Poem-a-Day Challenge begins, no April Fooling!

Oh, me, oh, my! How did I forget that this is the first day of the 2011 PAD Challenge?

Who's with me?

The object of the game is to write a poem each day in the month of April. Robert Lee Brewer at Poetic Asides will provide a daily prompt to put you in the mood.

Losing a baby, in poems

These first three poems are from 2006, when our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage. You can read the story at HoboMama.com.

Death of the Firstborn

"This Birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death." — T.S. Eliot

They all look quite like you at that age,
          and dead like nothing at all,
          a clot of purple-gray, sticky and wrapped with strong, black ribbons.

Feeling you leave in a gush of pain and red,
          in the blackest and loneliest part of the night,
was a hard & bitter agony,
          like giving birth,
giving birth to death.

Why were we led all that way, and never to see your face?
How could I do this again?
Death of the firstborn,
          and God spares no one,
          because why should we be passed over?

---

End of the Bleeding

Who knew I’d feel this desperate
To hold on to the bleeding?

To realize I can trade in maxi for mini,
And I insist on the industrial-size.

A few more drops of liquid life,
And you’re gone, little one,
Gone,
Along with all that housed you.

My uterus is an empty rented house,
Scrubbed clean,
Waiting for the next inhabitant.

---

Robin

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. Do you believe this?" — Jesus

Robin like the hope of spring
Robin like the blue of an egg, the peace of that blue filtering through me and healing

We buried you, Robin,
or maybe it was umbilical cord or placenta or blood (but let’s believe),
in the hardy mum that weathered
summer and winter, drought and flood,
one journey from East Coast to Midwest in the oppressive droopiness of summer,
and one from Midwest to West Coast in the blasting chills of winter,
and even my unmotherly indifference.
Will I one day be a Hardy Mum, Robin?
I feel more like a Bleeding Girl.

Robin, a unique mix of two people who loved you,
and we’ll never know if you had brown eyes or Irish green,
or if you skipped the odds entirely and went with your namesake blue,
like a daring surprise in a nondescript nest.
Would you inherit my chirping child’s always-singing voice,
your dad’s flights into the airy forgetfulness of thought,
my persistent hopefulness for a green thumb as I dig in the dirt?

Robin like a wish
Like a wish
Like a wish

---

And from this year, on Day 16 of the PAD Challenge, where the prompt was to write a death poem:

Mother after miscarriage

I hardly think of you anymore, Robin,
dear forgotten boy.
Tucked into the roots of the hardy mum,
just a few cells now dissolved,
nutrified, drawn into
the plant that sends out its blooms
early this year,
to remind me.

---

You can read more miscarriage and mothering poetry in Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years,
available on Amazon and CreateSpace.

Robin egg photo courtesy Karen Barefoot on stock.xchng

April Poem-a-Day Challenge so far

I'm a little nervous to do this, but I thought I'd share a few of the poems I've written so far for Robert Lee Brewer's PAD Challenge at Poetic Asides.

Please be kind and remember these are first drafts. I (and you) have till May 5 to polish and submit up to five favorites from the month.

As I mentioned on Hobo Mama, I'm trying to write as many parenting-specific poems as I can this year. If all goes well, I thought it would be fun to compile my parenting poems from this and previous years into a poetry chapbook as one of my ideas for what to do with my CreateSpace proof. But I have so many ideas, who knows!

I'm nervous to share my parenting poems for many reasons. You might, for instance, think my poetry is bad. You might, for instance, think my parenting is bad. But I'm pretty happy with these poems, and they speak truth in their way, so I'll let that be what it is.

Without further introduction, here are a few of my parenting poems from this month, with a link to the prompt that inspired each:

---

Day 15: For today's prompt, write a deadline poem. You can interpret what a deadline poem is however you wish. Maybe it's a poem that laments the idea of deadlines. Maybe it's a poem about someone intentionally missing them or who never has problems with them (I wish I were that person).

Deadline

People told me when you were due,
as if you were a term paper
and to turn in late would earn a failing grade.

