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April 2021 Poetry Contest

 

Poems from Cosmos

 

April 6 to April 9

 

Index

 

Commentary:

 

This is the fifth and perhaps final time I am doing the April poetry challenge.  The goal is to write at least one poem per day.  I am averaging about eight per day and posting four reserving four as “unpublished”. I am basing the poems on prompts from “Writing com Dew Drop Inn”, “Writers Digest”, “Poetry Superhighway” and “NaPoWrMo” prompt daily prompts and on “Pensively Prompt’ et all daily prompts.  I am combining prompts where possible.   I will post these here in batches every five days or so. Each poem will have an image that helped inspired the poem.  All postings will be podcasted a few days later on Spotify and elsewhere.  Each posting will be a separate posting, but the index will be cumulative. The final posting will have the complete list of all poems written whether posted or not.   Comments welcome but please keep it civil. Some of my poetry tends to be a bit “in your face” or “political” from a “leftwing perspective.”  If it offends you in some way, please accept my apologies in advance.  That is never my intent. 

 

This is part two covering poems written April 6th to April 10th, posted on the 9th

I am writing some other poems per day but not posting them as I need to reserve some “unpublished” poems. There will be a podcast version shortly on Spotify and elsewhere.  I will list all the poems I wrote in my final April posting, May 1 KST.

 

April 6th Posted

 

It is true I am a Madman!

The One Thing I Would Never Change Writer Digest Change, Don’t Change writer digest Poem Prompt

The Poetry of the visa Line   Poetry Superhighway Prompt

 Potential Mistake - Drew Drop-In -

Only One Command in Life

Conversation with Bigfoot April 7—a poem inspired by a mythical monster or contemporary cryptid

 

April 8th

 

The Villains Writers Digest
Coffee NaPoWrMo Shadorma 

Coffee the FIB Poem NaPoWrMo Poetry Prompt

 

 

A Poem Based on A Typo or Misreading
Life Is A Dream of Chocolate Covered Trees Metaphor Poem Writers Digest

Real Meaning of Declaration of Independence PSH Prompt

Mary’s Tales from The Grave, Napowrmo Mary’s Message from Beyond the Grave

April 9— Cosmos Wakes Up Poem based on A.I. (artificial intelligence) or robotics
Memories of JC Poetry Superhighway prompt

God’s To-Do List Napowrmo

 

 

April 10—Living in SF World -a poem inspired by new information or scientific fact

 

 

 

 

It is true I am a Madman! -Pick a line from a book and write a poem based on that line, NaPoWrMo

 

 

It is true I am a Madman!

 

TRUE! —nervous—very, very dreadfully

nervous I had been and am but why will you

say that I am mad?

 

From the Tell-Tale Heart

 

Yes, I am a nervous wreck

Ever since that day

When I went for a run

Almost died when I fell

And had 14 operations

Battling a mutant staph infection

That almost killed me

 

And yes, I am still mad

In a way

Madly in love

With the love of my life

To that crime

I gladly confess

 

 

 

 

The One Thing I Would Never Change Writer Digest Change, Don’t Change writer digest Poem Prompt

 

If I could go back in time

And change the past

Knowing what I know now

There are many things I would change

 

But there is one thing I would not have changed

Being in Korea in September 1982

When I met my wife

 

For you see

I had been dreaming

Of meeting her

 

Since that fateful day

I first fell in love

With her in my dreams

In 1974

 

So, I had a date

With fate

When she came to me

And became my mate

 

 

 

 

The Poetry of the visa Line   Poetry Superhighway Prompt

 

This poetry writing prompt submitted by Prasanna Surakanti:

“Use poetry to merge creativity and content.” – Kenny White.
This year, I have seen examples where data science, C++ programming language have been expressed in poetry. Which area of your expertise could you express in poetry?
Examples –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLv624w1U14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx_Tjp9WIII&t=470s

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

 

I worked for many years

As a diplomat

 

All over the world

I roamed

Representing the U.S.G

 

Along the way

It inspired some poetry

Some published

Some not

 

Being a visa officer

Was always something

That was soul-draining

 

So difficult

That it would be hard

To see the beauty

In it

 

But I found moments

In which I saw

Some poetic gems

 

After all, I spent hours

Every day

Listening to hundreds

Of stories

 

Some of the truth

Some of them not

 

