MY NAMESAKE FOR GOD

Fifteenth day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s optional prompt for today is to write a poem that is a little something I’m calling “Twenty Questions.” The idea is to write a poem in which every sentence, except for the last one, is in the form of a question. That’s it! It can be as long or short as you like. The questions can be deep and philosophical (‘what is the meaning of life?’) or routine and practical (‘are you going to eat that?’). Or both!

Monarch Mind's Worth

Fourteenth day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s optional prompt for today is to write a poem that contains at least one kenning. Kennings were metaphorical phrases developed in Nordic sagas. At their simplest, they generally consist of two nouns joined together, which imaginatively describe or name a third thing. The phrase “whale road,” for example, could be used instead of “sea” or “ocean,” and “sky candle” could be used for “sun.” The kennings used in Nordic sagas eventually got so complex that you basically needed a decoder-ring to figure them out. And Vikings being Vikings, there tended to be an awful lot of kennings for swords, warriors, ships, and gold. But at their best, they are surprising and evocative.

Love & Happiness

Thirteenth day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s (optional) prompt is a “replacement” poem. Pick a common noun for a physical thing, for example, “desk” or “hat” or “bear,” and then pick one for something intangible, like “love” or “memories” or “aspiration.” Then Google your tangible noun, and find some sentences using it. Now, replace that tangible noun in those sentences with your intangible noun, and use those sentences to create (or inspire) a poem.

Kabinet Jeroboam

Twelfth day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s’ prompt (optional, as always). Poets have been writing about love and wine, wine and love, since . . . well, since the time of Anacreon, a Greek poet who was rather partial to that subject matter. Anacreon developed a particular meter for his tipsy, lovey-dovey verse, but Anacreontics in English generally do away with meter-based constraints. Anacreontics might be described as a sort of high-falutin’ drinking song. So today I challenge you to write about wine-and-love. Of course, you may have no love of wine yourself, in which case you might try an anti-Anacreontic poem.

Jingle

Eleventh day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s prompt for today should be a little simpler. (As always, the prompts are optional). Once upon a time, poetry was regularly used in advertisements, most notably the Burma-Shave ads:

Incredible India

I am participating in A to Z Challenge 2014 where we write 26 posts in a month each day on one word from A to Z barring Sunday's. Today's word is "I".

Today I chose one of the most important things to me in this world and the one that I identify with and the one which gives me my identity - my motherland India.

Incredible India 

Atulya Baart

Optimism

Tenth day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today's’ prompt is to take any random song play list (from your iPod, CD player, favorite radio station, Pandora or Spotify, etc.) and use the next five song titles on that randomized list in a poem. 

Heartbeat - You Are My Guding Light

Ninth day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s prompt is let’s rewrite a famous poem, giving it our own spin. While any famous poem will do, if you haven’t already got one in mind, why not try your own version of Cesar Vallejo’s Black Stone Lying on a White Stone? If you’re not exactly sure how such a poem could be “re-written,” check out this recent poem by Stephen Burt, which riffs on Vallejo’s.

Inanimate Love

Eight day of this year’s National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s prompt is to write a love poem . . . but the object of the poem should be inanimate. You can write a love poem to your favorite pen, the teddy bear you had as a child (and maybe still have), or anything else, so long as it’s not alive!

Haiku # 6 - Guard of Honour

I am participating in A to Z Challenge 2014 where we write 26 posts in a month each day on one word from A to Z barring Sunday's. Today's word is "F".