April 3, 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 3 – Theo

By Kat Myrman 
Theo

I am certain that we knew each other 
in a former life, if past lives exist. 
We could even be soulmates, I’m sure of it! 
I remember the day we met, the moment 
our eyes found each other. There was no 
turning back. It was a turning point. 
In fact, I felt it in the deepest part of my soul. 
Admit it, you felt it too. From unknowing 
to knowing in a split second. Without 
hesitating you walked right up to me.
Ileaned down to greet you as you gently 
licked my face. No dog has ever held my 
heart the way you do, Theo. No living being for that matter. Surely we are soulmates. 
What a good boy you are!

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 -Day 3 Challenge: write a surreal prose poem. I’m not sure I’m on topic today, but I tried.

13 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Poetry, Prose Poem

April 2, 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 2 – dear Luna

By Kat Myrman 
dear luna, 
how you move me 
as if my soul were water
given to tidal swells and ebbs
you call me to sway, to dance 
with my sisters and our mothers,
ancients who reside on veil’s cusp 
summoned by your full kind face
‘round the rhythmic pyre’s crackle 
you’re my North Star, my guide
illumine the darkest of nights, 
full, gibbous, crescent, new
every night I look to you
dear sweet Luna 
I see you
~kat~

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 2 Challenge:

Write a platonic love poem. In other words, a poem not about a romantic partner, but some other kind of love – your love for your sister, or a friend, or even your love for a really good Chicago deep dish pizza. The poem should be written directly to the object of your affections (like a letter is written to “you”), and should describe at least three memories of you engaging with that person/thing.

Poetry Forms used:

On prompt, this is a Letter Poem, but I also added another twist, by creating a Concrete Poem.

Concrete poetry—sometimes also called ‘shape poetry’—is poetry whose visual appearance matches the topic of the poem. The words form shapes which illustrate the poem’s subject as a picture, as well as through their literal meaning.

This type of poetry has been used for thousands of years, since the ancient Greeks began to enhance the meanings of their poetry by arranging their characters in visually pleasing ways back in the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BC.

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, concrete poem, Digital Art & Photos, Letter Poem, napowrimo, Poetry

April 1, 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Day 1 – matriarch

By Kat Myrman 
matriarch
 
in troubling times when chaos rules the day
mother beckons, come away, come away
balm, sweet as honey, she pours o’er our heads
with tales of yore, tucks us tight in our beds
mother knows best when we are led astray
 
buried secrets hum, things we dare not say
stay busy…busy, to hide our dismay
the sting of truth drives us from things we dread
in troubling times
 
when justice denied requires a stay
when power’s a poison, patriarchs play
when terrible truths rise up from the dead
when madness compels us to flee instead
mother calls us to dance amidst the fray
in troubling times

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day One Challenge: Write – without consulting the book – a poem that recounts the plot, or some portion of the plot, of a novel that you remember having liked but that you haven’t read in a long time.

The Book: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Today’s Poetry Form: The Rondeau

The rondeau is comprised of 15 lines across three stanzas with the first word or phrase from the first line represented as a refrain (R) and a rhyme scheme of two rhymes throughout (A and B). The rhyme and refrain scheme looks like this:

A (R)          
A
B
B
A

A
A
B
R

A
A
B
B
A
R

The A and B lines are usually eight or 10 syllables in length. The refrain is usually one to three words (or so).

10 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, napowrimo, Poetry, Rondeau

March 31, 2024

NaPoWriMo 2024 – Early Bird Challenge

By Kat Myrman 
the windows

the windows in this house have never been dressed 
they are naked but for the soul of Gaia adorned in the season’s greens, pastels, ambers, gray-blacks, and whites
the moon in her phases, new to full and 
the sun, midst a galaxy of stars streaming in

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024

Early bird Challenge: Write a poem titled either “A [your word]” or “The [your word]” in which you explore the meaning of the word, or some memory you have of it, as if you were writing an illustrative/alternative definition. Word: window.

The Poetry Form:

The Gogyohka by Enta Kusakabe (1983).

• Gogyohka is a new form of short poem that is based on the ancient Japanese Tanka and Kodai kayo.

• Gogyohka has five lines, but exceptionally may have four or six.

• Each line of Gogyohka consists of one phrase with a line-break after each phrase or breath.

• Gogyohka has no restraint on numbers of words or syllables.

• The theme of Gogyohka is unrestricted.

18 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in 2024, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Gogyohka, napowrimo, Poetry

March 24, 2024

autumn to winter to spring – a ReVerse Poem

By Kat Myrman

It’s been a minute…three seasons in fact, since I collected lines from previously penned poems and constructed a ReVerse Poem. The intriguing thing is that it seems as though I have landed right where I started…face toward the sun. Another odd thing I noticed was a repeat separated by months of me thinking myself silly for thinking. As Alice was known to comment, “curiouser and curiouser”.

I’m well into the second year of the new normal thrust upon us by a series of unfortunate medical events. It still feels foreign to my partner and me. When you’ve spent decades planning a certain thing and the universe throws a plot twist into your best laid plans… well, I suppose we are still grieving. Spring will be a welcome break from the dreariness of winter; its warmth and sunshine a healing touch. Just what we need.

The hummingbirds will be returning soon. Life does go on…yes it does. 🥰🌱🌼🌞🐣🦋🐝

autumn to winter to spring - a ReVerse Poem 

her full face at dawn
burdened with secrets and
lessons from the past ignored
silly me for ever thinking 

drawing us deep into the one
to sleep at the feet of our mother
the in between has lost its charm

when hope was a thing
I caught her smiling
she slumbers, dreaming of spring
once upon a time she was fierce, 

how silly of me to think it

it keeps me up nights
I see it clearly
it’s time…turn your face to the sun

~kat

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 as a review of the previous week…or in this case, the past several months.

11 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in 2024, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Week in Review