Tag Archives: free verse

glimmer day 101 ~ NaGloPoWriMo 12 April  2025

…and they lived happily ever after

the shoe fit
it was a whirlwind engagement
the wedding of the century
(we’re talking partridges in pear trees and lords a leaping here)
and the honeymoon…well
poor Cindy…
didn’t take long
for her to discover
her prince
had a nasty foot fetish
happily ever after?
like the American dream
may she rest in pieces
✨✨✨✨
where am I? who am I? what…?
wouldn’t you like to know
follow the yellow brick road they said
when the stocks go low
it’s time to buy
It’s exactly as we planned
I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore
✨✨✨✨
Mary’s little lamb
was fleeced by old McDonald
while Humpty Dumpty took a fall
from the tallest wall in the history of walls
bye bye miss America
France wants their statue back
it’s raining helicopters and jets
can my cat give me the bird flu
we’ll see what happens
in two weeks
that’s the $64,000 question
we already know the answer
history on repeat…no royalties

~kat

~ NaGloPoWriMo 12 April  2025 Prompt: Try writing a poem that makes reference to one or more myths, legends, or other well-known stories, that features wordplay (including rhyme), mixes formal and informal language, and contains multiple sections that play with a theme. Try also to incorporate at least one abstract concept – for example, desire or sorrow or pride or whimsy.


NaGloPoWriMo 7 April 2025 ~ glimmer day 96

I could never be a statue

I’m far too transparent, an open book,
having perfected the subtle art
of giving shade, the smirk and the eye roll
I don’t need pennies for my thoughts…
to begin with, my thoughts are worth
much more than pennies, but
you will know what I’m thinking
without me having to say a word
I could never be a statue

I’ve known a statue or two
that have made quite a statement
but statue-speak is set in stone
it’s rather boring, no matter how
earth shattering, except for
that first impression of course
that’s basically all you get
I’m telling you, I could never be a statue
I have a voice; I refuse to be silenced

there are things more important than
artistic perfection and cold features
chiseled from stone or cast in copper
things like kindness, compassion,
intelligence, empathy, a conscience
and love…there is that too
I could never be a statue…
I will never agree to be
seen and not heard

~kat

NaGloPoWriMo 7 April 2025 Prompt: Today, we challenge you to write a similar kind of self-portrait poem, in which you explain why you are not a particular piece of art (a symphony, a figurine, a ballet, a sonnet), use at least one outlandish comparison, and a strange (and maybe not actually real) fact.


And here’s your glimmer: the bunnies are back! And the hummingbird is hanging out!

Much love, peace and glimmers to you!

~kat


NaGloPoWriMo 5 April 2025 ~ glimmer day 94

evening banquet

they’re watching
listening for the
rata-tat-tata-tat
the garage door opening
rata-tat-tata-tat
where the human collects
nuts and seeds to toss wide
underneath the juniper trees

but not before tending to
a murder of crows
on their high tree perch
watching and waiting
she treats them first
caw, caw…caw, caw, caw
they croon at the sight
“hey crows…hey crows”
she crows back in delight
her murder of crows,
caw, caw…caw, caw, caw
“hey crows…hey crows”
grab the peanuts she lays
at the alter of aandeg

round the corner they watch
camouflaged by brush greening
turkey toms mingle
gobble gob gobble gob gob
they’re gobblers of course
and a doe, wide-eyed,
graceful, patiently waits
for sweet kernels of corn
to nibble nosh nibble, while
the sun dips to crimson
and another day ends

~kat

Today’s challenge was an interesting one. It came together in pieces. A drip drip drip of thoughts and ideas that needed to be rounded up like scattered cats and crafted into something resembling poetry. That is what today’s creative process felt like. There are moments when I wonder if it will ever make it to the page…and then it happens. Today’s glimmer was that moment I added the last line and read the words again from top to bottom, adding my name for the finish. I really don’t understand how it happens. But it is amazing when it does!

Much Love, Peace, and Creative Glimmers to You!

