NaPoWriMo Day 30

 Hello!

Yay! I've made it through a whole month of poems!  This was definitely a really great year for poem writing.  I'm really happy with how they all went.  For the final prompt today, the challenge is to write a poem that involves a series of directions.  I decided to go with something more abstract, and give directions to joy.   Joy is something I'm good at.  Despite my anxiety and everything in the world around me I'm usually a very joyful person, and I'm good at finding joy.   So in a way this poem is my way of sharing how I'm able to find joy myself and hopefully help you as well.  I've done a lot of free-style the past few days so today I wanted to get back to some rhymes.   The rhythm changes which each stanza, but I was going more for the rhyme than the meter for this poem, so it might feel a little off in that regard.  

And before I get into my poem I just want to say thanks to everyone who took the time to read through all my poems this month.  I hope you enjoyed them, and this final poem for NaPoWriMo 2021!

The Path To Joy

There are many ways to arrive at joy
Here is the path I enjoy regularly:

Your starting location is to have an open mind
You must be receptive, or joy you will not find. 

Next start down the road of open eyes
See the world around you, for joy can come in disguise.

Then turn right and go your way down the rainbow street
Colours all around you, wear them head to feet. 

It also helps if you have glitter or sparkles close at hand
Your travelling companion as you wander through the land. 

Now you will be passing the grove of the smile
I recommend you pause here and enjoy it for a while. 

The final point of interest is the cuddle intersection
These fluffy, soft, and adorable things are here for your affection. 

Moving on then you'll find you have arrived at joy
And here you will find happiness for every girl and boy. 

Thanks for reading!  See you again for NaPoWriMo 2022!

NaPoWriMo Day 29

 Hello!

So today's prompt was interesting.  It was to write a poem with the idea of looking through a window.  What are you looking at?   It's a fun idea to play with.  Almost right away I was reminded of the song Waving Through A Window a song from the musical Dear Even Hansen.  To be honest I haven't seen the musical yet, but I've listened to the soundtrack and I really love it.  I really relate to the main character because of his anxiety and this song really resonates with me.  So I used this as inspiration for my poem today.  Going with free-style again so that I could let my thoughts flow.   In the end this poem ended up being a lot darker than I intended.  It talks about my inner world, my Oblivious Oblivion as I like to call it.  Here is a glimpse into my mind and my anxiety.  

Waving Through A Window

Here I sit in my own little room
My Oblivious Oblivion
With a window to view the outside world. 

I see those around me
Happy and socializing
I want to be there
To be one of them
But when I try to speak, try to move
I'm blocked
My window keeps me apart. 

I wave and smile
But get no responce
No one saw me. 
Perhaps that's for the best. 

In my Oblivious Oblivion things are simple
Things are easy
It's only me. 
It might be lonely
But that is better than embarrassing myself
Saying the wrong thing
Or being socially inept. 
No, alone in my world is best. 

I've created a world for myself
Filled with reflections
Reflections of the people and things I see through my window.
My window to the world
Sure it may be imaginary
And all in my head
But it's mine and it's real to me. 

Some days my world is enough. 
Others, I look out my window longingly
Wishing I could be where the people are. 

In the rare moment I break free
Free of my little world
I have a moment in the sun.
But often regret it
Something always goes wrong. 

I long for the sunlight beyond my window
For friends and smiles and laughs. 
But in my little world I'm safe
And perhaps that's for the best. 

My Oblivious Oblivion
With the window to the world. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 28

 Hello!

The poetry prompt for today is to write a poem that involves questions.  At first I was thinking about my anxiety, how living with anxiety is living with questions constantly filling your head and having to answer them or fight against your own body. But I couldn't think of a good way to phrase it and write it so I moved on from that idea.  Being the geek I am, I then thought of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and how the answer to life the universe and everything is 42.  But 42 what?  What's the question?   The book doesn't answer that, so I thought I'd play with that idea in a free verse poem.   Enjoy!

42

The answer to life the universe and everything.
But 42 what?

The number of people you must love?
How many roads you must walk down?
The amount of adventures you go on?
Quantity of jobs to have in your lifetime?
The number of mistakes you need to make?
Or new foods to try? 
Perhaps it's the number of animals you need to cuddle?
Could it be the number of times you need to wish upon a star?
Or feel sorrow and loss?
Hopefully it's that you need to eat 42 jelly beans everyday.
What does our lives and the universe need 42 times?

Perhaps, that's for us to decide. 

**** **

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 27

 Hello!

So for today's prompt I needed to pick a word from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.  Just scrolling through the first page I saw the word "lilo" and decided to go with it because of what it make me think of.  for reference:

lilo: n. a friendship that can lie dormant for years only to pick right back up instantly, as if no time had passed since you last saw each other. 

