April 1 to April 6 2021 Poems

[jakecaller]

April Monthly Poetry Competition 2021

This is the fifth April poetry competition I have entered since 2017.  The rules are simple: write at least one poem or more per month, and either post them or not.  I will base them on NaPoWrMo, Poetry Superhighway, Writing Digest, Writing Com ‘s Dew Drop Inn prompts and post them here and, on All Poetry, and maybe elsewhere but at least on these sites. I may write a few more but not post them as I need to keep “unpublished” poems for submission.

 

But this year I will also podcast them using the Anchor program.  The podcasts appear a few days later, on Spotify and elsewhere. Look for the World According to Cosmos podcasts or under Jake Cosmos Aller.

 

I will post the prompt, and the poem and may pick a picture for each poem but maybe not and write a new posting every day (or two).

 

Enjoy

 

Oh, not too late in joining in the fun!

 

Comments welcome, but please keep it civil.

 

April 1, 2021

 

Index

Coffee Pot Blues Poetry Superhighway Prompt

Who Is Jake Cosmos Aller?  Writer’s Digest Prompt

“Good Golly Miss Molly,” A Dew-Drop A Day in April, Writing Com

“Sam Adams Wakes Up Dead “Nanowrimo Poetry

 

 

 

Poetry Superhighway Prompt

 

Pick an object where you live and write a poem in the voice of that object describing how they spent this last year, during the pandemic.  Think about “what I did last summer” type of essays you may have written in school.  How did the events of the past year impact this object?  Are there any aspects of the past year that the object particularly liked or disliked, and if so why?  What does the object think about you, and your behavior over the past year?  Feel free to use humor.

 

Coffee Pot Blues

 

The coffee pot sighed

He was getting so tired

Of the whole covid lockdown thing

 

Every morning his master

Would make himself two cups of coffee

Using him to make the coffee

 

The worst thing about this covid thing

It keeps them home

For almost one and half years

 

He wanted them to just leave

So, he could have

Some peace

 

And not have to work

Every damn day

As their mechanical slave

 

But did they ask for his opinion

They most certainly not

Much to his dismay

 

If you write a poem from this prompt, post it as a comment underneath the prompt in The Poetry Superhighway Facebook page #napowrimo #poetry

Writer’s Digest Prompt

For today's prompt, write an introductory poem. Introduce yourself, introduce a friend, or introduce a stranger. If you don't wish to introduce yourself, consider writing a persona poem (a poem in which you write from someone else's point of view like Emily Dickinson or a bumblebee). Of course, you could also introduce a problem, solution, or just a situation. Have fun with it!

Remember: these prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them

Who is jake cosmos aller?

You asked me

Who am I?

And thanks for asking me

 

I am jake cosmos aller

The only

65 years old

Retired from the government service

Living in Korea

Grew up in Berkeley, California

Lived all over the world

Did so many things

And now I am a published writer

 

But what is more important is this

45 years ago,

I met my love in a dream

She walked out of that dream

Almost 40 years ago

 

That was the date

I met my fate

And started my life

With the love of my life

Who became my wife?

 

In the end

That is all that matters

My friends.

Writing com drew drop inn

 

Here at the dew drop inn, we gather together to write a poem a day in April as a way to celebrate national poetry month.

 

Writing Com - A Dew-Drop Inn A Day April for National Poetry Month prompt

April 1—folly in rhyme (some kind of folly in some kind of rhyme, subtle or overt)

 

 

Good golly,

Miss molly

What a bit of folly

Let’s be jolly

Have a tamale

 

NaPoWrMo POETRY

 

And without further ado, our daily prompt (optional, as always)! Sometimes, writing poetry is a matter of getting outside of your head, and learning to see the world in a new way. To an extent, you have to “derange” yourself – make the world strange and see it as a stranger might. To help you do that, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem inspired by this animated version of “seductive fantasy” by Sun Ra and his Orchestra. If you don’t feel after watching it a little bit like the top of your head’s been taken off, and your thoughts are given a good stir – well, maybe you are already living in a state of heightened poetic awareness!