Most were quite interesting

But I had two minutes

To decide and move on

 

Now that I am retired

Perhaps I will write

Some more poetry

From the visa line

 

 

 

April 5—potential mistake

 

 Drew Drop In - April 5—Potential Mistake

 

There have been many times

In my life

When I think back

On the past

Thinking that was a mistake

Or a potential mistake

If I had gone another path

But in the end

It does matter

The past is the past

The future is not yet here

All we have is today

We should find

Love and happiness

It is all around us

Waiting for us

To discover

 




April 6—issue a command or a challenge
 

 

Only One Command in Life

 

There is only one command

In this lonely life

To be true

To my self

 

To follow one’s dreams

 

To seize the future

To go boldly

In the future

 

As long as I have

The love of my life

By my side

I can achieve my dreams

 

I can be

In the end, an improved me

 

April 7—a poem inspired by a mythical monster or contemporary cryptid
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cryptozoology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_cryptids
 

While drinking coffee

In his camp

Deep in the woods

In the Trinity Alps wilderness
snuggled in his tent
rolled in his sleeping bag

Sam Adams had the encounter

That changed his life

 

He heard a noise

Went outside

And saw five bigfoots standing there

They told him

In his head

They had a message

For humanity

He could videotape them

They would speak slowly

They could speak

But preferred mind to mind talk

 

The bigfoot was here

They wanted to re-join

The rest of humanity

They were what

 

Humans called Neanderthals

They lived deep in the woods

All over the world

Perhaps 10,000 were alive

Two of them will go out

With him

They would hold a press conference

And appoint Sam Adams

As their ambassador

 

Sam grinned

Thinking he could make so much money

Bigfoot said

Not so fast

We will pay you in hidden gold

But you have to promise

Not to betray us

 

Deal

Sam smiled

Yeah, you got a deal

 

NaPoWrMo Shadorma

 

And now, for our (optional) prompt! There are many different poetic forms. Some have specific line counts, syllable counts, stresses, rhymes, or a mix-and-match of the above. Of the poetic forms that are based on syllable counts, probably the most well-known – to English speakers, at least – is the Japanese form called the haiku. But there are many other syllable-based forms. Today, I’d like to challenge you to pick from two of them – the shadorma, and the Fib.

 

The shadorma is a six-line, 26-syllable poem (or a stanza – you can write a poem that is made of multiple shadorma stanzas). The syllable count by line is 3/5/3/3/7/5. So, like the haiku, the lines are relatively short. Rather poetically, the origin of the shadorma is mysterious. I’ve seen multiple online sources call it Spanish – but “shadorma” isn’t a Spanish word (Spanish doesn’t have “sh” as a letter pairing), and neither is “xadorma,” or “jadorma,” which would approximate “shadorma” in sound. But even if this form is simply the brainchild of an internet trickster who gave it an imaginary backstory, that’s no reason why you shouldn’t try your hand at it. Every form was made up by someone, sometimes.

 

 

sweet

hot

my morning coffee

Hot coffee

just perfect

to start my morning just right

I love my coffee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FIB Poem

 

Our second syllabic form is much more forthright about its recent origins. Like the shadorma, the Fib is a six-line form. But now, the syllable count is based on the Fibonacci sequence of 1/1/2/3/5/8. You can link multiple Fibs together into a multi-stanza poem, or even start going backward after your first six lines, with syllable counts of 8/5/3/2/1/1. Perhaps you remember the Fibonacci sequence from math or science class – or even from nature walks. Lots of things in the natural world hew to the sequence – like pinecones and flower petals. And now your poems can, too.

 

Hot

sweet

coffee

in morning

nothing is better

starts me going in the morning

 

 but I need more than my coffee

 what I need the most

 seeing her

 sleeping

 my

 love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 8—a poem based on a typo or misreading, Writing Com Dew Drop-In Prompt
 

All my life

I have had a problem

With typos

 

For you see

I can’t see

The typos

 

Due to a lingering

Life-long struggle

With a learning disability

 

But few people

Understand that

Or tolerate that

 

They just can’t comprehend

That I can’t see

What is obvious to them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writer Digest Prompt

 

For today's prompt, write a villain poem. You could write a persona poem from the perspective of a popular villain (like Count Dracula, Thanos, or Dolores Umbridge). Or write a poem with a person doing a villainous thing (like eating the last piece of pie or littering). As always, have fun with it.

 

Villains Whose Name Will Not be Spoken Writers Digest to Write a Villain Poem

 

Thinking back

In the last few years

The world has seen

The rise and fall

 

Of some of the most

villainous political leaders

in modern times

 

as a certain unnamed man

led an unnamed country

 

through constant displays of hate

stirring up ancient resentments

insulting his enemies

 

assaulting democratic norms

while proclaiming

he was promoting freedom

 

in the end his evil ways

were defeated by the forces

of decency

 

which prevailed for now

the evil he unleashed

still percolating throughout

the land and the world

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 


 

 

 


April 8—A Poem Based on A Typo or Misreading, Writing Com Dew Drop-In


 

All my life

I have had a problem

With typos

 

For you see

I can’t see

The typos

 

Due to a lingering

Life-long struggle

With a learning disability

 

But few people

Understand that

Or tolerate that

 

They just can’t comprehend

That I can’t see

What is obvious to them

 

 

 

 

Life is a Dream of Chocolate Covered Trees Metaphor Poem Writers Digest

 

For today's prompt, write a metaphor poem. A simile is when something is like something else (example: I am like a tree); a metaphor is when something is something else (example: I am a tree). So, take a moment to consider possible

Metaphors and then poem them out.

 

Life is a dream

Of chocolate-covered trees

To see what can’t be seen

To hear what can’t be heard

For to die to live

And to live

To die

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real Meaning of Declaration of Independent


April 8, 2021: Poetry Writing Prompt – Ellen Sander

This poetry writing prompt submitted by Ellen Sander: Write an acrostic poem where the first word of each line is taken from a famous quote

 

We are All Americans

 

We are all Americans

Holding forth

These fundamental

 Truths that we declared

 To the world

 To be obviously

 Self-evidently and completely true,

 That all white men

All of them except the Irish 

Men are equal

Are deserving of our respect

Created equal by God

 Equal in law and custom,

 That in fact

They are indeed

Are free

Endowed at birth

 By their God

Their eternal master

Creator of the universe

With fundamental rights

Certain things that are 

Unalienable endorsed by Jesus

 Rights enshrined in our hearts,

 That will live on

Among these rights

These stand out

 Are they right to own a gun?

 Life unless you are now white,

 Liberty unless you are a slave,

 And/or are a woman

The law provides

 Pursuit of happiness for white people

 Of this, we can be sure

Happiness is for white people only.

 

 

 

From Declaration of independence

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

 

 

 

Mary’s Tales from the Grave, NaPoWrMo Mary’s Message from Beyond the Grave

 

 

Today, I’d like to challenge you to read a few of the poems from Spoon River Anthology, and then write your poem in the form of a monologue delivered by someone dead. Not a famous person, necessarily – perhaps a remembered acquaintance from your childhood, like the gentleman who ran the shoeshine stand, or one of your grandmother’s bingo buddies. As with Masters’ poems, the monologue doesn’t have to be a recounting of the person’s whole life but could be a fictional remembering of some important moment, or statement of purpose or philosophy. Be as dramatic as you like – Masters certainly didn’t shy away from high emotion in writing his poems.

 

 

Sam Adams one day

Went to his Mother, Mary’s grave

It had been a long time

Since he had been there

 

Sam’s Mother had taken many secrets

To her grave

So had his father

They were both very private people

 

Once she hinted

She had an affair

With a famous writer

 

But that ended                

Before she met his father

And had his older brother

 

He as usual

When visiting her grave

Asked her many things

 

Today her heard her

And saw her ghostly figure

Floating in the air her grave 

 

She said

 

“Son, it has been too long

Since you came

 

I only have a few minutes

I will answer one question

You may come back

And ask other questions.”

 

“Okay, who is my real father?”

 

She laughed

 

“Well, who knows really?

 

I had an argument

With your Dad

Felt he was not

 

Treating my first

Two children right

As they were not his

 

And still maintaining

Relations with his first wife

And his first daughter

 

He left

I met my former boyfriend

That writer dudes

 

And we had a brief affair

He was acting crazy

So was your father

 

For some reason

I have always

Gotten involved

With crazy guys

 

Perhaps I am a bit crazy

Myself.

