Galactic Unions photo by Maria L. Berg

I thought these prompts would be challenging, but once I decided on the abstract concept I wanted to explore for my metaphor, it really took me to some interesting places. I can see why I would visit this prompt again.

NaPoWriMo

Prompt: “Twenty Little Poetry Projects”

1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
4. Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses).
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
8. Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
10. Use a piece of talk you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand).
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . .”
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he or she could not do in “real life.”
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
19. Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem.

All in one poem.

PAD Challenge

Prompt: write a moment poem

The poem

She Used to Say Patience is a Virtue

Patience is a convertible in orbit
where stars joyride through the void
the new-car smell slowly expanding with the universe
the squeaky, sticky leather seats never to crack or fade
the roar of the engine forever in wait
the left blinker signals its eternal turning in the key of B flat
like Misty Copeland on a piano at a Prince concert

Learning patience is not in space
not floating around with a long expansive view
It is the lagniappe of a hard life
When the rat crawls out of the hole you’re squatting over,
you either stare it down and hold back a scream,
or catch it and eat it for dinner
Why make groceries when they come to you?

Supergirl will face death again,
but for now, she will avoid
searching out the blood-rat dinner
Because patience leads to tastier meals
without most of the hair still on.
Io. Iadro. Am go swanlay.
In other words: Hello. How are you? I’m going to shower.
The goats at my house cry like children.
But the orbiting patience vrooms around all of it
not seeing or hearing the small details
only the largest changes over the ages.