Take the "National Poetry Month" Challenge!

[AuntShecky]

It's April, National Poetry Month.

Do you plan to celebrate or commemorate it in some way?

One thing we could do is read a poem a day for thirty days, either from printed sources (remember those?) or online, and then keep a list of the works we've read, maybe with a sentence or two describing your critical take on it, using a single thread for all thirty of them rather than posting them all separately. There are plenty of good and "safe" online sources for poems on the Web-- Knopf's "A Poem a Day" (http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/) as well as The Poetry Foundation. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audio?show=Poem%20of%20the%20Day)

Since yours fooly is probably ripe to be declared certifiably insane, I've decided to try to write thirty original poems for the thirty days in April. I'm planning to post them all in a single thread in the "Personal Poetry" forum. I realize that this burden I've voluntarily placed upon myself is risky--not only in the fact that I might not be able to write that much verse in rapid succession but also casting a jinx on this beleagured PC, "Pong 3.0." Well, what's Fate for if we can't tempt her!

I bet there are other LitNutters out there who'd want to try to do the same thing? If so, it might be a good idea to put them all in a single thread with your screen name on it. (I put mine in the "Personal Poetry" forum, but now I wonder if the Moderators think I should have put it in this Poetry Games and Contests thread.)

[Paulclem]

Do you want comments and encouragements on your poems Auntie?

It's a good idea - a good challenge. I take a bit of time to work on poems as well, but I think the practice is good.

[AuntShecky]

Do you want comments and encouragements on your poems Auntie?

It's a good idea - a good challenge. I take a bit of time to work on poems as well, but I think the practice is good.

I have to confess that I got the idea about 4 years ago from another poetry site, but the LitNet is where I've been living now.

I've gotten lots of encouragement already! Thanks for your comment as well.

The challenge for me is mainly to see if I could do it. Theoretically the quality of the 30 posts might not necessarily be at the same level as those on which more time had been spent, though I wouldn't go so far to say a piece I labored over would not necessarily be stellar, such as it is.

Certainly feel free to comment. Hope other LitNutters (hint, hint) gives it a try as well, just for the experience of producing a number of works in rapid succession.

Thanks so much, Paul!

[tailor STATELY]

Weather, or Naught 2022

Weather, or naught... I often ponder why -
Some say El Niño or La Niña... or sunspots?
it'd be awfully hard to deny - this past
Winter gave us Snowmaggedon at Christmas
time, then left us high and dry

Storms used to line up one after another off mid-
California's coast - and approach our foothill heights
influenced by peripatetic Lows and Highs...
sometimes setting for a piece before once again
departing in an easterly meandering way

When the air fogs, as it often does when the dew
point is just so, one can't see the forest
for the fog, and although ghost frogs sound awfully near
- it's as if the world had shrunk from view

I love the light shows when thunders advance
so's one can imagine hairs standing on end
even when safely indoors fully insulate then
watch the panoply of flash dancers unfold

I look forward to the first gentle sprinkles of
Spring - always surprised when torrents deluge
The rain would permeating the moldering soil -
how I love the sweet smell of petrichor outdoors
as everything is refreshed and renewed

It's raining now, a blessing I hope will last,
at higher altitudes it must be snowing just-a-bit
topping off a meager snowpack - here's praying
for still more moisture, for little is forecast

4/13/2022

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[tailor STATELY]

Weather Wonders

Welcome clouds, offering the hope of rain
O'er city, sea, mountain, valley, and plain
Floating islands of mist, create rainbows
Bridges of brightest prisms of light flows.

Clouds surely have their personalities
Based upon fluid temporalities
I look up and see fanciful shapes that
Change - a horse, a bat... now a Cheshire cat !

When winds begin to boast and clouds derange
To aspects of grays and black interchange
Primary particles start their romance
Let lightnings and thunders begin their dance

Lastly should tornadoes or cyclones rage
There's little else but time left to assuage

4/19/2022

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[tailor STATELY]

Winter Comes a-Calling

Winter has come a-calling to
Spring with jagged spears of light
and colossal voices of wind
and rain and thunderous roar

Lilacs are now completely spent
but, oh!, how they scent
the day when in full bloom
into a fantasy of fragrant hues

Butterflies and buzzing beings
now hide from the cold, the wet,
the riotous - yet Canada geese
foray into this glorious Sabbath day

Cedar trees nod and waggle
Oaks scrape and creak, evergreen
Pines remind us of Christmas time
as His joyous message lingers on

4/12/2026

Ta! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

Enjoyed the poem above, tailor. Don't remember if 22 was a good year, but we were just rid of pandemia and I am a bit nostalgic.

The snows of the snows of yesteryear ( in remembrance of the verse of François Villon)

Were are the snows of yesteryear?
The hopes, the worries, the cares
The embrace at noon
The unvisited moon
The dreams..
The boisterous voices,
The tears, the laughter,
The sounds of yesteryear?

No matter where.
We are still here.

[tailor STATELY]

Lovely poem :)


today's lunch

I love the taste of mystery meat
drowning in its sickly colored sauce
mac and cheese to add to the deceit
accompanies this dreck - but at
$1.25 USD I'm not one with conceit
though I believe my cat eats better

4/18/2026

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

Ai! A very explicit poem.I'm sure your cat eats better.

Burgerfobia
Though from Burger King
Burgers aren't kings of food.
Give me any time
eggs with rice,
or noodles with beans
and some nice
carrots and greens
for salad.

[tailor STATELY]

I second your menu... Enjoyed :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[tailor STATELY]

Upon a Cluttered Desk

Tinky naps upon a book
"THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME
OF THE SOUL" on my desk
a book that has yet to
ensnare me into another reality

his sleek black fur inviting
caresses which I accept -
he inclines his head
and swishes his tail which
nearly reaches my book of
Emily Dickinson poetry - his
haunches on my cell phone
tethered/charging - his head
upon a stack of 2-laptops
and 2-tablets - nose
nearing touching my display
screen... movement...

he emits a soft squeak
of joy and gives me that
slow closing of his eyes
inviting me to scritch his
silky black ears and nudges
me for more -

now statuesque, posing
on the stack of electronics
his yellow/green eyes glaring
at me like an Egyptian idol

4/25/2026

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

Aaaaiiii! Tinky encompassing your personal world! Reminds me of Babalu, who was my Egyptian queen, specially when she in sphinxy mood.

[tailor STATELY]

Thank you :) We need some poetry about Babalu :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[tailor STATELY]

forecast 3:00 pm

great amorphous clouds
their shadows affecting temps
sun plays peekaboo -
a storm cell is on the way
expecting lightning and hail

update 4:30 pm

doppler looked scary
lol, like 5-raindrops
nothing to see here


update 7:00 pm

no clouds in the sky
just the slightest of breezes
as mosquitos hunt

4/28/2026 r.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/garden-valley/95633/weather-radar/2646437

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor