From the category archives:

poem-a-day challenge

Poem #30, PAD Challenge 2009

by Serena on May 1, 2009

I cannot believe it. I wrote one poem for each of April’s 30 days. I am beaming with pride…that’s not too terrible I hope. Anyway, let’s get to it, shall we?

Today’s Prompt is to write a farewell poem:

Endings

Off in the distance
You’re small.
Almost an ant on my picnic blanket,
the one with the pink butterflies.
We used to take it to that park
on the corner of Western Ave. and Main.
I know it wasn’t much of a park,
but the grass was soft,
so green.

You’re standing on asphalt,
the blanket disintegrated in the dryer
lint balls scraped away into the basket.
It reminds me of our final days
when the voices pitched high
fists and fingers flew at the air between us.
We made Swiss cheese of oxygen.

There is no sunset on the horizon,
more like high noon
in the O.K. Corral, guns blazing.
Only we never dropped
to our knees in that kitchen
Or here as the cab drives away.

What did you write today?

For more information about the challenge, go here.

Did you participate in this challenge or other activities for National Poetry Month? Please share links, experiences, events, new poets, old favorites, what you liked about the poems I produced this month.

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Poem #28 and #29, PAD Challenge 2009

by Serena on April 30, 2009

Prompt #28 was to write a sestina or an anti-sestina.

Sestina Mess

A-line frame in the dark,
rigid dance in need of flex.
Movement fluid as silk.
Eaves in maroon,
waiting for a sash
to tie up the dancing.

Starlit parquet dancing
Playing tricks on my eyes, dark
with desire, I fiddle with my sash.
Your muscles flex
Tighter beneath your suit jacket, touch maroon
shimmering silk.

Tough silk
Sashay across the floor, dancing.
We’re on an island, marooned
Feeling our ways in the dark
waiting for re-flex
to take over and rip my sash

Float to the ground, sash
up, touch your skin, silk.
Skin on skin, flex
A muscle inward, outward, dancing
chest to chest in the dark
cheeks turned maroon.

Maroon
me here beneath the sash,
turning my heart into dark
bittersweet chocolate silk.
I swirl, dancing.
Flex.

A re-flex,
maroon
and dancing,
twirling sash
silk
and dark.

Romantic nights of dark re-flex,
enclosed in silk maroon
sash dancing.

Prompt #29 is to write a poem with “Never” in the title.

Never Smile in the Mirror

Your arms stretch over your head
as your mouth opens wide
ready to swallow the world whole.
Throw back the covers,
shrug into slippers and trod–
under running steamy waves
you lather up quick and tight.
Towel dry behind fog
and pull out the blade to shave.
I grace your flesh with my hand,
raising the skin in chills.
I feel the tension leave your body
and see your cheeks rise.
Drops of blood drip,
marring the marble sink rim.

What did you write today?

For more information about the challenge, go here.

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Poem #26 and #27, PAD Challenge 2009

April 28, 2009

Prompt #26 is to write a poem about miscommunication or involving a miscommunication. Miscommunicate She holds up her index fingerof her left hand, while holding her cell in the right.He places one box of Kleenex in the cart.The round the corner, canned foodlines the shelves. Her husband tapsshe waves three fingers, absently.He places the canned [...]

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Poem #24 and #25, PAD Challenge 2009

April 26, 2009

Prompt #24 is to write a travel-related poem. Scale I pop on my ear buds,grab the iPod and I’m out the door.My head, up and downwith my heavy steps down the stairs.I’m in Brooklynin a shuffle beat before heading southto Mexico.Drunk in the back of a truckand my maxed out credit cards.On the sideline, watching [...]

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Poem #22 and #23, PAD Challenge 2009

April 24, 2009

Prompt #22 is to write a work-related poem. If I had to count how many of my poems already deal with work, we’d be here for centuries…OK, that’s an exaggeration. But for this, I took a different perspective. Summer Heat My arm is burning.The lactic acid builds in my musclesas they contract and releasewith the [...]

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Poem #21, PAD Challenge 2009

April 22, 2009

Today’s Prompt is to write a haiku or a poem in praise of haiku or a haiku poet’s manifesto or the anti-haiku. Water dropletsplummet to dark pavement;empty puddle. What did you write today? For more information about the challenge, go here. ***Giveaway Reminder*** Don’t forget to enter The Traitor’s Wife giveaway, here and here. Deadline [...]

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Poem #17, #18, #19, #20, PAD Challenge 2009

April 21, 2009

I know; I got a bit behind on the PAD Challenge thanks to the fun 24-hour Read-a-Thon and a number of other activities. However, as promised I’ve caught up with the prompts. Check out these rough drafts. Poem #17′s Prompt is to use this title and fill in the blank: “All I want is (blank)” [...]

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Poem #15 and #16, PAD Challenge 2009

April 17, 2009

Prompt #15 is to alter a favorite poem’s title and use that title to write a new poem. I chose The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and changed it to this: The Onion Not Eaten I strolled by the farm stand,picking through the bins,tossed aside unripened bananas,tomatoes, and mangoes. The wind was missing,but the [...]

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Poem #14, PAD Challenge 2009

April 15, 2009

Poetry Prompt #14 is another two-for-Tuesday, so we were asked to either write a love poem or an anti-love poem. Cosmetic Surgery Love Your face is putty in my handsI can nip and tuck it,mold it to meet my needs.Is this love?No, it’s plastic surgery.Love is how I feel about the feel of skinbetween my [...]

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Poem #11, 12, and 13, PAD Challenge 2009

April 14, 2009

Ok, I got really behind in the poem-a-day challenge, so I’m going to combine three days worth of poems into one post. Prompt #11 is to write about an object or objects, much like William Carlos Williams’ The Red Wheelbarrow. Here’s my version: Keyboard a-s-d-f-j-k-l-;perfect squares lined upreadyfor pounding fingertipsto drop. Much morethan the sum [...]

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Poem #10, PAD Challenge 2009

April 11, 2009

Prompt # 10 is to write a poem about Fridays. Hmm, what on Earth! I haven’t got a clue. OK, really, this is going to be a bad one. TGIF Today is the end of the weekGreat day to sit and relaxImmersed in words, intoxicatedFiddling with lines and verse. What did you write today? For [...]

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Poem #9, PAD Challenge 2009

April 10, 2009

Prompt #9 was to write about a memory. I had a good time with this one. First Glance Memory is a funny thingIt can be clear as a clean windowpane,or as murky as Briny waters. I remember your dark hair, how that one strand curledjust above your forehead above your deep blue eyes.You t-shirt clung [...]

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