my future
evoked to recall my first dwelling
my only connection now is
the cemetery ⇢ a mile
from town as mom and dad
rest in peace and i
well-aware that
my ashes
belong
there
The prompt was to write a nonet with nine lines beginning with nine syllables. Then each line diminishes by one in its syllabic count.
joanconnor 04/09/2022
Prompt from the website:
Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that argues against, or somehow questions, a proverb or saying.
legacy of the wise
(“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.” says Francis Bacon)
and the other half? the other half must be knowledge
as we are intellectually tasked, we listen as others
respond to our questions, they - saturated with wisdom
we seek wisdom
then death approaches
our prudent wisdom half cup becomes
the full cup of answers = knowledge
the full cup of wisdom
we have questioned out
time to pour
our wisdom into
the next half-filled cup
joanconor 04/08/2022
Two Times To
Two times I have chosen to travel on
Roads that take me away from the impact of
Diverged opinions regarding how my life
(In these final decades) should be lived.
A plan by others is only that, not my desire but gives me
Yellow check marks, warnings that the depth of my
Woods will only be known if I walk through, not to.
joanconnor 04/06/2022
The Arachnid Orchestra
The Arachnid Orchestra draws
An attentive crowd
Its members display superb skill
It doesn’t take long to figure it out
One talent, three instruments
And leftover legs that will
Tap the beat and turn the page
The tarantula leads the way
As she commands the cymbals
With a flourish she plays
Violin, one clarinet and still has
Two more legs to
Tap the beat and turn the page
Daddy long legs controls the timpani
Toots the flute and bows the viola
Couldn’t be prouder as he
Keeps his cool and according to rule
Has the necessary legs to
Tap the beat and turn the page
The pseudo scorpion proud to be
lead French hornist and cello master
the harp is near and she
Plucks its strings and always has
Two extra legs that
Tap the beat and turn the page
The tick has his pick of the bass
and trombone, always with ease he does
As he pleases on the snare drum
To the rhythm as his extra legs
Tap the beat and turn the page
So important the oboe pinched with
The black widow’s tight lips, a piano
She adores, a xylophone she
Explores as she still has legs
To tap the beat and turn the page
Lastly the tiny mite, important to all
A baton in each arm waving
wildly to control
This group of ambidextrous
Multi contortionists all
Displaying great talents as
6 x 2 plus the director too
Taps the beat and turns the page
To perform for you onstage their
Concerto for Overachieving Arachnids
Joanconnor 04/06/2022
Skipping to Day #4 the poem is in the form of a poetry prompt. Check out the prompt poems on this site:
Mathias Svalina (@mathiassvalina) • Instagram photos and videos
Here is my contribution for this day:
How to Write a Poem in 12 Minutes with Timer On
Look out the window and be grateful for the washing machine whirring
Look out the window and set the timer on the phone
Verbalize “thank-you, god.”
SHOUT “thank-you, God” with a capital G
Click a “new tab” and double check “capital/capitol”
Feel the tension in your chest as you
Wonder what is proper for a prompt poem
What is appropriate for a prompt poem
Muse about your self-esteem and
How an old lady has muted self-confidence
Another "thank-you" is screamed
Using the keys of the computer let your fingers
Pretend it is a piano, listen
Mspntnsapipipia;dt ejt lsntjanl’’’andnna
A song appears but not to be sung
A song appears to be released
From your tense-filled chest
The Heart is being crushed
The poem escapes
With gratitude. Amen
From Haggard Hawks
To GLACITATE is to honk like a goose.
To CROCITATE is to caw like a raven.
To CUCUBATE is to hoot like an owl.
To PUPILLATE is to cry like a peacock.
To CUCURIATE is to call like a rooster.
To CHELIDONIZE is to chirp like a swallow.
To GLOCIDATE is to cluck like a hen.
appreciate
like glacitate and crocitate,
cucubate and pupillate
sprinkles of delight from
my twisted tongue i
cucurate this early am.
when you joke i cucubate
when you challenge decisions
i puff up, puff out and finally chelidonize -
(my un-ate attempt to let you know)
such emitted noises no longer exist.
i feel inadequate to appropriate
a system of poetry writing
you will appreciate.
