Monthly Archives: April 2025

April 30, 2025

NaGloPoWriMo – 30 April 2025 – The ReVerse…and glimmer day 119

By Kat Myrman 
NoGloPoWriMo April 2025~The ReVerse

mother of my mother
may the fates grant me a few more years
the pillars on the hill are toppling, tumbling to the ground
you ask what…and I ask why
i wake up to the sun at dawn
underneath the juniper trees
a splash of summer
I don’t need pennies for my thoughts… 
death himself leaned in, posthaste…
this moment will be over soon
i hear it was here
cold and dreary…it’s grey
there is no middle ground on which to stand
it’s raining helicopters and jets
It’s exactly as we planned
may she rest in pieces 
it’s not normal how normal things seem, 
a day lost, never to be
recovered 
they know where I live
I saw kids playing ball, people
I smiled intentionally 
it’s not junk
if love were a tree
until the truth is impossible to know
it’s not as bad as you say it is
people who say they love us, choose them
we don’t miss what we don’t know
destroying democracy is not enough
celebrate love and the dead
what you see is what you get
instead, join me in the bliss
come to fetch me…
as our souls begin to spill out,
just in time to watch the sun rise…

~kat

Wow! What a grand poetry month is was! And what glimmers to boot! And here we are at the end 100 days of madness…1,361 days to go. It may as well be forever…it may just be forever. But for the glimmers, and community, and spring’s greening embracing us, the constancy of the seasons and kindness. There is kindness. 

I will continue my 365 day journey of glimmers and poetry. These 30 days were a nice detour, forcing me to focus my usual random thoughts and musing to align with prompts. It’s been a good moth of words. May we always finds the words to say what needs to be said. 

Much love, peace and glimmers to you…and speaking of…the blackberry bushes are blooming! Enjoy! 

A ReVerse poem (a practice I started many years ago) is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it here as a summary review of this year’s poetry month.

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April 29, 2025

glimmer day 118 ~ NaGloPoWriMo 29 April 2025

By Kat Myrman 
a day in the life dawning 

even if I wanted to forget
they would remind me
rhythmic purrs growing
loud, louder under my bed
tiny toe pads tapping my arm
a stealth attack, razor sharp
teeth penetrating the blanket 
and my feet…OUCH! recoiling, 
my body contracting into
a fetal position, please go away
but they are relentless, my brood,
a diva dog, two white cat tyrants and 
a Schrödinger cat, jet black, who 
travels incognito through life… 
even when he’s not there, it’s safe
to assume he is…there…somewhere 
all this because it’s morning
time to take the pup out for the two p’s, time, good god mom! for breakfast…
time to get my opposable thumbs moving…
you don’t want us starving 
(you’ve heard of the old lady
with a house full of cats that ate her 
face when she died…don’t tempt us!)
no rest for the weary, breakfast is served 
just in time to watch the sun rise…
another day, another morning…
work, feed the brood, sleep, repeat

~kat

Oh, I protest…but I wouldn’t change a thing. I love living with wild souls in my home. Inside and outside I am surrounded by pure, beating hearts, some who depend on me entirely for their survival. And for my servitude they reward me with unconditional love and devotion. Today’s poem and glimmer are one in the same. The imp above is our kitty, Frankie. She’s very demanding but also very affectionate. She and her furry, feathered and scaled siblings give me a reason to get up each morning. how wonderful is that?! 🥰

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat

NaGloPoWriMo 29 April 2025 Prompt:

Ordinary rituals
We do rituals all the time even if we don’t recognize them. We gather for things like birthday parties, baby showers, bachelorette parties, funerals, etc. Even these small mindfulness practices are a kind of ritual. For today’s draft, think of a traditional or habitual activity and write a poem about it. / Recommended reading: “Blessing the Baby” by Diannely Antigua

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April 28, 2025

glimmer day 117 ~ NaGloPoWriMo 28 April 2025

By Kat Myrman 
outside of the box

we arrive here naked, unencumbered 
only to be quickly swaddled in cloth,
socks and booties forced on our feet,
sleepers and onesies, snaps, buttons,
and safety pins; try as we might to
break free, to wiggle our bare toes,
to feel the breeze on our skin, eventually
we comply with humanity’s dress code
and spend a lifetime covering ourselves
in fashion (a term that makes it sound
fancy) as if the magnificent skin
inhabited by our soul was somehow
inferior, shameful even, best hidden… 
but those of us fortunate enough to live 
to be gray, with skin soft and thinning, 
who’ve grown comfortable 
as our souls begin to spill out,
some of us, I admit I am one,
relish losing the shoes and
the clothes, and the shame, 
planting our bare feet in tall grass, 
pressing our toes into the cool earth 
as the breeze kisses our skin 
under the glow of the  moon and stars, 
finally free to be as nature intended…
naked as the day we were born

~kat

Today’s glimmer…new tetras for the fish tank. This year’s long winter was hard on so many of us. We found ourselves without power several times. One time though when the temperatures were particularly frigid, we were without power for days…long enough to lose what was in our refrigerator, no water, no way to leave because we were iced in. We survived by wearing layers and huddling under blankets, but most of our poor little fish didn’t make it.  We were unable warm the aquarium water as the temperatures inside dropped day by day. I missed them. Miraculously two hearty souls had survived along with our big precious and catfish, but they looked so lonely. This past weekend we added some friends. The world feels restored, if only under my roof! Meet the fishes who brighten my day every day! 

