Okay, I did it! Somehow I found time to do Maureen Thorson's prompt for NaPoWriMo, which is "20 Little Poetry Projects." That is,write a poem that responds to all 20 of the following prompts (in order, I presume):
1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
4. Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses).
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
8. Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
10. Use a piece of talk you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand).
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . .”
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he or she could not do in “real life.”
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
19. Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem.
As I said earlier, it can be a fun prompt if you have the time to do it. I snuck away a few times today when I should have been house cleaning in preparation for the family Easter dinner tomorrow, so that worked its way prominently into my poem. If only I had superpowers....
I spring out of bed at seven a.m.
My feet blur into a circular swirl of speed,
and I take off with horizontal motion lines, a cloud of dust,
and a ricochet sound behind me.
Metal pans clatter in the kitchen. She is covered in flour.
Some of it rubs off on me when we kiss good morning.
She tastes like flour too. I hear the pastel morning outside,
but I feel red, as in fired up, action-loaded for a busy day,
Indiana Jones in Egypt.
I want to do the Times crossword.
What's an eight-letter word for "lazy?"
This puzzle is on fleek.
If I finish it in ten minutes, the world will be a better place.
My kids say "on fleek" but they also say , "Dad, you're not woke."
My assignment is housework, and I wield that filthy vacuum
like a deadly weapon, wet mop in my other hand,
and bounce off the walls like a Superball.
"El Tornado" will make this dump sparkle in no time!
Our guests will need sunglasses to visit!
House Beautiful will plead to put us on the cover!
I'm the Down-and-dirty Cleaner!
This place will be so polished it will never be soiled again!
I am the Luchador of Housekeeping!
Dust bunnies beg me for mercy!
Steam escapes from my ears, and I hit the wall, flattened
like Wile E. Coyote on that painted-on tunnel.
2 comments:
Bruce, dude! Wow. Great poem. I didn't have the energy to take on the 20 poetry projects, so I "went rogue."
Highly effective, wrangling it all - the prompt and the chores - this tight.
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