Day twenty-four … Starting today there is only a full week left. Yes – now’s that time I start having that nagging little countdown start making it’s noise.

I’ve spent time looking over my PAD poems for this month – and, except for my political “Living in 45’s America”, I really don’t see any one theme that has developed. My poems have been diverse and far-flung in subject matter and tone. However – and let me brag just a bit here – I am up to 153 poems for this month.

If you did your math devision right – you will notice that is way more poems than the three+ poetry challenges I committed to. Yes, yes it is. And if you remember right – I said that I would not add any more challenges to my three PAD + political poems … unlike previous years where I would add any new PAD challenge I happened to discover. Well …

I lied. I’m weak-willed. I have a prompt addiction. Yeah – I’m up to 5+ poem-a-day challenges now. And to make my shame more oh-so-loco … I’m backtracking on their earlier April prompts. Yeah, I have a problem …

Speaking of which …

For my personal Poem A Day Challenge , today’s prompt is … smell of ripe bananas.

Robert Lee Brewer’s AprPAD challenge prompt is faith.

NaPoWriMo’s featured participant for the day is The Mother of Adam, who was quite enthusiac for the yesterday’s double elevensie poetry.  he featured poet for today is poet Rachel McKibbens being interviewed by the poet Jennifer L. Knox. NaPoWriMo points out that both McKibbens and Knox have ties to the “slam” poetry movement, which focuses on performance.

And today’s NaPoWRiMo prompt is to write a poem of ekphrasis — that is, a poem inspired by a work of art – with a slight caveat: the marginalia of medieval manuscripts. “Here you’ll find some characteristic images of rabbits hunting wolves, people sitting on nests of eggs, dogs studiously reading books, and birds wearing snail shells. What can I say? It must have gotten quite boring copying out manuscripts all day, so the monks made their own fun. Hopefully, the detritus of their daydreams will inspire you as well.”  ~ NaPowriMo

On the Poets&Writers 30 Day Challenge page, today’s prompt is a found poem gathered from the book you are reading now. Open a page, circle words and phrases that strike you, as well as words with which you’re not familiar or are overly familiar. Use the words to make a poem. Need more deets – check out their page.

The Poetry School asks you to write a Single-Use Poem  today. What is a single-use poem? “Well, it’s one that breaks after the first time you read it. What falls into that category? Twist Endings. Riddles. Jokes. Sudden revelations. Anything that relies on surprise for its effect. I want you to write a poem that will make people say, ‘You have to read this. I won’t spoil it for you. Just trust me!’. For inspiration, have a look at Matthew Francis’ ‘The Ornamental Hermit’. I won’t spoil it for you. Just trust me! It’s hard to find a decent copy online, but Michael Donaghy’s ‘Riddle’ is also a good example.”

And, hey, let me know how YOU are doing on these challenges? I really do love hearing about success!

 
It’s been a while since I shared one of this month’s PAD poems so here is yesterday’s double elevensies …

eleven again

 
phone
black. worn
ready in hand
because i can’t hear
ringing.

bed
turned down
at midnight hour
jealous of my phone’s
presence.

Yes – it’s still rough. Remember you do not worry about editing, revising, or polishing the poems until May 1st. This month is just for WRITING the first drafts.

Well, good luck with today, my friends!

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