NaPoWriMo2019

Post Na/GloPoWriMo 2019

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 8 Comments

I started this blog in 2014, to participate in National Poetry Writing month.  After meeting that challenge, I continued to write sporadically, then more frequently, and, finally, almost consistently for the next five years.

Well, National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2019 has come and gone, and once again I have met the challenge of writing a poem for every day of the month.  I actually managed to meet the daily prompt of Maureen Thorson at napowrimo.net 24 times, with 51 posts and 55 new poems – including 14 haiku/senryu/tanka and 3 haibun.  There were several new forms for me:
          • abecedarian poem
          • cento
          • list poem
          • meta poem (probably not my first)
          • sonnet
I posted 2 video poems and I tried something different with 3 poems that included audio recordings.

As usual, I enjoyed reading the prompt responses from other poets at napowrimo.net, reading as many as possible. Thank you to all who read my poetry this past month and especially to all who commented.

Ken G.

Whispering

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 30 Comments

Whispering

The prompt for NaPoWriMo.net Day 30 is to write a minimalist poem. I probably write more haiku than anything else, but I’m going to take a different route with this. I’ve taken a poem that I wrote 18 years ago, “The Love You Share,” and changed it, first by rewriting it, then reducing it in stages, until it’s a senryū, and then just one word.

The Love You Share

The moonlight, seen through your lovers eyes,
While holding hands under starry skies.

A gentle whisper that none will hear,
Except the lover that you hold near.

A tear that lies just above your cheek
And dries when you hear your lover speak.

A smile on your lips each time you take
A moment to watch your lover wake.

All this will be yours, for this I know:
The love that you share will make it so.

~~~~~

Born of a Whisper

Looking upon the moon reflected in her eyes,
he is overwhelmed by a flood of emotions.

Leaning closer as he holds her hand,
he strokes her soul with a gentle whisper.

A tear at the corner of her eye is poised
to fall, slowly drying as he speaks.

Born of a whisper, the bond that joins
their hearts is stronger than any word.

Lying beside him now, she smiles softly
as he stirs, reliving that first whisper.

Every time he wakes, her smile and gaze
assure him of the love they share.

~~~~~

Whisper

a bond is born of a gentle whisper
that strokes her soul

a flood of emotion brings tears
soon dried by the words

echoes stir her emotions
each time she sees him wake

remembering that first whisper

~~~~~

Whisper

a gentle whisper
strokes her soul,
echoes forever
as a bond is born

~~~~~

gentle whisper
echoes forever
bonding souls

~~~~~

whispering

Image source: giphy.com (edited here)

 

Acceptance ~ with audio

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 13 Comments

Acceptance

All of life is change. To deny so
is a mistake too often made.
We recognize growth in our children.

Why not so in ourselves?
Opportunities arise. Tragedy strikes.
Each has the potential to affect our attitudes,

our outlook on life, those effects
trickling down so that we are not
as we once were, who we once were.

I have not embraced my change, and stumbled,
recovery coming only after acknowledging
that the product of that change is who I have become.

The prompt for NaPoWriMo.net Day 29 is to write “a poem that meditates on an emotion you have felt powerfully.” As suggested, I’ve opened with a declarative statement.

Beauty No Less

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 20 Comments

 

Beauty No Less

The light that filters through
sycamore leaves, golden
these October days, glitters
on the waves beside my boat.

A light breeze rustles
the leaves, their scent mingling
with that of nearby oaks
showing just a hint of red.

Just as the honeyed tea
passing over my lips refreshes,
so, too, does the cool water
trailing over my fingers.

And what of those leaves, dry,
yet not, as they fall and settle
on the water? Is their beauty any less,
now, than in their green spring glory?

The prompt for NaPoWriMo.net Day 25 is to write a poem that:
               • is specific to a season
               • relates to the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell)
               • includes a rhetorical question

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finding new species ~ tanka

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 4 Comments

finding new species
traveling while painting birds
heron on the shore
captured for posterity
life’s work of nature lover

This tanka is my response to the prompt for NaPoWriMo,net Day 24, which is to write a poem inspired by a reference book. I seem to be in a Great Blue Heron groove lately, so I pulled out my priceless copy of John J. Audubon’s Birds of America (Don’t I wish!) and turned to Plate 211 to view Audubon’s painting and read his description of this magnificent bird.

Image source: audubon.org

 

 

Graceful Exit ~ quadrille

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 22 Comments

 

Graceful Exit

A quick glance my way,
the only sudden movement
in this stop action scene,
and the heron’s neck moves
forward, its legs bending
to launch that tall frame
as wide wings spread wider
in seemingly slow motion,
rising and falling in a graceful exit.

This is my response to Quadrille #78: Rise, the prompt from Merril at dVerse, which is to use any form of the word rise in a quadrille, a 44-word poem that does not require meter or rhyme.

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