Prompts | awritersfountain

Day Thirteen Click to read the full post

Today, our featured participant is . . . two featured participants, because I couldn’t pick just one. Here, in response to our “past and future” prompt, is unassorted stories‘ vertiginous poem that takes you from Ancient Greece up into the stars, and Selma‘s poem that lets you peek into the pulse of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a consul and general of Rome.

Today, our featured reading is a live event that will take place tomorrow, April 14, at 7 p.m. eastern daylight time. Poet Mark Wunderlich will read via Zoom for the reading series at Bennington College.

Today’s prompt comes from the Instagram account of Sundress Publications, which posts a writing prompt every day, all year long. This one is short and sweet: write a poem in the form of a news article you wish would come out tomorrow.

Happy writing!

Photo by Aphiwat chuangchoem on Pexels.com

Just like Day 12 – I am still catching up with some of my NaPo gaps, before I go offline I wanted to make sure I had placed today’s prompt here. I will be back to add more about process and outcomes in the small hours or tomorrow, please do check back.

UPDATE

PROCESS NOTES:

I read the participant’s poems, great to have two featured. It must be hard to decide some days. The first one is a from a blog already in my reader. Divination spoke to me of the horrendous things humans did to each other in the past (but also still do today) and how sometimes the best way of getting what you need is to take the opposite (much less violent/hateful) approach.

we would be declared unpersons

As light-centuries passed
we hacked the future
found a probability world

I was interested that the prompt had encouraged the poet to look at historic artefacts. It is a confident ekphrastic poem.

I liked how the two dictionary resources were weaved through the second poem A Peek into the Pulse of Past and Future. I love the fact that Selma Martin includes process notes on her writing/challenge too. Kinship.

 And so twirling his thumbs until hypnotized into the fourth dimension,
 Marcellus, Marcus Claudius walked with the Tiber beating inside him.

I wasn’t able to make the featured reading as I was booked into other events. I did find this video and used it as a substitute for the Bennington College Reading.

I was excited to discover Mark Wunderlich.

The prompt led me to a brilliant Instagram account. I am new to this platform and host a blank page on IG as I joined purely to access poetry readings in Lockdown 1 2020. I spent a long time checking out the Sundress Academy. I have a feeling I had come across their retreats/website before. I saved some of the Sundress Publications IG prompts to use post-Napo.

The poem for this prompt came quite fast and was written in a block like a newspaper article complete with capitalization/ headline title.

despicable treachery

this isn’t so much an extract than the telling of the whole story!

I thoroughly enjoyed today’s NaPoWriMo readings, resource and prompt.

As we are a participating blog, I thought it sensible to keep up to date with NaPoWriMo. So far it has been a busy weekend with an event in a neighbouring County and the Poetry Ballroom. I have managed my writing time but am only just now finding a space to blog about it.

Unlike previous years (where I have more or less gone alone), this year I am in several groups and have even joined in at The Poetry School. I am using prompts from various sources to kick-start the writing. So far I have managed dual prompts from www.napowrimo.net and prompts from Carrie Etter, from her Facebook group – where we are not sharing poems (that is what the Poetry School enrolement is for), instead we are discussing some of our favourite poems and how it feels to be embarking on a crazy month of a poem a day. Carrie added a page of 30 prompts and poets have been dipping into them in random order. Out of 7 poems written so far I have 4 that I shall keep to edit and mould later in the year.

I do a draft/edit/rewrite – move on – 30 in 30 days is a pace of a thing but generally you get a sense for the ones to revisit and no writing is wasted time (in my opinion). I enjoy the challenge of this craziness and also carving out some daily writing time.

For the first time since discovering this challenge (2014), I am writing longhand in notebooks. That in itself makes a change to my normal practise.

DAY 1: SATURDAY

http://www.napowrimo.net/day-one-it-begins/

I wrote Day 1 in the early hours of Day 2, I learnt a few years back that when you are busy FORGIVE yourself for not writing to deadline, the world will not collapse.

The main prompt at Naponet was a Kay-Ryan-esque poem: short, tight lines, rhymes interwoven throughout…

I negated mentioning animals and I think my sharp philosophical conclusion may have to be added in later edits, in was in the style as far as line/rhythm. A poem about our house, more honestly the state of our house my lifestyle has created.

I think ‘Home’ works as a complete poem but looking to post a flavour here (as blogging it in full is considered publication), I cannot choose lines that will give you much taste at all.

This year’s links from NaPo are all interviews with a poet, whether you are joining in writing this year or not I would urge you to check out the links and interviews found on the official site. Spend the month reading instead.

Today’s interview came from the Paris Review and is with Kay Ryan https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5889/kay-ryan-the-art-of-poetry-no-94-kay-ryan

All Your Horses By Kay Ryan https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/57401

napofeature4

The featured participant for DAY 1 was http://www.gloria-gonsalves.com/glopowrimonapowrimo-early-bird-spring-wedding/ with a special Early Bird prompt (Haibun) inspired by wilting tulips in her writing space.

My 2nd effort came from Carrie Etter’s first prompt, I am tackling hers in order. I wrote about a badge collection that I had almost forgotten collecting, lots of childhood memory resurfaced.

Day 2 suggested using a recipe for inspiration, I found an Ancient Roman recipe and rewrote it as a couple attempting to conceive. An interesting exercise.