Reading this I immediately thought of my childhood best friend.  So I wrote this poem about us.  I kept with free-form style so that I could express my thoughts as I wanted to without worrying about the structure or rhyme.  Enjoy!

Lilo

Best friends forever
Sisters in Christ
We were inseparable
Every day at school from grade 2 until 8
There were good days and bad
Days spent playing on the hill
And days you got angry at me for not speaking my mind
You were there as I figured out who I wanted to be. 

But then the unthinkable
We chose to go to different high schools
No longer inseparable
Each finding our own way now. 
But that was not the end. 
Through church groups and piano lessons we still catch up
And share time together in our lives. 

As time ticks by and years pass
Through university we rarely speak
But when we do I feel we are kids again
Best friends in the school yard. 

Though life has lead us our separate ways
I know you will always be there.
To laugh
To love
To share my story with
Mon Amie

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 26

 Hello, 

Today's prompt is to write a parody.  It suggested writing a parody based on another poem or perhaps a song.  This reminded me of an artist that I really like called A Capella Science. He takes well known songs and creates a science parody where he sings about complex physics or scientific topics.  It's really fun.  

Inspired by A Capella Science I took the song Happier, by Marshmello and Bastille and changed the words to be about my work, seismic data processing.  Enjoy!

Lately I've been, I've been thinking
About seismic squiggly lines, about seismic squiggly lines.

Seismic data is
A type of acoustic data
That we get when we put dynamite and geophones into the ground. 
Explode the dynamite
Its energy travels outwards
And reflects off the places where two rock layers meet. 

Then to the geophones
The energy will go
To be recorded for our use. 
The line looks like a squiggle
Positive and negative
Corresponding to the energy. 

Lately I've been, I've been thinking
About seismic squiggly lines, about seismic squiggly lines.

Seismic data trace
For each geophone per shot
Put the traces together that come from each shot and we'll have now a shot record.
Gather all the shots
Hundreds or thousands of them
And we'll have all the data for our seismic survey. 

And now it's time to process
Our shot record data
Into a form that we can use. 
Remove the noise and stack it
So that we get a view
What's underneath the surface here. 

Lately I've been, I've been thinking
About seismic squiggly lines, about seismic squiggly lines.

Gain recovery
Noise removal
Deconvolution
Normal move-out
And statics
Migrate it all

Lately I've been, I've been thinking
About seismic squiggly lines, about seismic squiggly lines.

Lately I've been, I've been thinking
To see what is under the ground, seismic squiggly lines show. 

Interpreting the data
Avoiding all the faults
To drill into the oil there. 
Extract the hydrocarbons
We use to fuel our lives
This is how the process goes. 

Lately I've been, I've been thinking
About seismic squiggly lines, about seismic squiggly lines.

Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbons
Oil & gas. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 25

 Hello!

Today's prompt is to write a poem for a particular occasion.  I'll admit my mind has been thinking about other things today and as I write this I'd rather be doing other things.  But I still wrote a poem.  It's inspired by the video game I've been playing lately, but I wrote it so that it's vague enough that it can also apply to our current world.  Enjoy!

Age of Calamity

We're living in the age of calamity
and contemplating the gravity
of this new reality
we need a new mentality
with no banality
if we are to find humanity
through this time in its full capacity

In actuality
it's an eventuality
that we will lack the tenacity
the morality
and logically
to save everyone from the brutality
and the depravity
that evil is bringing to this world. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 24

 Hello!

I had a lot of fun with today's prompt, though I admit I got it a little reversed.  The prompt was to find a factual article about an animal, then replace the animal's name with something more abstract, and use that as inspiration for a poem.  My first thought at picking an animal was a panda as they are my favourite.  Then for what to replace the animal with, I thought of something with astronomy as that's my other favourite thing.  I then remembered Asteroid 263251 Pandabear which is an asteroid that I discovered and named back when I was in university pursuing my M.Sc. So instead my poem became about pandas in space, rather than writing about asteroids on earth. lol.
For structure I decided to go with the limerick.  I've never really liked the limerick, I'm not very good at writing them.  But I want to use this NaPoWriMo to expand myself and work on my poetry skills so I decided to write this poem using a poetry style that I could use improvement in.  So here is my limerick poem about space pandas.   Enjoy!

Astro Panda

There once was a panda in space
With a helmet to cover its face
Between Jupiter and Mars
He observed the stars
While around the sun he did race. 

This panda did also rotate
Tumbling, never travelling straight
With its irregular shape
He could not escape
Nor deny that this was his fate.

The asteroid named PandaBear
Is not fuzzy for he has no hair
He is made of rocks
With a couple ice blocks
And in space he does life without air. 

