Category Archives: free verse

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!

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in 2025, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, free verse, Life Lessons, napowrimo, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

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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April 24, 2025

glimmer day 113 – NaGloPoWriMo 24 April 2025

By Kat Myrman 
february 

her dark, wind-swept days
celebrate love and the dead
and rodent shadows
mistress of calendars,
quadrennial day shifter,
she conspires with the sun
to reset time while the earth
spins an extra day
on its lopsided axle
and winter leaps into spring 
under the snow moon

~kat

I had a friend in school who was born on the 29th of February. I felt sad for him because his birthday only came around once every four years. Oh, it was no big deal they said. They still celebrated their birthday on the 28th of the month or into March on the 1st. 

But I do remember he was an odd kid. I wondered at the time if his unusual birth day was the reason for his weirdness. The fact that I remember him these 50+ years later; that I remember that he had a weird birthday shows the impression it had on me. Over the years I’ve met a few other February 29th people. They seemed weird too. Or maybe I was just conditioned to think that because of my initial encounter. 

How impressionable we are when we are young. And I wonder, how will the undertone of hate and exclusion in the world today affect our kids years from now. It’s all the more reason to be kind and to counter hate with love and compassion. Even on those days when it seems like there is nothing we can do…we can be kind. I’m convinced that is our secret weapon during these troubled times. 

much love, peace, kindness and glimmers to you.

~kat

and a glimmer today….I discovered a new bloom on my Christmas Cactus. Enjoy! 

NaGloPoWriMo 24 April 2025 prompt:

“untidy, reckless, deviant”
That’s a list from a poem by Aiyana Masla. The full line goes like this: “the tangle / of white wild flowers / in the bright field / untidy, reckless, deviant / in their courage & in their beauty,/ their happiness a holiness, /visceral & redemptive.” Masla’s poem is titled “June,” and it’s positively gorgeous. For today’s draft, let’s start with a month as our title and write a poem that encapsulates observations and feelings about that month. / Recommended reading: In addition to Masla’s poem, check out these Poems for Every Month of the Year

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April 23, 2025

glimmer day 112 – NaGloPoWriMo 23 April 2025

By Kat Myrman 
made in China

americans love cheap shit
mr trump, with his golden toilets, and
gilded, garish opulence, doesn’t get us
why else would he declare war
on the only thing that makes our simple
lives livable…cheap shit, meticulously 
engineered, easy to assemble kits
of a gazillion pieces, pressed, laminated
planks with precisely pre-drilled holes, 
vacuum packed bolts and screws, 
tiny hex keys to put it all together, 
it’s an afternoon’s entertainment 
with a surprise at the end, like cracker
jacks (if you’re old, you know), and 
the satisfaction of building something
usable: a chest of drawers, lawn furniture,
toys, cabinets, shelves, and so much more
you have to admit china is good, very good
at producing the bargains we crave…
destroying democracy is not enough
for the vindictive tyrants in our crumbling government
they had to shut down our access to cheap shit too

~kat

I am proud to say I assembled the chest of drawers in the photo above, as well as a dresser, a nightstand, and recently an outside “egg chair swing”, an open coffee station rack, a bread box…clearly I am a fan of “made in China” stuff.  The latest tariff shenanigans are a real bummer. It’s the end of an era. 

But all is not lost…while I may not be able to afford made in China stuff in the future. I shall enjoy sipping tea while swinging in the warm summer breeze in my new egg swing…it is the perfect place to chill after a long day…the perfect place to write poetry!  And my glimmer for today!

Much love, peace, and “some assembly required” glimmers to you!

-kat

NaGloPoWriMo 23 April 2025 prompt:

The sum of its parts
Consider the objects in your home. How did they get there? What resources were required to produce them? Write a poem about the origin of one or more of your possessions. / Recommended reading: “Putting Together Ikea Furniture” by Clint Margrave

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April 21, 2025

glimmer day 110 ~ NaGloPoWriMo 4/21/2025

By Kat Myrman 
pancakes for breakfast

I felt her watching, ignoring 
us, glaring, judging, hating
our perceived sinfulness, 
determined not to serve us
as if serving us somehow
condemned their fragile faith
and threatened their entry into heaven
      I tried to ignore her
      we just wanted pancakes for breakfast
when I was sick
the ER desk clerk
asked, “who is SHE?”
SHE will need to wait outside
family only…but, she IS family
the doctor won’t see you 
if SHE is in the room 
      I try to ignore them
      I just wanted her with me when I was      
       sick
the whispers, snide side glances
accompany our travels, wherever 
we go…we second-guess safety
make mental notes of unsafe
people and places…they claim
we have an agenda, that we threaten
their families…but we are a family
         we try to ignore them
         we just want to live our lives
they voted for fools you know
the ones who enjoy dividing us
the ones who want to tell every
he and she how to live and who 
to be…the ones who want us to 
suffer and we wonder, how could 
people who say they love us, choose them
        we can’t ignore them anymore
        our lives depend on it
         
~kat

Today’s Glimmer…The Eight-Spotted Forester Moth. This one’s a beauty. Often mistaken for a butterfly because it travels during the day. Symbol of transformation, beauty, and the importance of embracing change.

Much love, peace, and glimmers of change to you!

~kat

NaGloPoWriMo 4/21/2025 Prompt:

Identity politics poetics
There’s lots about ourselves that we can’t (and wouldn’t want to) change. Some of those things put us at risk in a culture that, more and more (I’m looking at you, America), “others” all but the straight white male able-bodied experience. It’s critical that we document what that’s like to live with that reality. Maybe you experience harm from -isms or -phobias or maybe you experience privilege. Either way, write a poem related to how perceptions, assumptions or cultural “norms” impact you. / Recommended reading: “evening : girl” by Gabrielle Brant Freeman

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in 2025, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, free verse, Life Lessons, napowrimo, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues, Spirituality