NaPoWriMo Day 21: Just as Rosa Jamila’s poems often sound like they come out of a myth or fairy tale (and not always one with a happy ending), today I challenge you to write a poem in the voice of minor character from a fairy tale or myth. Instead of writing from the point of … Continue reading The Sky is Not Falling, I Simply Failed Physics
Poetry
You might be broke up
If you've had one trip to Mexico Two Brazilian waxes Three birthday bouquets delivered to your home And more strange men kiss you than you can count on two hands* Since your last date with your boyfriend You might be broke up. ~Just L (April 21, 2016) *Not really, but it rhymes #abouthim
The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports
NaPoWriMo Day 20: Today’s prompt comes to us fromVince Gotera, who suggests a prompt very much in keeping with our poet in translation, a “kenning” poem. Kennings were riddle-like metaphors used in the Norse sagas. Basically, they are ways of calling something not by its actual name, but by a sort of clever, off-kilter description … Continue reading The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports
How to (almost) Kiss
NaPoWriMo Day 19: Many years ago, “didactic” poetry was very common – in other words, poetry that explicitly sought to instruct the reader in some kind of skill or knowledge, whether moral, philosophical, or practical. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write the latter kind of “how to” poem – a didactic poem that … Continue reading How to (almost) Kiss
The Sound of Home
NaPoWriMo Day 18: Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates “the sound of home.” Think back to your childhood, and the figures of speech and particular ways of talking that the people around you used, and which you may not hear anymore. My grandfather and mother, in particular, used several … Continue reading The Sound of Home
Authorized Version of the Day
NaPoWriMo Day 17: Today, I challenge you to find, either on your shelves or online, a specialized dictionary. This could be, for example, a dictionary of nautical terms, or woodworking terms, or geology terms. Anything, really, so long as it’s not a standard dictionary! Now write a poem that incorporates at least ten words from … Continue reading Authorized Version of the Day
Unseasonably Hot
NaPoWriMo Day 16: Today, I challenge you to fill out, in no more than five minutes, the following “Almanac Questionnaire,” which solicits concrete details about a specific place (real or imagined). Then write a poem incorporating or based on one or more of your answers. Happy writing! A powerful storm produced piles of agates, three … Continue reading Unseasonably Hot
Traveling Light
The road I travel will always be bright, because it is and forever completely mine-- Your inability to see me for the beauty and light that I am does not dull my shine-- It simply makes your path darker. ~Just L (April 16, 2016)
Click Clique
NaPoWriMo Day 15: Because today marks the halfway point in our 30-day sprint, today I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates the idea of doubles. You could incorporate doubling into the form, for example, by writing a poem in couplets. Or you could make doubles the theme of the poem, by … Continue reading Click Clique
“For Women Who Are Difficult To Love”
You are a horse running alone and he tries to tame you, compares you to an impossible highway, to a burning house. Says you are blinding him, that he could never leave you, forget you, want anything but you. You dizzy him, you are unbearable. Every woman before or after you is doused in your … Continue reading “For Women Who Are Difficult To Love”
Just L Poetry 