Monthly Archives: April 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 15 Challenge: long time, no philately

long time, no philately 

lick it, stick it on a letter,
a stamp delivers, no matter
the weather…be it wind,
or sleet or snow, it’s how things
worked some years ago
but these days we prefer to text
or tweet, or X, the art of writing nixed
can’t even spell, compose
a thought, we speak in code,
in acronyms…they’re hot!
now stamps are just a novelty
the fancy ones an oddity
prized treasures of philately
don’t even bother to write in cursive
a glyph the kids these days can’t read
IYKYK FWIW SMH W/E

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 15 Challenge: Today, we’d like to encourage you to take a look at @StampsBot, and become inspired by the wide, wonderful, and sometimes wacky world of postage stamps.


NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 14 – Wait…I think

Wait

Wait…I know you know the drill, learn to wait until…
Wait until you’re older, the ultimate cold shoulder
Wait to speak ‘til spoken to, best be seen not heard
Wait to date, to drive a car, to vote, but not too young to serve
Wait until your dad gets home, to face your fate alone
Wait a minute, maybe two, proceed with caution whatever you do
Wait until the time is perfect, though perfect is a lie
Wait until tomorrow, next week, or a year or so
Wait, never make the others wait, for gods sake don’t be late
Wait in traffic, wait in line, wait your turn, and waste your time
Wait until you can’t remember what you’re waiting for

Waiting is no way to live, don’t wait, don’t hesitate
While you have breath live fully, no regrets
Do what means most to you, push through,
as for the rest, the busy, silly, messiness of life can wait for once, for you

~kat



I think

I think I must’ve lost my way
At least I think it’s true
I think I thought I knew you well
We both know that’s not true

One of us was less than honest
I can’t believe I trusted you
You had me fooled up to the end
I hate admitting this to you

I think I’ve learned a bitter lesson
One that I won’t soon forget
I think it’s made me smarter too
I know it has, I won’t forget

~ kat

Today you get a two-fer. I chewed on both of these throughout the day…couldn’t decide which one I liked best or either!

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 14 Challenge: write a poem of at least ten lines in which each line begins with the same word (e.g., “Because,” “Forget,” “Not,” “If”). This technique of beginning multiple lines with the same word or phrase is called anaphora, and has long been used to give poems a driving rhythm and/or a sense of puzzlebox mystery. To give you more context, here’s an essay by Rebecca Hazelton on her students’ “adventures in anaphora,” and a contemporary poem that uses anaphora to great effect: Layli Long Soldier’s “Whereas.


NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 13 – How Eclipses Came to Be

Courtesy Rick Fienberg / TravelQuest International; additional processing by Sean Walker, Sky & Telescope.
How Eclipses Came to Be

Once upon a breeze-swept eve
the sun confided to the moon,
“I think we should collide!” Then
Moon relied, “I’m listening…” all the
while heartbeat a-twitter, feeling
quite undone. “I’m weary of day,”
Sun moaned, “the flowers, trees,
birds, humans, bees are fickle
souls who rush to shade, it’s quite
bizarre, when i am bright, preferring
night, even the stars glisten, when
you’re around, they swoon!”
“I think,” said Moon, who rose
full-faced for this occasion, reasoning
with a tidal dose of powerful persuasion,
“it’s just a rest you need, meet me at high
eclipse, new moon, you’ll see, the world
will stop to gaze at you, there’s nothing
that you need to do, just shine your
brightest, be yourself, just be, I’ll do what
I do best, trust me old sun, you’ll see.”
And so it was, and so it is how moon
stepped in to save the day, the sun
forgot his weary ways. The earth stood
still, moon flipped the switch. Now seasons
flow without a hitch, night dawns to day, days dusk to night, all because moon
set things a-right, crisis averted, now all is well.
We saw it with our own two eyes and lived to tell.

~kat

I’m afraid I ran out of time and daylight yesterday and found myself nodding late-night unable to conjure a single thought, but sleep…need sleep. But undaunted I rose this morning up to the task, to meet Day 13’s challenge and pen a proper, on task poem. Sleeping on it was just what I needed!

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 13 Challenge: Our optional prompt for the day asks you to play with rhyme. Start by creating a “word bank” of ten simple words. They should only have one or two syllables apiece. Five should correspond to each of the five senses (i.e., one word that is a thing you can see, one word that is a type of sound, one word that is a thing you can taste, etc). Three more should be concrete nouns of whatever character you choose (i.e., “bridge,” “sun,” “airplane,” “cat”), and the last two should be verbs. Now, come up with rhymes for each of your ten words. (If you’re having trouble coming up with rhymes, the wonderful Rhymezone is at your service). Use your expanded word-bank, with rhymes, as the seeds for your poem. Your effort doesn’t actually have to rhyme in the sense of having each line end with a rhymed word, but try to use as much soundplay in your poem as possible.

Wordbank

• Breeze trees

• light quite

• bitter twitter

• heartbeat meet

• flowers hours

• Sun undone

• Moon Swoon

• Stars bizarre

• collide confided

• Listen glisten


NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 12 – anonymous friends

anonymous friends 

It was several summers ago when
our paths crossed, her frail frame
swimming in goodwill store high
fashion, red lipstick bleeding
into the lines around her thin lips,
curly, gray ringlets tumbling out from
under the rim of a crocheted blue cap,
an astute observer she was, I could tell
with twinkling eyes - so wise was she
I sensed it, as I jogged by each day

Even though we never spoke
as i rounded the corner of the street
the last leg of my three mile trek
she always smiled with a nod as if
to say, “I see you”, and I would
smile and nod, “I see you too”
it seemed the polite thing to do
I wonder if she sees me still…
to see and to be seen is no small
thing as I have come to know

I never realized how significant these
intentional, chance meetings were
until the week she wasn’t there
waiting for the city bus in her usual
spot. It was a week that turned into
weeks…then a month…two months…
then three, she was gone, my great
fear confirmed when a real estate
agent staked a “for sale” sign in
the middle of her unkempt, overgrown lawn

I lost interest in running soon after,
that street corner became a bittersweet
reminder of the connection we shared
I wish we had spoken a word or two…
how remarkable it was that she touched
my soul so deeply, however briefly,
moments that fill me with melancholy
a tinge of regret, a missed opportunity
we might have been friends, perhaps we were
though I never even knew her name

~kat

Slightly on topic or off topic…A tale but not exactly tall. 😊

NaPoWriMo 2024 ~ Day 12 Challenge: write a poem that plays with the idea of a “tall tale.” American tall tales feature larger-than-life characters like Paul Bunyan (who is literally larger than life), Bulltop Stormalong (also gigantic), and Pecos Bill (apparently normal-sized, but he doesn’t let it slow him down). If you’d like to see a modern poetic take on the tall tale, try Jennifer L. Knox’s hilarious poem, “Burt Reynolds FAQ.” Your poem can revolve around a mythical character, one you make up entirely, or add fantastical elements into a real person’s biography.


NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 11 – leafless

leafless

what worked in winter is not a good look for spring

…just sayin’ ~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 11 Challenge: write either a monostich, which is a one-line poem, or a poem made up of one-liner style jokes/sentiments.

It’s been a long day at work…opted for a Monostich. This form is harder than it looks folks! 🤪