I am
worth
just
as much
as
you.
Tag Archives: poem a day
Noir
She steps
out of the
fog that
hangs around
until noon
every day
this time
of year, furtive,
turning to
see if he
is still following,
the one who
knows about
the stain on
her best coat,
the one she
left under
Santa Monica
Pier.
Are Muses Just for Men?
Here is another Poetry month daily prompt site. It is from Donna L. Sadd. Her suggestion today is to write a poem about the muse.
Well, mine is strange. When it comes to mythology, I can’t help considering the thoughts of Jung. Early poets and artists were usually men, and the muses are female all three or nine of them. (Often, real women filled those roles for artists, Sometimes, they even did some of the work and didn’t get credit for it.) I wonder whether the concept of a muse applies to female writers. Certainly, every artist enters the realm of something Freud called the unconscious, when time disappears and something else takes over. For me, this is a place/space rather than a person. Your thoughts?
#AprilPrompts – Day 2 – Muse – #NaPoWriMo | Donna L Sadd.
Muse
Nine-sistered
shadow
side of men,
splintered
daughter of
Mnemosyne,
goddess
of memory,
and Zeus,
master of Olympus,
or a group
gathered
by Osiris
to seed
civilization
in its wake,
one and many,
on the wings
of their pet
Pegasus,
they pull an
alternate progeny,
children of
image and
story, to rival
hungers
of blood.
Write a “Bright” or “Dark” Poem for Robert Brewer’s Blog
This is Two-fer Tuesday on Robert Brewer’s blog. Today’s assignment is to write a poem suggested by the word bright, the word dark, or both.
2013 April PAD Challenge: Day 2 | Write a Poem a Day Until May | WritersDigest.com.
Here’s mine:
Bright
Blinding
emergence
from pulsing
red heat
beating darkness
unconscious
junction unaware
of unseen realities
of separation
promising brightness
at the end of
a pressing tunnel
blinking screaming
at bloody murder
of beginning
and all blinding
divisions gradually
emerging
from icy light.
2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 30 | Milk Poem | WritersDigest.com
Today is the last day of the Poem a Day Challenge. I did not finish my NaNoWriMo goal, but I did write a poem every day. Now, it’s time to go through them and choose between 10 and 20 for the chapbook competition. You can enter too, even if you didn’t post. Today’s link leads to the final prompt, a “milk” poem, and the community’s responses. There you will also find a link to the submission rules. Revision is allowed, and so are some poems not written during the competition, but most should have been created for the PAD challenge. You have until January to submit. (I get involved in other things and forget, so I will probably put mine together much sooner.)
This has been a wonderful experience, and I know that my efforts have been read by more people than would have seen most printed journals. I’ve met some wonderful new poets. I plan to keep posting my own warm-ups here, but other challenges loom and it might not be daily. Thanks for following and I hope you had fun, too.
2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 30 | Milk Poem | WritersDigest.com.
Milk
White as
winter, poured
icy from
the refrigerator
White as
Grandmother’s
sheets.
delivered to the doorstep
White as
summer clouds
in my
first cup
White as
cream
for Dad’s coffee
from the top
White as
light
through the morning
window.
White as
simple
beginnings:
milk.
Write a Poem About Birth
We are nearing the end of the Poem a Day challenge on Robert Lee Brewer’s blog. It has been an interesting experience. I will either continue with my own prompts or find another community. You are certainly welcome to join me by posting in the comments.
Today’s prompt at PAD is to write a poem about giving birth. Click on the link to add your own. You can join in any time.
2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 29 | Birth Poem | Experience | WritersDigest.com.
Here’s mine:
I kept telling
myself that
the Queens of England
did this
as I lay on the table
under blazing lights
coming undone
the most
private places
in full view
of strangers,
And then, the doctor
said, “He’s going
to be smart.”
A nurse said,
“What a pretty
little face.”
It was like
the blessing
in a fairy tale,
especially when
eyes still blue
as heaven
cast their
virgin gaze
on me.
Linda Armstrong, 11/29/2012, All rights reserved.
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.
Write an Opposite Poem
Today’s challenge on Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides Blog is to write an Opposite poem, using a previous challenge post as its basis. If you have not been participating, you can scan the previous prompts on the blog and take the opposite point of view, choose a poem by a famous poet and write a contrary reply, or do the same with a poem of your own. I looked over the poems I have written for the challenge this year and decided to use the one I wrote yesterday, “The Truth About Art.” I wrote “Lies About Art.”
To read a fascinating collection of replies to this prompt, click on the link, and then, if you feel inspired, add one of your own. Anybody can join in the fun. You have to register for the blog to post, but it’s very easy.
2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 25 | Opposite Poem | WritersDigest.com.
Here’s my poem:
Lies About Art
The harder
it is the better,
after all,
it’s about
the skill,
the height
of the leap,
the length
of the note,
the flawless
reproduction
of a photograph
in an unforgiving
medium.
The best
is dearest,
after all
experts know
a fine
investment
when they
see one
and no
great poet
has died
unknown.
It takes
years to learn,
after all,
the wheel
has been invented
and there are
so many
conventions
to attend.
Besides,
who would
want
to be called
a child?
Linda Armstrong, November 25, 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.
One Way to Wonder 