Your box of unfolded handkerchiefs: carefully lifted from corners, our shared morning ritual of colour and story, such pretty patterns. How I wish for those small squares now you’re gone.
On the 22nd March we lost our Great Aunty Sheila, she was an amazing lady. Over the past few years I have been writing my memories. This one was written today for the Napowrimo prompt. I used to visit her over the weekend sometimes and our morning would always start in her bed, looking through her collection from around the world. I loved this time and as an adult, admire her patience over the insistence of a six year olds rituals. Sheila was the calmest person I have ever known.
PROMPT: Because it’s a Saturday, I thought I’d try a prompt that asks you to write in a specific form – the nonet! A nonet has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second has eight, and so on until you get to the last line, which has just one syllable.
Awwwww – weekend NaPo! No (time) pressure. I was excited to see the prompt was a Nonet – I have written in this form, discovered it several years ago and haven’t used it since.
I start, as always, with the featured participant’s poem. Words in the Wind by Kim M. Russell. The language is exquisite!
I wuther over moors and I squabble in the sky.
I really enjoyed this alter-ego poem.
I added Kim’s site to my Reader and left a comment. Another aspect of NaPoWriMo which is wonderful – the connections you make with other people and their poems.
Next stop, Pine Hills Review. I admired the variety of articles and interviews but found the flashing images on the menu mixed with my morning coffee beyond vibrant (a sign of getting too old…) and decided to explore the magazine via the suggested poem.
I LOVED listening to the audio of the poem. I then read the text to myself. I found the atmosphere of the poem encircle me. I was so moved by this poem that I plan to press it across social media today. In the week of our family funeral it sits even faster to my soul.
we looked up and talked about Venus, how much she stood out among the stars, how the night looked blacker, even the pine trees behind us leaning south from decades of hill wind.
cocooned in our openness like survivors on a life raft
all of us pressed together by gravity, everything blending into everything else,
And those end-lines. Phewwww – deep exhale. This is a beautiful poem. Grant Clauser has just found himself a new reader, thanks Pine Hills Review! I added Pine Hills Review to my Reader too.
I sat in the moment of the poem for a while before disappearing down a Twitter shaped rabbit hole!
PROCESS NOTES:
The Nonet.
I sat for seconds before I chose my subject. I liked the constraint of the syllabic frame and by line 3 was composing to order (which is always a lovely surprise) – by that I mean I wrote the line then counted the syllables and they fitted, whereas the first few lines had to be manipulated.
I just need to find a title.
Every once in a while I will share a full poem and as the Nonet is so short and it’s the weekend… this is one of those times.
Souvenirs of Life
Your box of unfolded handkerchiefs: carefully lifted from corners, our shared morning ritual of colour and story, such pretty patterns. How I wish for those small squares now you’re gone.
You have managed over a week, over a quarter of the NaPoWriMo challenge. At this point you will fall somewhere between exhausted and rejuvenated. This weekend post should help you reach some balance because if you’re already attempting 30 poems in 30 days… YOU ARE AWESOME!
This week you’ve read at least 30 poems (or 31 if you did the Early Bird) and probably more, as who can visit a magazine and only read a couple of poems? Plus you would have read your own work back to yourself. So the actual number is probably way over 40!
40 poems in a week… for those of us who read collections that may not be unusual, but it’s certainly good practice to read widely and I can guarantee this week’s reading will have lodged sprinkles of muse inside your minds for later! By reading a few extra poems in the journals and including my own work I have read 56 poems.
Of course, you may have fallen behind and feel intimidated by these numbers. Don’t be. At the very least you started and who’s counting anyway! Just keep going. You will have read more than if you weren’t attempting NaPoWriMo at all!
You will have written at least 9 poems. If you’re taking part in Nina’s NaPo Challenge there will be 18 new poems in your stack.
In addition you may be using the PAD challenge or others – go careful if you’re working through multiple prompts, in previous years I have saved some lists for May/June… there was that year I wrote 99! But I wouldn’t recommend such pressure.
Whatever you do and however many poems you managed to write – KEEP IT FUN!
I have written 10, as I did the Early Bird prompt.
But NaPo is much more than a numbers game. You will feel all sorts of positive emotions from being part of NaPoWriMo 2022! You may have found community, new followers, a new poet or poem to love, an answer to a question, a joy for writing and/or a release.
Let us know how it has been for you in the comments and don’t forget to find some time to relax too!
awritersfountain 