We ignored them, didn't we?
Listening in the quiet days
for those first twinges to signal

you knew what time it was.

---

Day 4: For today's prompt, write a history poem. This could mean a poem about your country's history, the history of an event or a tool, or even your own personal history. Hey, you could even write about the history of a relationship. The history of everything is fair game. Have fun!

History

What can I learn in two years together
(almost three)?
What have you changed in me
except everything?

Did it start when they slid you up
onto my chest,
roughing you up with blankets
to remove the blood
my blood
our blood?

Or did it start when I felt your head
with my hand but also
with my whole body
my being concentrated
to one point,
the entrance
the exit
the start of our new history?

Or was it before
in the ache of my hips
in the slow creaking sinking of us
into the mattress
in the slow creaking walking of us
along the beach
your dancing bringing my hand to touch
a foot
a hand
a first hello?

I looked into your eyes
when they laid you on my chest
I cradled you the way they teach you
in postage stamps of Mary
and shadowed illustrations.
I became your mother
if I wasn't before.

The start of our story together,
your life expanding beyond
the gentle swimming and bobbing
no longer fed with blood.
You are dry now, with legs and hands
no longer wrinkled by fluids.
My life constricted, concentrated
upon this point,
upon you,
my breasts dripping milk
my spit cleaning your face
my palms accepting your chewed-up food.
I am wet
like seaweed
I am bound
like the tides
I wash ever closer to you
as you wash further away
to make your own history.

---

Day 3: For today's prompt, I want you to take the phrase "Partly (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make that the title of your poem, and then write the poem. For instance, your poem might be titled "Partly Cloudy," "Partly Crazy," "Partly Out of Touch," or whatever.

Partly resentful

It was my choice
(it's a child not a choice)
it was my choice, wasn't it?

to have you,
to reproduce,
to abandon myself

yet here my self resides,
partly resentful,
partly wistful
of those days

those days I could write poetry
and fly to London
and have sex on the bed
the blessed bed

the bed that brought you to me
that brought me here,
partly resentful

and wholly in love.

---

Day 7: For today's prompt, take the phrase "Until (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and write the poem. Possibilities include: "Until we meet again," "Until tomorrow," "Until monkeys fly out my butt," or even "Until blank" (why not?).

Until you move away

Pillow hog and space eater,
chubby legs kicking my thighs.
Starfish hands pushing my chest
and unh unh unh in the darkness
until I roll over and let you feed.
Dream interrupter, devourer of sleep,
you take while I wait
until you move away.

Lap hog and attention seeker,
sturdy body invading my space.
Starfish hand pulling my chin
to meet your gray-green eyes,
your chatter about octopi.
Poem interrupter, devourer of time,
you talk while I wait
until you move away.

Imagining a night with full sleep,
imagining a day with concentration,
uninterrupted, unrelenting,
unleavened.
Dreading the day
you move away.

---

Day 17: For today's prompt, write a science poem. Science encompasses a lot, so your poem doesn't have to be scientific to still be a science poem. For instance, you could have a poem titled something like "The Science of Love," and then examine a relationship. Voila! A science poem! Of course, it'll be interesting to see how many poets talk about volcanoes and single cell organisms, not to mention finding out how many "mad scientists" are out there.

Unchallenged theory

We quote the statistics
of lives saved and enhanced,

as we turn from the naysayers
in lab coats and with scalpels.

I scour Google Scholar
and laugh at the tagline.

"Stand on the shoulders of giants,"
I snicker, and click on my links.

I prove the way I parent is right
even as I know

I need no proof.

---

I've posted a couple bonus poems at Hobo Mama, too, if you're in the mood for more on this fine #poettues.

If you're sharing some of your PAD Challenge poems, be sure to let me know where so I can go check them out!

Photo courtesy Chris Greene on stock.xchng

Join me in the Poem-a-Day Challenge from Poetic Asides!

It's that time again!

April is National Poetry Month, which means...

