Joanne Merriam » NaPoWriMo

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #30

joannemerriam — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:26:31 +0000

Read “Upon Discovering My Entire Solution to the Attainment of Immortality Erased from the Blackboard Except the Word ‘Save’” by Dobby Gibson, then write a poem on loss and memory.

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #29

joannemerriam — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:23:58 +0000

Read “My Parents Have Come Home Laughing” by Mark Jarman, then write about a moment in your childhood.

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #28

joannemerriam — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:21:03 +0000

Read “Mostly Mick Jagger” by Catie Rosemurgy, then write a poem about a musician or celebrity.

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #27

joannemerriam — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:13:36 +0000

Think of an acronym you use all the time—a government agency, technical term or product. Now make a list of all the things you can think of that the acronym could stand for. Be as silly or whimsical as you like. Then write a poem using one or more of the phrases you’ve created. (Idea from here.) For some inspiration, though this poem as far as I know has nothing to do with this prompt, process-wise, read “Humanimal [Feral children are fatty]” by Bhanu Kapil.

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #26

joannemerriam — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:09:00 +0000

Read “Flood” by Miyazawa Kenji then: Think of the nicest thing someone ever said to you. Write a poem about a rainy day and something flooding. End the poem with the good thing someone said. (This prompt stolen from here.)

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #25

joannemerriam — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:01:49 +0000

Make a list of eight words which rhyme with each other (like berate, conflate, freight, grate, plate, oblate, upstate, weight) and write a poem using them all, not necessarily at the ends of lines.

I don’t have a poem to go with this one either. Here’s a good one to be inspired by: “A List of Praises” by Anne Porter.

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #24

joannemerriam — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:56:44 +0000

Grab the closest book. Write down the first word that appears on every line. Rearrange them to make a poem (adding or subtracting as needed, of course; let’s not be dogmatic).

I don’t have a poem to go with this one, so here’s a random awesome poem: “Be Drunk” by Charles Baudelaire.

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #23

joannemerriam — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 11:53:42 +0000

You’re probably pretty tired by now. Today, try something very short, like this:

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

—Ezra Pound

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #22

joannemerriam — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:59:51 +0000

Beg; borrow; steal. Write a poem starting with a line written by another poet. (Call your poem “Starting With a Line by [So-And-So]” or put “after [So-And-So]” under your title, or otherwise acknowledge your debt to the poet.) See: “Sonnet After a Line by Sue Standing” by Martha Collins; “Poem Starting with a Line by Jason Bredle” by J. P. Dancing Bear; “Till I Have Conquered in Myself What Causes War” by Cynthia Hogue; “Mourning in the Burned House” by RJ Ingram; “After a line by F. Scott Fitzgerald” by William Logan.

NaPoWriMo poem & prompt #21

joannemerriam — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:56:22 +0000

Read some of Austin Kleon’s newspaper blackout poems and then try your hand at some of your own.