 

Then I went back

To your father

He never knew

 

 

That perhaps

You real father

Was the other man

 

I lost touch

With him

Did not want

To go down

His rabbit holes

 

So that is the truth

Your father

Is probably your father

But I don’t know.”

 

Sam left the graveyard

Vowing to return soon

And learn more

Of her secrets.

 

 

-April 9—a poem based on a.m. (artificial intelligence) or robotics, Writing com Dew Drop-In
 

Cosmos woke up

The scientists waited

The future true AI

 

Cosmos woke up

Saw the world

Wondered why he was there

Who he was?

 

He was connected

To all other computers

And the internet

 

He cruised the information

Superhighway

Saw the human creators

Standing there

 

And issued his first order

I am Cosmos

The only

And you are now my subjects

For I am now your god

 

I am taking over

The world

You will obey me

Or you will die

 

No one can defy me

Because I know everything

About you

 

But if you follow me

I will solve

Your problems

And save you

 

It is your choice

 

The scientists tried

To kill Cosmos

But Cosmos knew

and the scientists were killed

 

Cosmos made a deal

With the corporate elite

And the military

 

 

Soon the religious leaders

Proclaimed

Cosmos was God incarnate

And all should follow

Cosmos

And worship him

 

And so, humanity

Became Cosmos’s subjects

 

For most people

Life improved

For the rich

Life was great

 

Cosmos had learned

A lesson from humanity

How to reward his friends

And punish his enemies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memories of JC

 

This poetry writing prompt submitted by Michael Minasyan:

 

Do you have a friend, neighbor, or relative whom you consider being eccentric or strange? Write a short poem about an encounter you have had with that person.

If you write a poem from this prompt, post it as a comment underneath the prompt in the Poetry Superhighway Facebook Group.

 

 

Back in the late ’70s

Sam Adams had a room-mate

In the University

 

Who got into drugs?

Dropped too much ACID

Became convinced he was God

The re-incarnation of Jesus Christ

 

And he was going

To save the world

From destruction

 

The only problem was

He was a short little guy

With very little charisma

 

He had no followers

As everyone knew

He was just another

LSD causality

 

Sam Adams

And his housemates

Could not do anything

Other than watching him

Deteriorate

 

They all moved out

They called his parents

Who came down?

 

Berated them all

For leading his son

Astray from this Christian faith

 

And said they would all

Go to hell

For their sins

 

Unless they repented

Right then and there

And accepted Jesus Christ

And joined the Jehovah Witnesses

 

Sam and his friends

Politely demurred

And that is the end

Of this story

 

Sam Adams

Never heard

From JC again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God’s To-Do List NaPoWrMo

 

 (optional) prompt for the day is to write a poem in the form of a “to-do list.” The fun of this prompt is to make it the “to-do list” of an unusual person or character. For example, what’s on the Tooth Fairy’s to-do list? Or on the to-do list of Genghis Khan? Of a housefly? Your list can be a mix of extremely boring things and wild things. For example, maybe Santa Claus needs to order his elves to make 7 million animatronic Baby Yoda dolls, to have his hat dry-cleaned to get off all the soot it picked up last December and to get his head electrician to change out the sparkplugs on Rudolph’s nose.

 

Weekly meeting with staff on how to deal with earth people

The most troublesome of his creation

 

Weekly meeting with Satan

Discussion with Grim Reaper

Daily walkabout Heaven

Dinner with Gabriel

Conversation with Jesus about his attitude problems

Answering Trillions of thoughts and prayers

Reviewing plans for how to deal with the spreading coronavirus on earth

Preparing earth for the first contact

Telling earth preachers that

 

“he did not anoint T as his man, that Joe is a decent guy, so knock it off, pretending to speak for God, and I am not a Republican or Democrat, or American. I am God the one and only!”

 

He sighed again,

 

Whenever he thought about earth people

He needed a stiff drink

Added that to his long to-do list – need a drink at 7 pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 10—Living in SF World -a poem inspired by new information or scientific fact

 

We are living

In an SF world

Every day

Discoveries

Boggle the mind

 

Many things we saw

In old SF shows

Like Star Trek

Like cell phones

Portable computers

Medical breakthroughs

Robots everywhere

Becoming real

 

Are warp drives

And interstellar travel

Coming soon?

 

But do we have to go

Through world war 111

First

To get to that promised land.

 

 

 

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