~kat ✨✨💚✨✨


NaGloPoWriMo 5 April 2025 prompt: today’s (optional) prompt is inspired by musical notation, and particularly those little italicized –and often Italian – instructions you’ll find over the staves in sheet music, like con allegro or andante. First, pick a notation from the first column below. Then, pick a musical genre from the second column. Finally, pick at least one word from the third column. Now write a poem that takes inspiration from your musical genre and notation, and uses the word or words you picked from the third column. Click on the link to see all the choices. This poem was inspired by Tempo di murder, fugue, banquet


NaGloPoWriMo 4 April 2025 ~ glimmer day 93

This is a photo taken of the morning sun using my iPhone camera. ~kat
beyond the frame

my room has frames of living art
shades of green and blue and gold
rain-splashed watercolored trees
clustered leaves in pale chartreuse
exposed patches of earthen clay
rich in grubs, where turkeys play

each window of my country home
reveals the splendor just outside
i wake up to the sun at dawn
and drift to sleep by moon at night
my walls in general are bare
paint on canvas can’t compare
with nature’s perfect masterpiece
where I am a one with all I see

~kat

I have stated before that when we moved to our little country home in the Blue Ridge foothills we decided to leave the windows undressed. It felt weird at first. I felt exposed, vulnerable even. But as I settled into this new experience after decades of shuttering myself off from the world outside; from the noise and nosy passersby, I realized what a gift it is to live so close to the natural world. I experience the seasons intimately as the landscape moves through spring, summer, autumn and winter. Wildlife passes by everyday, the birds, the deer, raccoons, squirrels and opossums. Storms rush in, shaking the roof, bending the trees and soaking the earth before fading to mist under an occasional rainbow. I wake to the rising sun and sleep under a starry moonlit sky. I didn’t realize when we moved how much I needed this place. It has saved me in so many ways and I am reminded that I am not separate from the world around me, but intrinsically a part of it. I left town and gained the world. 

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you. Every day is a glimmer waiting to be discovered! 

~kat ✨✨💚✨✨  


NaGloPoWriMo 4 April 2025 Prompt: Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem about living with a piece of art.


day 81

milquetoast | manifesto
(a Cleave Poem ~ you know what to do*)

before I was me | when messy life happens
I was a good girl | spiraling out of control
the responsible one | a total nightmare
the go-to helper | complete and utter chaos
you could always depend on me | when everything you know
to get things done | has gone to hell
acquiescent, compliant | until there is nothing left
I followed the rules | I will fight to the death
when your way or the highway | to restore sanity and justice
forced me to choose, I chose | to speak truth to power
it is after all what we do | to defend what is precious
when we are raised to be | a lover of freedom
submissive, with a smile | out, loud, and proud
I was invisible then | this is me now…deal with it!

~kat~

•..and in case you don’t, Cleave poems are read in three parts. Essentially it’s three poems in one, best when each column divided by one of these { | }, is read as a separate poem. Poem 1 – column 1; Poem 2 – column 2; and the the grand finale, lose the divider “|” and read the entire line across. If I’ve done my job here, each poem will stand on its own and the final read will bring both opposing thoughts together. If you would like to write one here’s my best tip. Start with one free verse. Set your divider at the end of each line and write a second free verse line by line in an opposing view. Then tweak a bit to make each line flow when read alone and as a complete line. Good luck. These are always excellent mind workouts when you’re looking for a challenge! 😊


A few thoughts today…

A well-meaning friend advised me the other day that they had started the process of deleting all manner of identifiers or references to progressive ideas, thoughts or beliefs from their social media and online footprint to make it harder to be found out when the subversive powers planning revenge and retribution seek us out (which they believe is coming next after they dismantle all safety nets and accountability for the common good). It felt a slight bit paranoid to me. They suggested, of course, that I do the same…just lay low, try to survive the next 4 years. Stay as much under the radar as possible…go back in the closet of course…and hope they let us live.

The truth is, I gently reminded my friend “they” already know us, and who we are, where we live, work and play, to the finest detail. Every thing we buy, or search for online, every place we go, now that cars and phones have GPS, every click we click. They know what size shoes we wear, how we take our coffee or tea, what we like to read and what we watch on TV. Try searching for a certain style of lamp shade anywhere, and you will be bombarded with lampshade advertisements for weeks…EVERYWHERE you connect with the world. It’s too late to bow out of this circus, I’m sorry to say.

And it got me thinking. Who am I? Who is any one of us if we can’t be who we are. Is free expression reserved only for a chosen few, and who gets to choose and how? Is it power? Is it money? Is there a devil doling out sweet deals for souls? And that thought right there stopped me as I was pondering all of this. 

My soul is not for sale. Come what may, I can’t change who I am or who I am called to be, even for the safety that invisibility might afford me. I may lose the battle to be authentically real, truthful, kind and above all compassionate and loving. But I am in good, good company. We have power too. We are hope and light. As long as we stand together this world cannot fade to black. And it takes a bit more that a fierce bag of wind and bluster (even if the national weather service has been shut down so there is no warning that it’s coming) to extinguish our flame!

Much love, light, and glimmers to you! 

~kat ✨💚✨