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Ezra Pound famously said that “poetry is news that stays news.” Today, we were invited to write a poem based on one of the curious headlines, cartoons, and other journalistic titbits featured at Yesterday’s Print, where old new stays amusing, curious, and sometimes downright confusing. I chose the picture above and borrowed it’s title. AthenaContinue reading “Deep Delicious Brushing”

Today’s inspirational prompt comes from Pablo Neruda, the Chilean-born poet and Nobel Prize Winner. He wrote more than two hundred odes and had a penchant for writing sometimes-long poems of appreciation for very common or mundane things. You can read English translations of “Ode to the Dictionary” at the bottom of this page, “Ode toContinue reading “Time Travel with Tea”

Our (optional) prompt for today takes its inspiration from Laura Foley’s poem “Year End” and which asks us to write a poem that centres around an encounter or relationship between two people (or things) that shouldn’t really have ever met – whether due to time, space, age, the differences in their nature, or for anyContinue reading “Homies”

Sunday, a day of rest and contemplation – well it would be if I was not awake at 5am!Hey ho; at least it gives me time to respond to NAPOWRIMO. Today, our challenge is to write a poem titled “Wish You Were Here” that takes its inspiration from the idea of a postcard. Consistent withContinue reading “How I wish….”

So, today’s challenge was to write a poem rooted in “weird wisdom,” such as something objectively odd that someone told you once, and that has stuck with you ever since. As an example, we were directed toward Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Making a Fist.” I do find it intriguing the way my mind responds instantlyContinue reading “The winds of change”

Today we were asked to take a look at Alicia Ostriker’s poem, “The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog.”  and then try to write our own poem about how a pair or trio of very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would thinkContinue reading “Time”

Today’s prompt challenged us to write a poem in which we take our title or some language/ideas from The Strangest Things in the World. First published in 1958, the book gives shortish descriptions of odd natural phenomena, and is notable for both its author’s turn of phrase and intermittently dubious facts. I took a lineContinue reading “May we never know a wonderless world”

Today, our challenge was to write a surreal prose poem. For inspiration, we were given Franz Kafka’s collection of short parables – my favourite turned out to be “My Destination”. I’ve always struggled with the concept of prose poetry; isn’t it just a very well told and illustrated story? I’ve been a fan of surrealismContinue reading “Fear of flying”

Today we were asked to write a platonic love poem. In other words, a poem not about a romantic partner, but some other kind of love like that of for a sister, a friend, or even a really good Chicago deep dish pizza! The poem should be written directly to the object of our affectionsContinue reading “Passing”

Our challenge: to 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. I chose my all-time favourite novel, Catch 22 From the first breath of the first words – IContinue reading “Married at first sight”