Tag Archives: Prose Poem

Na|GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 20

ode to the humble turkey vulture

and the gods created them dark, bald,
and brooding, not exactly the life of the party,
more like the cleanup crew, not averse to
leftovers, picking bones clean, saving the
planet from methane gas, one carcass of
rotting flesh at a time, the gentlest of
creatures who wouldn’t, couldn’t kill a fly,
totally misunderstood, a six foot wing
span that blocks the sun as it swoops
overhead, darkening the sky, causing one
to wonder if they might be descended
from dragons, or demons…looming from
the corner of the room watching, waiting,
at the ready to clean the refuse left
behind by privileged, out of touch souls
who wouldn’t be caught dead doing what
they do, ironically, their inevitable death
is exactly what these dark angels are
watching, waiting for… despise them at
you own peril for they will have the last
laugh, happily disemboweling you simply because it’s their job to clean up the world’s
mess, and because the gods created them dark

~kat

Na|GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 20 prompt: For today, try writing your own poem that uses an animal that shows up in myths and legends as a metaphor for some aspect of a contemporary person’s life. Include one spoken phrase.


Today’s Glimmer…my wife is determined to create a butterfly/bird garden for me…because she knows how much I love them. It’s going to be beautiful! It IS beautiful.

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨✨🪴💚🪴✨✨✨


NaPpiWriMo 2024 – Day 5 – the hound, the cat, and the old man

Photo Source: istockphoto.com
the hound, the cat and the old man

“happiness,” declared old hound,
“is a good chew, a bone, a stick, a chair,
it’s a soft bed, a full water bowl and
plenty of kibble, shelter from the storm,
belly rubs, a window with a view, and
most of all my very own human to love
who treats me kindly and calls me good boy.”

cat rolled her eyes at hound, “happiness?
I’ll tell you what happiness is you old fool
happiness is owning a devoted human
one who serves me prime pate. I must
have a water fountain and sun-warmed
spots to nap, a fresh litter-box, catnip
and limited touching…no belly rubs

an old man sitting nearby overheard hound and cat,
“It’s true. happiness is having enough to eat,
someone to love, i agree with you two
but it’s also satisfaction from a job
done well, hope and dreams, it’s learning
something new, helping others, friendship
It’s a way of life, a choice, a blessing!”

hound flipped onto his back, “belly rub please, belly rub paleeeeeeeaze!!!!”
cat leapt up on a windowsill, “whatever!“, she hissed, as she curled into a ball.
the man smiled, happiness is this moment

~kat

NaPoWriMo 2024 -Day 5 Challenge: Now, let’s get to our optional prompt! Today we’d like you to start by taking a look at Alicia Ostriker’s poem, “The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog.” Now try your hand at writing your own poem about how a pair or trio very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would think of something else (luck, grief, happiness, etc).


NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 3 – Theo

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.


dogs & cats – a day in the life

the dog…aka Maxwell
the cat – aka Merlin
a day in the life

morning
the dog ...
-gotta pee, gotta pee, maybe a poop
-eat breakfast, yum yum yum
-must have a belly rub or two or three...don’t stop hooman, don’t stop!
-take a nap

the cat ...
-sit on hooman’s face to wake them up, or finish them off...
-on second thought, i need sustenance after the night i’ve had chasing bugs...
-let them live...for now
-eat breakfast
—watch birds outside from the window seat

afternoon
the dog ...
-gotta pee, gotta pee, maybe a poop
-have a treat, yum yum yum
-chase the cat
-bark at the delivery truck
-lick hooman’s face
-take a nap

the cat ...
-spend a few hours sunning
-check in on the hooman who needs to be reminded to take a break now that they work from home and NEVER LEAVE
-walk in front of the work screen
-type a secret message
-shred paper on the desk
-hack up a fur ball on the keyboard
-toss the so-called mouse on the floor
-disappear until dinner

evening
the dog ...
-gotta pee, gotta pee, maybe a poop
-lay on the kitchen floor under the hooman’s feet to supervise dinner making
-after one more pee and poop, eat a night night treat. yum yum yum
-snuggle up close with my hooman for a good sleep
i loves my hooman

the cat ...
-loudly remind hooman it’s dinner time
-sit on hooman’s head at tv time
-after lights out, guard the end of the bed from toe monsters under the covers
-wretch loudly several times during the night
-race up and down the hallway
-sing the song of the night
-watch hooman sleep
tomorrow hooman...tomorrow

~kat

Had some fun for today’s NaPoWriMo2021 – Day 9 Prompt: write a poem in the form of a “to-do list.” The fun of this prompt is to make it the “to-do list” of an unusual person or character. It’s not really a poem, but they say write what you know…


mind blown – NaPoWriMo #8

mind blown

I don’t believe I knew what “brrrblubbbballlloooobalub” meant when I was new and my vocabulary was nonexistent, but I’m guessing I liked it all the same, smiling at my parents’ funny faces when they said it… I don’t believe they understood what it meant either, but it stopped me from crying, so they said it again and again…and again. They didn’t understand a lot of things those early years, as they grew up with me and learned about parenting, trial and error being key…somehow I survived barely, moving on and out before they lost their minds…you think I’m kidding… I should have said, before my father put a bullet between his eyes and my mother destroyed her body with years of drug abuse and doctor tripping…too much?

What I meant to say is that I have a pretty good idea how not to lose oneself to oblivion, not because I’m any less neurotic than my parents…I’m afraid my genes are laced with lunacy…but I have tried to learn from their mistakes, spent decades vomiting words to therapists (with an “s” because it takes time to find the right one who is not a bible-thumping, name it, claim it, pray the demon out of you, zealot), gotten the right mix, the perfect recipe, for my anti-depressive cocktail of pharmaceuticals, legal, of course, and I have tried to be good, to be kind, to be a good listener, to be a helper, but not a doormat, and to learn to say no, to learn to trust, to let myself love another person, and to give myself permission to walk away from anyone or thing that feels wrong…it has taken me a long time to figure out I’m okay…

sometimes I let out a roudy brrblubbbballlloooobalub when no one is listening just to feel the rush of joy that bubbles up inside me, centering me in the moment, so I can breathe in and out and smile. I think I’m starting to understand what that silly gibberish means after all these years. Absolutely nothing, of course and that is okay…that is okay.

~kat

A prose poem for NaPoWriMo 2019 #9 Prompt – Write your own Sei Shonagon-style list of “things.”