-joanconnor 04/02/2022
Prompt: Prose Poem Writing
Denial Decision
“Joan, your wrist is to be x-rayed.” I was in the medical office of the Peace Corps, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 2013. “Our driver will take you.” My wrist, bandaged in brown elastic wrapping tape from my medical kit, was held tentatively. The pain had increased from three weeks of denial. Dutifully I climbed into the official black limousine, riding through the bumpy infrastructure of the capital, swerving to miss the familiar pits and rocky semi paved roads. The x-ray revealed a radial break. I pleaded to keep my current plane reservation back to the United States, completing my two years. Being medically evacuated was a logical decision. I wanted to finish what I had started. I left the office with a more stable cast. I kept my original plans. “You would not have needed,” my Dr. Daughter remarked after the Texas operation, “five pins inserted if you would have had surgery immediately after your fall instead of weeks later.”
Read all about it!
Below is a paragraph explaining what is happening and how I will be participating:
How does it work? Simple — just write a poem every day from April 1 to April 30. If you’ll be
posting your efforts to a blog or other internet space this year, you can submit the link using our
“Submit Your Site” form, and your website will show up in our “Participants’ Sites” list.
Prompts are given daily at NaPoWriMo
Here is another paragraph from the site:
As in prior years, we’ll be posting an optional daily prompt to help you get inspired, as well as
featuring a different participant each day. This year, we’ll also be featuring a different online
poetry magazine each day, with the hopes that you’ll be able to discover new poems and poets
that you like, and perhaps even identify some good places to submit your own work.
Let's "poet" together!
a slo-poke sucker memory
i eat Holloway suckers
caramel on a stick
not now but years ago
when at the movies
on a Sunday afternoon
while Doris and Gordon
dance and smooch.
the caramel diminished slowly
the musical went too fast
"Tea for Two"
" By the Light of the Silvery Moon"
Day and McRae, my favorites, as i
couldn't lick slow enough to make
the sucker last.
all those songs, all those fantasies
i just knew would be mine ~
one ten-year-old dreamer
as the caramel evaporates.
joanconnor 03/27/2022
What a delight! Enough pages have flipped on the calendar and the time is here! It is memoir writing time at Dietert Senior Center. The class will meet for five weeks, ninety minutes each Thursday morning. That is not much time to "memoir one's life," but we can begin, share, motivate and instill inspirations with one another.
The curriculum design from Story Circle Network — Women Writers & Writing Resources that I am implementing is broad. It has good framework and then the add-ons are my design and challenge my creativity, such as the prompts below.
I begin with a chair poem as learned in Amherst Writers & Artists A home for writers & writing workshop leaders ⋆ Amherst Writers & Artists. The poem may or may not be used as a writing prompt. It may just be a "gift" to enjoy.
Then the sharing takes place, and we also share writing space incorporating the main idea of the day. For example, our first meeting centered around our ancestors, legacies they have left, memories they created with us, absences in our lives, etc.
The meeting did not have a closure to it that I would and should have implemented. I shall try to develop that facet for this next meeting. It is important, I believe, to have a meditative closure or a short inspirational thought.
Here are the three prompts I emailed the participants to encourage writing:
Although my ancestor’s life experience cannot be confirmed with facts, I have come to these conclusions…. (from Rachael Freed’s Women’s Lives, Women’s Legacies)
Create a list of “firsts” from your timeline, i.e., first home, first school, first friend, first kiss, first job, airplane/train/bus ride, first car, first trip alone, etc. Elaborate as you desire when a “first” grows into another story and yet another memory.
Write about something that has been passed down through your family for generations, perhaps an appreciation for music, or books or a type of food. Explore the positive and negative implications of this inheritance and how it has shaped you.
As you see, you can write objectively as in (2) or weave in your opinion as in (1) or subjectively explore the environmental influence that you select in (3).
Happy Memoir Musing!
I wrote the poem below to fulfill a prompt about "dream." It was accepted and printed in Story Circle Network's quarterly journal this March 2022. You have read of my association with Story Circle before, a wonderful organization promoting women writers.
Do check out this tear-jerking rendition by the Harptones - their final performance in 2018. Willie Winfield and The Harptones - "Life is But a Dream" - Bing video
Willie passed away this past July 2021. What a voice!
Three Credos from The Harptones
1. It's what you make it
words perform acrobatics
on my google docs paper
keys in harmony
thoughts catapult
tumble to become
melodies, my melodies
resonate -
an effort to
be on pitch.
2. always try to give
who will benefit
from gifts i have
given, so few,
do more than
i - do not neglect
to do good. *
3. don't ever take it
dream of less
desire less
wants overwhelm
the need to dream be
yond parallels the possible
for others - not oneself.
* Hebrews 13:15 ESV
Italicized lyrics excerpted from
"Life is But a Dream," sung by the Harptones, 1955.
410 State St., Dysart, Iowa Memories from youth became my fuel as we continue th...
