
A One-Act Play
Place: A city street
Time: April Fools’ Day
Conversation:
Friend: “Wow! Did you see that?”
Sandra: “I’ll say. I’m salivating even as we speak.
Friend: Oooooh, me too. Makes me feel hungry all over.
Sandra: I know what you mean. That box of chocolates must have held at least 10 pounds.”
Friend: “The girl who gets that will be over the moon.”
Sandra: “Mmmmm. That much chocolate candy would definitely make me one very happy lady.”
Friend: “Huh? – Wait – What?”
Sandra: “What do you mean, what?”
Friend: “What do you mean? I’m talking about that drop-dead gorgeous hunk who just passed us carrying the box of chocolates, you dope.”
Sandra: “Oh, was there somebody carrying the chocolates?”
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This year for NaPoWriMo, I’m creating a new cinquain every day in April (or at least I’m starting out to do that. I may or may not have 30 when we’re done.) If you’d like to challenge yourself to write a new poem every day during National Poetry Writing Month, hop over to the NaPoWriMo site for some interesting information and prompts. You don’t have to follow the prompts, but they’re worth checking out in case they strike your fancy.
I’m doing cinquain because, although I generally prefer poetry forms that require rhyme and specific meter, I do occasionally enjoy writing in some of the forms that are based on syllable count. And of all those forms, my favorite is cinquain. It is also the only totally American poetic form — created by the American poet Adelaide Crapsey. She was inspired by the Japanese forms of haiku and tanka, but cinquain has its own syllabic pattern and its own unique charm. So this time around, rather than follow the NaPoWriMo prompts, I’m going cinquain all the way.
The form requires a 5-line stanza with the syllable count in each line as follows:
Line 1 — 2 syllables
Line 2 — 4 syllables
Line 3 — 6 syllables
Line 4 — 8 syllables
Line 5 — 2 syllables
The basic meter is iambic pentameter. However, there are many variations on the cinquain that Adelaide Crapsey wrote, and as with other poetic forms, each poet adds his or her own personality to the work.
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Hey, all you poets, psalmists, and songwriters out there, did you know that April is National Poetry Writing Month? Well, it is, and that means it’s time to focus on our meter, rhyme, and imagery. Maureen Thorson, of Washington, D.C., U.S.A., hosts a website devoted specifically to National Poetry Writing Month — along with a project she has christened NaPoWriMo. That project encourages participants to write a new poem every day for the 30 days of April.
Now, you can write any kind of poem you want — any form — any theme. Or you can visit her site every day to get a prompt from the project itself. The site also offers interesting material from a number of different poets, as well as links to other sites that are poetry specific.
So why not jump in and take part in NaPoWriMo this year. I generally participate, although I rarely manage to write 30 poems. But if we each write even 10 new poems in the month of April, just think how much creativity we’ve unleashed.
This year I’m doing something a little different. I love cinquain, and it is about the only form out there that is uniquely American-made. So this year, rather than follow the prompts on the NaPoWriMo site, I’m going to write a new cinquain for each day. I may borrow from the site’s theme suggestions, and I may not. We’ll have to see. But I hope a lot of you participate and post your links to your poems on the NaPoWriMo site.
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This week’s WP Photo Challenge is a little confusing. The title focuses on the “half-light” periods of the day when we are between day and night, but then the actual challenge calls us to post a picture that is inspired by a particular poem, verse, song lyric, or story — and that picture does not have to be about half-light. But if we do not have a poem, verse, song lyric, or story that inspires a certain picture, then we can post photos of the world around us in “half-light.”
So …………
One of my favorite songs of all time is “I’ll Be Seeing You,” with lyrics by Irving Kahal. One of the best remembered lines is at the end of the song and says, “I’ll be looking at the moon, but I’ll be seeing you.” I’ve had that experience in my own lifetime — looking at the moon but focusing on the man I loved instead of that glowing orb in the sky. In honor of those lovely words, I decided I’d share a collection of my own pictures of the moon. I took two of my moon pics and played around with them in a couple of photo programs, just to see how much fun I could have. I had LOTS of fun. I hope you find them “fun” to look at as well. And below my pictures, you’ll find a video of the song to enjoy.
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Brenda Calvert posted this series of pictures in response to one of this week’s Daily Post Prompts: Nerve. I was fascinated by the idea of a bridge that floats, but I don’t think you’ll find me driving across it. See what you think about it and let me know if you’d drive across it or not.
The Floating Bridge in Brookfield, Vermont required me to access all the NERVE I had to drive across it in fall of 2006.
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Enjoy these delightful videos in honor of puppies everywhere.
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This week’s “Prompt Nights” theme is music. I planned to write a brand new piece for the challenge, but I just kept being pulled back in my own mind to a piece I wrote some time ago. I know I shared a poem I had written previously for last week’s theme as well, and I don’t usually do that on challenges. But this one little poem just keeps tugging at me tonight, so I’m going to let it have a fresh airing for this new prompt.
REQUIEM
What? You ask how was my keyboard
Torn asunder piece by piece?
I admit it was my doing:
Thought perhaps my pain ‘twould ease.
For I cannot find my music;
Cannot hear the melody.
Cannot feel the beat, the rhythm;
And, of course, no harmony.
Still, my soul keeps searching, reaching;
Won’t believe the gift is gone.
It once coursed throughout my being;
Every breath exhaled a song.
Every heartbeat set a tempo;
Notes cascaded from my mind;
Even in sleep, my dreams invaded —
Nocturnes delicate, sublime.
Now, I’ve only fleeting memories
Of creating symphonies.
Tragedy beyond my bearing:
There’s no music left in me!
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To take part in this week’s challenge visit the Daily Post.
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