Thanks for reading! 

NaPoWriMo Day 23

 Hello!

So I read the poetry prompt for today, but I'm in a really crabby mood so I don't have the patience to try and figure it out.  Instead I'm going to write a poem to let out some of my rage.  I feel so much like Aggretsuko, so she's the inspiration for my poem today.  Also I'm writing in Sijo structure because I like it. 

I go into work, mild mannered and polite
Working quietly here, I accomplish my tasks
But after work it's all rage! Down with capitalism!

Thanks for reading. 

NaPoWriMo Day 22

 Hello!

Today's prompt was a fun one.  The challenge was to write a poem that invokes a specific object as a symbol of a particular time, era, or place.  Lately my mind has been thinking about steampunk as I'm working on some cosplays from that fictional time period, and one of my favourite book series The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is celebrating it's 20th anniversary next week.  I decided to use steampunk as the "time period" for my poem.  For those who aren't aware, steampunk takes place during our historical Victorian era, but during this time steam as become a main source of power and is used to create grand airships and other "modern day" technology but using steam instead of burring coal, gas, oil, or using our modern day batteries.  It's a unique mix of sci-fi with a retro feel. 

As for the object to represent this time period, when I think of steampunk I always think of polished metal gears, usually brass or gold. So a brass gear became the theme for my poem.  As for structure I wanted to use common meter again, because of what I mentioned in my earlier poem.  I hope you enjoy this look into steampunk. Enjoy!

The Brass Gear

The era of the polished gear
An age of invention
A time of new enlightenment
Technology with steam.

A polished brass gear gleams anew
In an automaton
While airships float up in the sky
Bright civilization.

The tinkerers and engineers
Creating inventions
To bring us into a new world
Modern yet still retro.

Victorian era England
With new techonology
Brass and steam now power the world
The era of the gear. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 21

 Hello!

For today's poetry prompt the challenge is to write a poem that uses lines that have a repetitive setup.  At first I had to decide what repetitive setup I wanted to use for my poem.  That would help determine what the poem would be about.  I decided on the word "obviously".  When repeated over and over it takes on a belittling or bullying tone, that you're better than the person you're talking to.  I thought it would be interesting to use this as a feeling for a poem.  As for what to write about, at first I wanted to pick something geeky, but then the poem took on a tone of the "geek gatekeepers" and that was a little too much for me to want to convey in this poem.  Instead I went with more of a science idea.  In particular I started with the idea that I studied astronomy in university and used that as a launching point.  The poem takes on the voice of someone talking to me about that, and I use this poem to explore the mindset of someone not very well educated.  It's become a major issue, all the people that don't "believe" in scientific facts.  This poem brings that to light. 

To anyone who is well educated you'll be able to tell which parts are exaggerations, which are just plain wrong, and which could be true.  To anyone who knows me you'll know which ones are true for me personally.  There is a mix of all of these in there.   

It's so obvious that each step comes from the previous... perhaps in the future you'll re-think some of the things that you find obvious when making assumptions or conclusions. 

Obviously

So you studied astronomy?
Obviously you know all about the moon and can name all the planets. 
Obviously you are an expert in all the constellations. 
Obviously you even discovered and named a constellation. 
Obviously you know where the planets are in the sky and which constellation they are in. 
Obviously you can tell me my horoscope.
Obviously you already know which sign I am. 
Obviously you write the horoscopes for the local newspaper. 
Obviously you also predict the weather, it's about as accurate as writing horoscopes. 
Obviously you know the weather around the world at any given time. 
Obviously you are a world traveler and have been everywhere. 
Obviously you have seen and experienced so much. 
Obviously you are super smart. 

Thanks for reading, obviously. 

NaPoWriMo Day 20

 Hello!

So today's prompt involved a new poetry style for me, the Sijo, a traditional Korean poetry form.  Considering that I'm a fan of the Japanese haiku, I was excited to learn a new style of poetry from an Asian nation.  While writing these poems I found that I'm now a fan of this style.  It has the feel of a haiku, but is a little longer and not as structured as the haiku syllables so I can create a similar feel to a haiku but able to express the idea and feeling better. 

My first poem was inspired by looking out the window of the office building that I work in.  The last line of that poem then reminded me of Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot and that became the inspiration for my second poem.  Enjoy!

Giant Among Ants

I look out the window, on the 25th floor gazing out
Looking over buildings, cars and people are but ants
I am a giant, a mote of dust in the universe. 

Pale Blue Dot

Look over there, a planet teeming with life. 
Every living thing is there, every person you have ever known. 
Living on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 19

 Hello!

So I'm back on track today with following the poetry prompts. Today's prompt is to write a humorous rant poem.  While there are many things that anger me that I could rant about, I decided to focus on those little things that happen in an average day that get on my nerves. It helps to keep it lighter rather than serious. 

