Today’s the day! Two of my poems have escaped Experience Writing and are out exploring the world. I hope you will pick up a copy of Washington’s Best Emerging Poets 2019 and read all the great poetry by Washington State poets. It will also make a great gift for the lovers of words in your life.
I want to thank all the poets of OctPoWriMo, NaPoWriMo, dVerse Poets Pub, and PAD Chapbook Challenge for keeping me motivated and inspired over the last few years.
The other day, while thinking about which classic monster I wanted to put in space for the Monsters in Space anthology, I remembered I have a copy of Little Shop of Horrors
To my surprise, every little thing began to trigger writing prompt ideas. First, I was inspired by the setting of a flower shop, then by the characters, then by getting ideas from films, then odd and fun dialogue. While I was writing the prompts, I noticed that a couple of them could, perhaps build off of one another.
After writing twenty-eight unique prompts, I looked back through and grouped them into four weeks of prompts that could possibly work together to inspire work on the same story throughout the week.
Since I began this project, I’ve had fun making up the prompts, but not used many of them. I think this new idea of using each prompt to build a story through the week will be more useful. As I learned last month, I can write a story a week, so if I use the prompts to inspire a small section of a story each day, then I’ll be more likely to reach that goal of a finished draft each week.
After Little Shop of Horrors, I put in the original Night of the Living Dead
Last week, I only got two submissions out. But I did get two submissions out, so that’s movement in the right direction. One of my submissions was a photography submission, an exciting first.
This week we’re hitting many of the month’s deadlines, especially for poetry. I’ve been telling myself I’m going to type up my poems that I have not published on this site and send them out, so this week is the week for my new poetry submissions.
This week’s goal, again, is to fill in the daily planner pages and hit those three submissions a day. I hope you’ll join me.
I’m reading a lot of poetry. I’m still reading through all of the books I found to inspire my poetry last month. Last week, I tried something new and found it moving and enjoyable. I was reading Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart
This week I’ll also be reading the poetry of
Diane Seuss
Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl: Poems
Four-Legged Girl: Poems
Alberto Rios
A Small Story about the Sky
The Dangerous Shirt
and
Louis Jenkins
Winter Road
zeugma n. Grammar, Rhetoric. the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to wage war and peace or On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Try your hand at a minimalist poem
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
Take a deep breath and d i v e in IV : ; CREAT E
Zeugma
During National/Global Poetry Writing Month, we wrote words and stanzas, rhythm and rhyme, and culture and community.
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems
yapok n. a semi-aquatic opossum of Central and South America also known as the water opossum. The only living marsupial in which both sexes have pouches.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Write a poem that meditates, from a position of tranquility, on an emotion you have felt powerfully.
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Again,” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write your poem.
Hagridden Again
In search of new knowledge,
my perpetual motion,
ambushed by yapok.
A disconcerting combination
of water and land,
of fingered and webbed,
of cute and horrifying.
I contemplate forewarning.
But I am not a gate keeper.
Who am I to impair the stun
of this captivating truth?
Once known, yapoks cannot be unknown,
once seen not unseen,
once imagined, forever a menacing possibility.
I am bewitched by potential,
spellbound by the shiny new tidbits of discovery,
and plunge into inquiry enchanted.
I contemplate a flustering illustration
of its thick tail tightly constricting a branch,
a bewildered bird in its mouth.
I ponder another unsettling engraving
in which it crawls ashore with a discombobulated fish.
In my image it circles you as you work your stoke
like a Labrador preparing a rescue.
In my depiction it perches on your shoulder;
its tail crawls into a coil on your arm;
it gorges on your harrowed head.
Today I am aware of the yapok,
surprised by its revelation,
alarmed by swimming teeth and tails,
mesmerized by adaptation.
I am under the spell of spelling.
Five letters ordered to an unexpected meaning,
leaving me fazed.
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is The Pushcart Book of Poetry: The Best Poems from Three Decades of the Pushcart Prize by Joan Murray (2009-04-03)
xenium (plural xenia) n. a present, gift, especially one for a host or vice-versa. a compulsory gift.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
“Remix” a Shakespearean sonnet. Here’s all of Shakespeare’s sonnets. You can pick a line you like and use it as the genesis for a new poem. Or make a “word bank” out of a sonnet, and try to build a new poem using the same words (or mostly the same words) as are in the poem.
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
For today’s prompt, pick a direction, make that the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. There are so many directions: north, south, up, down, left, right, over, under, etc. But there are also more specific directions like “Across the Way,” “Through the Woods,” and “Beyond the Clearing.” Or give directions like “Clean Your Room,” “Tie Your Shoes,” or “Get Over Here.”
Inward and Outward
Plastic-coated self untouched by any
precious xenium though unprovident
impenetrable walls keep out many
voluptuous luxury evident
voice lost in fear and fires of hate
bodies dance vinyl and satin conspire
bouts of cold murderous shame ruinate
ridges of almonds swimming in desire
delicious knowledge but also fear mind
washed with a certain Merlot love
an imperfect actor thinks she is kind
invigorate sweet moments not to prove
how many layers of onion to me
Oh! learn to read the stains you can see
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is The Sonnets and a Lover’s Complaint (Penguin Clothbound Classics)
wamble v. 1. to move unsteadily. 2. to feel nausea. 3. (of the stomach) to rumble; growl. n. 1. an unsteady or rolling movement. 2. a feeling of nausea.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Write a poem that uses repetition. You can repeat a word, or phrase. You can even repeat an image, perhaps slightly changing or enlarging it from stanza to stanza, to alter its meaning.