 

 

Sam Adams Woke Up Dead

Sam Adams woke up dead

He had met a strange man

In a strange bar, in a strange land

 

The man told him

Beware, today is the date

You will meet your fate

 

Sam Adams drank too much

Twenty drinks too sober

Drank until he died

 

Found himself in a huge room

With hundreds of people milling about

The hangover from h … pounding his head

 

Sam Adams groans,

Shouting out

Where am I?

 

“in limbo, my friend, in limbo”

Growled Mr. GR, the grim reaper

Dressed in a sharp, expensive, tailored black suit

Wearing cool Ray Ban Sunglasses

 

State your name

Sam Adams

Hmm

 

Oh, there may be a mistake

But what the hey,

The records are never fake

 

Not yet the date

For you to meet your fate

Go back to your mate

 

He found himself

Home with his wife

The love of his long life

 

Wondering until late

If it had happened?

What was his fate?

 

He asked her

Did I go out last night?

What, no you’ve been here

 

He explained what had happened

She said it was just a bad dream

Covid fears had kept them home

 

The phone rang

It was the man from the bar

Did you have an interesting night?

 

Oh well, gr comes for us all

Soon you will meet your fate

But not on this date

 

 

April 2 Poems

 

Poetry Superhighway Prompt

Imagine you are plotting a Mars Rover- just as all the other astronauts in your team blast off from the planet Mars leaving you behind (as in the film, “The Martian”, what do you see, what do you miss from home? What is your last message?

Sam Adams Stranded on Mars

 

Sam Adams

Groaned as he realized

 

Good God I am stranded

Here on the planet Mars

All alone in the universe

 

What am I going to do?

How will I survive

The long wait for survival?

 

Sam looked up

Seeing through the dust storm

His shipmates flying off

Leaving him for dead

 

He got back

and fired off

a message

 

Hey guys

You left me behind

I am alive

Come get me!

 

The garbled message

Came back

Sorry we can’t return

Someone will get you

In six months

Stay alive until then

We will see you

Back at HQ

 

Sam groaned

And made his survival plans

Thinking it would make

A great movie

 

Then realized

Hey, it was already done

But the reality was far worst

Then in the movies

 

 

NaPoWrMo

 

And now, for today’s (optional) prompt. In the world of well-known poems, maybe there’s no gem quite so hoary as Robert frost’s “the road not taken.” Today, I'd like to challenge you to write a poem about your road not taken – about a choice of yours that has “made all the difference,” and what might have happened had you made a different choice.

 

Falling in love with my dream woman

 

 

When I was a young man

I dreamt of meeting a woman

For eight years she haunted my dreams

 

Then I met her in Korea

Where I was teaching

For the U.S. army

After finishing the peace corps

 

 

I had a choice

Follow my heart

Seize the moment

Be with her

 

Or leave Korea

Within a month

To go to graduate school

 

I decided to postpone

My graduate school

For one year

 

Got a deferred admission

And joined the woman

Of my dreams

 

Thinking back

I had no real choice

But I chose to walk

The path of life

With my dream girl

 

And that has made

All the difference

In the world

 

 

 

April 2—voila! (remember something in a short lyric burst) drew drop-in writing com

 

 

I will always remember that date

In 1982 I meet my fate

When the love of my life

Walked out of my dreams

Becoming my wife

 

 

Writer’s digest

 

For today's prompt, I want you to answer the question, "what does the future hold?" then, make your answer the title of your poem and write your poem. Your answer could a general idea about the future like "robots will rule the world" or more personal things like "veggie pizza and sweet tea." even if it's not in your title, I'm hopeful the future holds a lot more poeming.

 

The future is here

 

The future is here

They say we live in an SF world

Everyday SF stories become real

 

AI proliferating

Robots cooks, robot workers,

Soon robot maids, robot drivers

 

Yet our politics

Fighting the battles

Of the past

 

With the challenges

Of the future

Overwhelming us all

 

Where it ends

My friends are anyone guest

All I have are questions

 

Will the promise

Of technological marvels

Benefiting us all come to past

 

Or will it lead to a world

Where the powerful

Control the technology

 

Will a real ai be a god-like figure

Will humanity become nothing

But slaves to the AI supermind

 

That may be the future

Coming at us

The future is here

 I don’t know

Whether to fear

The future or embrace it