Write a “Plus” Poem

Here’s a poem for the fifth day of the 2013 Poem a Day Challenge on Rober Brewer’s blog. My contribution is below the link.

2013 April PAD Challenge: Day 5 | Write a Poem a Day Until May | WritersDigest.com.

Plus

They all add up,

in the end,

remnants of

all the different

people we have

been, the toddling

baby, tasting

everything that falls

in reach, the school

child hearing

the music of varied

voices, the teen

watching for every

slight, the young

adult feeling the frustrations

of a striving world,

the parent, overwhelmed

by the surprising perfume

of a child’s sun-dusted arm,

the aging friend, walking

by a river in the afternoon,

a sum from similar

numbers, so like, yet

unlike any other,

when added up.

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2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 27 | Hero Poem | Villain | WritersDigest.com

Today, participants in this year’s Poem a Day Challenge are writing a hero poem or a villain poem. Click on the link below to join the fun.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 27 | Hero Poem | Villain | WritersDigest.com.

The Villain

It doesn’t wear black

or lurk in alleys.

It doesn’t dwell

in putrid swamps

or waylay travelers.

It doesn’t creep

around in the dark

or carry knives.

It loathes all

drama.

It resists all

change.

It has no conception

of better.

It wants everything

to stay

the same.

Child of long

evolution,

Advocate of

unconditional survival,

it does not

trust aspiration.

It does not suffer

dreams. It keeps

me heavy and silent.

It cautions me

to remain safe

inside.

Linda Armstrong 11/27/12 �All rights reserved.

via 2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 27 | Hero Poem | Villain | WritersDigest.com.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 26 | Collection Poem | WritersDigest.com

Today’s challenge is to write a collection poem. Not everyone collects things, but a glance around our house would tell you that my husband and I do. He does it in a more organized way. My gatherings are distinctly haphazard.

Click on the link to go to Robert Lee Brewer’s blog and read the contributions of others. Then, add your own.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 26 | Collection Poem | WritersDigest.com.

Here’s mine:

JPEGs

They fill

the silvery

surfaces of

computer disks,

the hidden

resources

of external

drives, cloud-tops

from long flights,

footprints in snow,

drifting gold

leaves, glinting

sun on summer

lakes, blossoms

in spring orchards,

baby faces,

smiling friends,

all of them

held in virtual

memory, formatted

in universal jpeg.

Like Midas, I run

them through

my fingers,

longing to

hold on.

Linda Armstrong, 11/26/2012. All rights reserved.

Looking Back at the PAD Challenge and a Matches Poem

The very first prompt this month on Robert Lee Brewer’s blog was to write a Matches poem.  I was looking back because today’s assignment is to write an Opposite poem using a previous challenge entry. I realized that I have not linked to the first few poems and this could be a problem because I want a convenient way to gather them to submit for chapbook consideration.

You can enter the competition, too, even if you haven’t been posting or writing every day. Just choose your 20 favorite prompts from the month and write to them. Then watch for submission information early next month.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 1 | Matches Poem | WritersDigest.com.

Here’s my “Matches” poem.

We’re a match,

the two of us,

you with your

temper and me

too tempered

you with your

careful pacing

and me

with my wild

last minute

dashes.

We’re a match

of seeming

opposites, seamed

so closely together

that sometimes

there is no space

between us

like sky

and sea at

sunset on the

Pacific.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 22 | Paradise Poem | WritersDigest.com

Today’s challenge is to write a Paradise poem. What is your idea of paradise?

Click on the link for a variety of opinions.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 22 | Paradise Poem | WritersDigest.com.

Here’s mine:

Paradise

 

For some

paradise

is a tropical

shore

but I am

no fan

of sweat and bugs.

 

For some

paradise

is a mountaintop,

but I am

no fan

of wind-blown snow.

 

For some

paradise

is the first day of love

but I am

no fan

of intoxication.

 

For me,

paradise

is this

chair,

these hands,

these lettered

keys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 19 | Wheel Poem | WritersDigest.com

Today the prompt on the Poem a Day (PAD) Challenge is a wheel poem. It can be any kind of wheel.

Read the contributions of other writers on the site and add your own. Here’s the link:

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 19 | Wheel Poem | WritersDigest.com.

Here’s mine:

Wheels

 

My first wheels

were skates:

I rumbled

down the sidewalk

across calculated

cracks in concrete,

clicking out

a rhythm for

ball-bearings.

Rolling along alone

under the

summer sun,

Clackity clack

was the sound

of freedom.

 

My second wheels,

in a different

place, were

on the used bike

my father bought,

but I was afraid

to ride for a long

time, though I

longed to, not

trusting that

seemingly impossible

balance, until

someone let go

and I wobbled off,

until that wobble

turned to a whir.

Whir, whir

was the sound

of freedom.

 

After college

came my

first car,

a used Dodge

that randomly

died, but

took me

farther and faster

than I could

have dreamed.

Vroom, vroom!

That was the

sound of freedom.

 

When a Sumerian

first put

a log under

a load

to roll,

could he

imagine

skates,

bikes,

cars,

or a distant

time

of freedom?