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
Write an evening poem. A poem about or during the night. Or take evening a completely different direction and think of evening the score or making things more even (or fair or whatever).
You Come in the Evening
I wamble toward the evening
after pushing to exhaustion
exhausted muscles slack warm and heavy
heavy lids gather darkness as
darkness gathers along the horizon
horizontal pink and orange candy-floss clouds cling
clinging bits of nature hitch a ride inside
inside I want to fall into the cushions
but cushion that temptation until after a rinse
but before the rinsing waters can cleanse I see you
you wait patiently by the door
the door slides and I lift you to nuzzle at my neck
my neck vibrates with you and the sweat collects your hair
shedding, sticking hair covers me and joins the twigs and grass and leaves
and hairy nature greets the evening softly
the smell of gasoline leads to wamble
you push on into the evening
I let the warm and heavy water
wash the evening into night
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is The Tradition
and THE SESAME STREET LIBRARY
and write a story about Vesicant Veronica’s vitriolic vitrifaction or Vespoid Vernon’s vespiary.
For the present poetry purposes, however, I’ve stuck to the V words that are green:
virid adj. green or verdant
verdant adj 1. green with vegetation; covered with growing plants or grass 2. of the color green 3. inexperienced; unsophisticated
viridian n. a long-lasting, bluish-green pigment, consisting of a hydrated oxide of chromium.
verdigris n. a green or bluish patina formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces exposed to the atmosphere for long periods of time, consisting principally of basic copper sulfate.
verdure n. 1. greenness, especially of fresh, flourishing vegetation. 2. green vegetation, especially grass or herbage. 3. freshness in general; flourishing condition; vigor.
vert n. English Forest Law. 1. vegetation bearing green leaves in a forest and capable of serving as a cover for deer. 2. the right to cut such vegetation.
n. Heraldry . the tincture, or color, green.
adj. Heraldry . of the tincture green: a lion vert.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Write a poem that:
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
Write an exile poem.
Verdant Exile
Verdant exile in idyllic, virid splendor
springing and bursting verdure
an umbrella of viridian and vert
a bucolic shunning
far enough from everywhere to be too far
but not quite far enough
shoots like verdigris change the color of days
from gray to green
Does spring tease on purpose?
enticing the sower with warm kisses
then freezing the seedlings in a blanket of frost
or washing them away in muddy rivers from heavy rains
the viridian umbrella has holes
that let the rain through
the wet exile digs again
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is A Small Story about the Sky
ultradian adj. Physiology
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Write a poem that, like “Dictionary Illustrations,” is inspired by a reference book. Locate a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia, open it at random, and consider the two pages in front of you to be your inspirational playground for the day.
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
Take the phrase “Complete (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write your poem.
Complete SCAMPER
Substitute her flippant, unkind words for what she should have said
Combine this delusion with her talking head’s talking points
Adapt to life’s illusion with ultradian reiteration
Modify and magnify this rosy reality
Put those gnawing thoughts to use for the company
Eliminate any creative impulses not for the institution
Reverse and rearrange memories of the lies told to children
Today’s poem was inspired by a page in The Crafter’s Devotional: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Unlocking Your Creative Spirit
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is Winter Road
taboret (tabouret) n. 1. a low seat without back or arms, for one person; stool. 2. a frame for embroidery. 3. a small, usually portable stand, cabinet, or chest of drawers, as for holding work supplies.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Write a poem about an animal.
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
Future Fangs
Yapping portent of yet to come
diabolical free-range ne’er do well
leashless barker admonishing
my trespass upon my porch
She pounces, lunges
knocking over the taboret
splaying my tools and supplies
then ducks through the bushes
and yawps at her own surprise
enclosed in a safe cage
of briars and branches
invisible and out of reach
If not free, she would still
pollute my peace
behind panes once within my domain
once friendly, warm and welcoming
Diminutive fanged snarler, aggressor
will I match her need to dominate?
Will they wander over before
or after she bites?
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is The Spite House by Elizabeth Knapp 
I apologize to all of you who are part of the planner experiment. I didn’t get the pages out for the first time this year, but things came up and I had to let something slide. Since the planner experiment is about creating an informative and motivating daily planner for 2020, I figured being off by a couple days this week would be okay. I’ll post the rest of April’s pages later today with an update on how the experiment is going.
salvific adj. Having the intention or power to bring about salvation or redemption.
National Poetry Writing Month prompt:
Write a poem that engages with another art form – it might be about a friend of yours who paints or sculpts, your high school struggles with learning to play the French horn, or a wonderful painting, film, or piece of music you’ve experienced – anything is in bounds here, so long as it uses the poem to express something about another form of art.
Writer’s Digest April PAD (poem a day) challenge:
Write a correspondence poem. Maybe write a poem that would fit on a postcard or in a letter. Or write a poem about correspondence school. Or jump into newer forms of correspondence like e-mail or text messaging. Of course, not all correspondence is connected to communicating; sometimes one thing corresponds to another by being similar.
Correspondence
Crumpled correspondence tops the stack of junk
piling monument to passing days
a mountain from the mole hill
of the ignored
I light the old, unwanted, local rag
delivered, though I asked them not to
It ignites the dry wood of the limbs
from the last wind storm
Smoke sneaks into the living room
and collects halfway down the stairs
where the temperature changes between two worlds
in summer
The flame grows and I throw
the unopened envelopes in
salvific fire cleansing, protecting everyone
from my potential clone
A multiplying identity
participating in false economy
capitalist societies
of the imaginary
Today’s poetry book for inspiration is Collected Poems
Experience Writing 