NaGloPoWriMo 28 April 2025 Prompt:

Break the mold. Get out of the rut. Think outside the box.
Write a poem about a new way of doing something. / Recommended reading: “For When We Greet Each Other” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

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April 27, 2025

glimmer day 116 ~ NaGloPoWriMo 27 April 2025

By Kat Myrman 
memories of a feral youth

flowers in pots on the window ledge
of a second floor brownstone, 
and me knocking on a creaky 
aluminum screen door,
invited inside, to eat cookies 
with orange juice in a jelly jar
my mother would eventually 
come to fetch me…
they were so nice, the neighbors 
even though I was an escape artist
even though I picked a flower 
from their window ledge garden
to give to my mother 
(I would learn that taking 
things that didn’t belong to me 
was bad, and made people sad that day…)
I would learn about forgiveness too
the next time I escaped, welcomed once 
again, with cookies and orange juice 
in a jelly jar, and my neighbor 
smiling at me from across 
a linoleum laminated 
table with an metal rim
as we waited for my mother 
to come fetch me again…
a seemingly sweet memory 
that years later 
disturbs me as I wonder
how did I, a toddler of two or three,
have such freedom to wander…

~kat

NaGloPoWriMo 27 April 2025 Prompt:

What goes up but never comes down?
Your age. 

Terrible jokes aside, ages and aging make great poetry fodder. Write a poem about a specific year in your life. It can be an age that has passed and is memorable or one that’s to come that you may be dreading or hope to embrace. / Recommended reading: “At Twenty” by Heidi Seaborn and “Two Months Before My 65th Birthday” by David James

Today’s glimmer…discovering a new bug!

I have photos of bugs and plants and fungi as well as animals that wander the woods surrounding my house in the foothills. I love learning new things. Every day there is something to discover. Today it was a bug. I have never seen a bug that looks like this bug. So of course I snapped a photo of it so I could research it later…

Introducing a Roundneck Sexton Beetle. These are “burying beetles”. Nocturnal, the male searches for a small dead animal and once found, secretes a pheromone to attract a female. Once the female arrives the two of them begin the process of burying the carcass. They will remove the fur or feathers and then cover the bare skin with an enzyme that delays decomposition. The carcass is then formed into ball with a nesting chamber hollowed out in the middle. This is where the female will lay her eggs. Once the larvae hatch she rounds the brood up inside the carcass and then unlike other burying beetles both the male and female will eat from the carcass and then regurgitate the food for the young. This little bug is truly gruesome and fascinating. Now you know!

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April 26, 2025

glimmer day 115 – NaGloPoWriMo 26 April 2025

By Kat Myrman 
pandemics and zombies and dictators…oh my
 
 
yeah…I’m gonna pass…
the next apocalypse, that is
it’s exhausting 
get the vaccine, or not
wear the mask, or don’t 
whatever you do, don’t get bit, 
zombie cooties are lethal 
let us not forget, “you know who”
with his itchy, little fingers
has the nuclear codes now
and he’s not afraid 
to try them…oops
clean up on aisle 47…

instead, join me in the bliss
of the present moment 
I’ll bake us cookies
we can sip tea and watch 
the sun rise…and set
dream of nothing
not even tomorrow, because
tomorrow’s not promised
to any of us…apocalypses
come and go, but the question,
the question always is, 
did you live in full, 
the life you’ve been given…
don’t answer that
just do it,
leave the zombie slaying, 
and apocalypse surviving
to those who believe 
it will make a difference
because the truth is…
no one gets out of here alive

~kat

NaGloPoWriMo 26 April 2025 prompt:

Think fast
What would you save from apocalypse? What’s in your Noah’s arc or “just” in your car fleeing from some emergency? You have 10 minutes to gather your “valuables.” Write a poem about your most precious belongings. / Recommended reading: “Writing Poems in the Middle of a Catastrophe” by Özge Lena

I didn’t forget today’s glimmer. There is no pretty photo to share for this glimmer. I started the day like I usually do. Walked Gabby (my pup), fed all the critters under our roof and tossed a few peanuts outside for the crows, and then, I gifted myself with a morning nap. I slept deeply until noon. I had chores to do, and I got to those, but those few extra hours were lovely. A gift to myself. And a reminder to myself and you, dear reader…self-care, no matter how that translates to you, is not an indulgence, but it is essential to keeping you, you.

much love, peace, and glimmers to you. Take care of you! We need your light in the world!

~kat

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