Tuesday, December 1, 2020

November Chapbook Challenge: Recap

 Well, I've done it again - 30 poems or more in a month of 30 days - 35 to be exact. I must admit it became a bit of a drudge to commit to writing so many poems in the same form all month, but I did get at least a few good ones out of the exercise, and the next step, per Robert Lee Brewer, is to assemble some of them into a chapbook manuscript. I hope that I may have advanced some recognition for the hay(na)ku form. (Thanks again to Eileen Tobias and Vince Gotera for introducing me to the form.) As I often do, I'll use this entry to highlight some of the poems I wrote last month that I consider among my best, or at least my favorites. The form allowed me to get away with writing only 30 words a day and having it count as a poem, but on the other hand, limiting your word count and producing something worthwhile, as in haiku, is harder than it sounds. So for what it's worth, here are ten "hay(na)ku sonnets" that I wrote in November, with the prompts that inspired them. (See my Day 1 entry for my explanation of this variation.)


[Day 2: A poem about the unexpected]

Hard Times in the Arts 

when
COVID closed
the Muppet Show
 
their
theater shuttered -
where'd they go?
 
Piggy
returned to
her chic château
 
but
what about
her handsome beau?
 
alas, poor Kermit
became a hermit

[I may change the title to "It's Not Easy Being Quarantined".]




[Day 5: A "ruin" poem]

Ruins
 
derelict
old barn
behind the trees
 
door
hangs open
hinging on breeze
 
two
wild turkeys
have nested upstairs
 
jumble
down below
skeletons of chairs
 
an old toolbox
rusted shut locks



[Day 6: An "In media res" poem]

Smelling the Roses
 
making
my connection
near New Haven
 
heard
electric piano
play Ain't Misbehavin'
 
busker
in concourse
playing his heart
 
slowed
my bustling
pausing for art
 
love Fats Waller
left a dollar




[Day 8: A "Persona" poem]

Alex Trebek in Heaven
 
Saint
Peter issues
me a quiz
 
I
know what
the answer is
 
but
to get
myself in heaven
 
should
I wager
six or seven
 
to unfetter me
from final jeopardy?




[Day 14: A "memory" poem]

Memories
 
are
sliced bread
in the toaster
 
they
brown awhile
then pop up
 
we
savor them
with some seasoning
 
while
tiny pieces
are left in
 
the crumb tray
then thrown away



[Day 16: A "response" poem]

This is Just to Answer Your Note

I
was saving
those sweet plums
 
to
make you
a fruit tart
 
but
you ate
every last one
 
yet
somehow I
love you anyway
 
incidentally, no one
says "icebox" anymore



[Day 18: A "sea creature" poem]

Iota
 
Thirty
tropical storms
this malignant year.
 
Last
and strongest:
Iota, ironically named,
 
slams
the Yucatan,
already storm-raked.
 
O
Sea Monster
of climate change,
 
one-eyed November behemoth,
maelstrom, deluge, teeth.



Sharknado!
 
waterspouts
suck up
killer ocean fish
 
weather
that thinks
humans are delish
 
twisters
shouldn't have
teeth, dorsal fins
 
storms
make landfall
and nobody wins
 
your big umbrella
is worthless, fella



[Day 22: A "bird" poem]

House Wren
 
little
chestnut neighbor
tail at attention
 
nests
comfortably in
the hanging impatiens
 
on
my porch
until I approach
 
she
chatters rebuke
for my trespassing
 
we'll learn somehow
to get along




[Day 27: A "what's next" poem]

Backup Singers
 
Greek
chorus for
the present day
 
they
echo my
notes and words
 
whether
naive hope
or cynical dismay
 
they'll
repeat it
like warbling birds
 
shoo shoo bop
until I drop





























 

 





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