Time for the Poem-a-Day Challenge at Poetic Asides!

Robert Lee Brewer posts a prompt every day, and you write a poem based on that prompt. It's very loose and fun, and everything is open to your interpretation, so don't let your poetic sensibilities get all in a twist.

And, remember, just like NaNoWriMo — the point is quantity, not quality! Just do it. Just write. Every day.

By the end of the month, you'll have 30 poems. Not all of them will be great. Probably quite a number will suck. But you'll be 30 poems richer.

And as I've heard before, you can't edit nothing. You have to have written to have something to polish and perfect, so...get poem-ing!

I'll see you at the starting line. Full rules and guidelines are here at Poetic Asides.

P.S. No, this is not an April Fool's joke. Start writing!

Photo courtesy surrealmuse on flickr (cc)

It's time for the Poem-a-Day Challenge!

April is National Poetry Month, so it's time to start the Poem-a-Day Challenge from poet Robert Brewer at Poetic Asides.

I really enjoyed participating last year and found having a daily prompt gave me just enough structure to inspire me to creativity.

Mind you, not every day's poem was a winner, but I was surprised at the quantity of quality that came out of that month. When you're writing 30 poems in a month, you're bound to create a gem or two!

Here are the full rules for 2009's PAD Challenge. They're enhanced and expanded from the first time around.

Post your poems in the comments on Robert Brewer's blog. If you post at least one poem for every day by May 1 at noon (EST), then you can achieve a completion certificate. (Very NaNoWriMo!) You can fall behind as long as you catch up.

At the end, Robert Brewer and guest judges will pick their favorite poems for inclusion in an eBook. Bonus!

Get started! Here's today's prompt: Write an origin poem.

Photo courtesy N Campbell

A poem a day

I mentioned in my last post that I get WritersDigest.com emails, and I was fortunate enough to read the latest one in a timely manner.

Because...

Robert Lee Brewer who is a poet and has a blog called Poetic Asides --

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides

-- is hosting a poem-a-day challenge for April, which is National Poetry Month, to get some good raw material going. These are supposed to be quick and dirty attempts to achieve some first drafts -- then, at the end of the month you'll have 30 poems to start working on during May, which is apparently National Poetry Revising Month.

(A separate topic to muse upon would be the dubious necessity of magazines anymore given the quantities of information and entertainment now online, as WritersDigest.com and its bevy of blogs is proving. Remember when some online sites, apart from porn, charged money just to be read? That was lame. Thank goodness for advertising revenue!)

So, I know this is a romance writer's blog and all, but I'm so geeked by this challenge. Is it all right to be a poet and a romance writer? I usually try to keep the two separate in people's minds, because be honest -- are you wondering which one I must suck at? The truth is, I'm awesome at both...)

But, seriously, if you're eclectic with the genres like me, feel free to play along. You can post your poems in the Poetic Asides blog's comments, or you can be a reclusive wretch like me and just accumulate privately.

Today, as Day Three, is haiku day, a three-line form (as practiced in English, anywho). I've learned a lot about haiku from reading Robert Lee Brewer's various blog entries on the subject and the links he gave. I especially like the easy-to-follow run-down with lovely example haiku in this resource by Michael Dylan Welch. (Does having Dylan as a middle name automatically make you a poet?)

I did not, however, learn enough about haiku to be brave enough to post my attempts. But I welcome future prompts that motivate us to wrestle with poetic forms. I love freestyling it, too, but I love the way a framework can provide security at the same time as inspiration. Being a fan of puzzles, I love the challenge of fitting my words and ideas into the form. Being a fan of history, I love knowing that a multitude of poets have come up with countless other conclusions to the same challenge.

I guess that's what intrigues me by the whole idea of the poem-a-day prompts in general. The first two were to write a poem on firsts, and to write a poem from someone else's perspective. (You can see that attempt at my parenting blog here.) I love being given a little bit of structure that I can add my own creativity to.

To all my fellow poets and poetry lovers out there, enjoy April!