As for the structure for today's poem, I saw a meme on Facebook this weekend that talked about how Emily Dickinson used common meter for her poems, and so they can be sung to the Pokemon Theme Song.  My first thought was, common meter is a poetry thing? My second thought was, the Pokemon theme song uses common meter?  My mind was blown!  I decided that I was going to use common meter for at least a few poems before the end of the month so that I can sing them to the Pokemon song.  So when it came to the idea of a humorous rant, it makes these little rants even more hilarious when sung to the Pokemon theme song. I know I've been giggling about it all day. Enjoy!

Where is the bus, why is it late?
It's rather cold outside. 
Is it so hard to be on time?!
You have a schedule. 

And to that smoker standing there
Upwind from where I stand. 
Please, I don't want to breath your smoke
Go somewhere else instead!

To that guy sitting next to me
On the Ctrain today
We're living in a pandemic
Please move 6 feet away!

My manager comes by my desk
Here's what I have to do. 
I've already done half of it, 
And emailed it to you. 

In line the girl in front of me
Ordering lunch slowly. 
Come on, make up your mind and pay
I'm feeling so hangry!

To the guy in the public space
Sitting without a mask. 
Your coughing sounds like you are sick
Go home and isolate!

Another day has come and gone
It's time to get some rest. 
Forget about the day I had
It's time to feel some peace. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 18

 Hello!

So there is always at least a day or two each NaPoWriMo where I don't have the energy to motivation to write a poem. Today is one of those days.  But I at least try to write something, so for today I wrote a haiku to describe how I'm feeling.  Enjoy!

Too tired today
Want to play video games
Not write a poem

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 17

 Hello!

So apparently a lot of poets write about the moon for their poems. Considering my love of astronomy I'm surprised I haven't written more poems about the moon.  So for today's prompt to write about the moon I did just that. 

I couldn't decide on the format for the poem so I thought of haiku's, my default style.  But then I remembered the other haiku-like poetry styles that I learned earlier this month and so I decided to try writting another Shadorma poem.  So here it is.  Enjoy!

Beautiful
Shining up above
Light the night
I look up
You are there tonight once more
The moon of our world. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 16

 Hello!

The prompt for today is to write a Skeltonic poem.  I didn't recognize that type of poem, but after learning what it was, I realized I've written those kinds of poems before and I'm familiar with the style without realizing it's an actual style.  I was tempted to just re-share the Skeltonic poem I wrote last year about COVID, but I like the feel of this poetry style so I decided to write another one. 

My mind wandered as to what to write about but I eventually settled on the idea of going on an adventure.  Perhaps because I'm working at home, and it's such a nice day outside, I just want to go wander around and forget responsibility.  Here's how I feel while I'm off exploring the great wide somewhere.  Enjoy!

The wild calls to me
It says come out and see
Just what you can be
While you stand free. 
Travel up a tree
Or out to sea
Find a mysterious key
To treasure lost long ago. 

Adventure beacons me to go
And so aglow
I wander to and frow
Caution to the wind I throw
As down below
Winds of change can blow
And in my heart I know
This is where I'm meant to be. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 15

 Hello!

Today's poetry prompt is to think of a habit that you picked up from your parents and write about that, with a transition from them doing it to you doing it.  It took me a while to think of something.  I couldn't think of a good habit that I had picked up from them.  It's when I was thinking about my poem from yesterday that I remembered my anxiety and how when I was young my grandma told me that I came form a long line of worriers.  That "worrier" habit is something I picked up so I used that for the poem.
Free style is the structure for this poem as I didn't want this poem to feel constrained by any particular structure or form and just let the words flow.  Enjoy!

Worrier

Don't forget your rain coat
Or your lunch
And call me if anything changes. 
My mom worries over me. 

Her reminders sometimes annoying
But it shows she cares. 

You look pale, are you feeling ok?
Did you have enough to eat?

My grandma says I come from a long line of worriers
As if it's somehow in our blood. 

Are you going to be warm enough?
Do your feet stay dry in those shoes?

Yes mom. I'm fine. 

Don't forget your watch and keys
Or your lunch.
The old words repeated through me
Worry for my husband.

Don't forget to print that form
Do you need new shoes?
Let me patch that hole in your pants. 
Did you enjoy dinner?

A long line of worriers. 
Perhaps anxiety is in our blood. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 14

 Hello!

So today's challenge is to write a poem about the meaning of your name.  You might not be aware, but Attentea is not my real name, it's my screen name, and a made up name at that, so it doesn't have a meaning other than it's me.  So I'll be using my real first name, Amanda, for today's poetry prompt.   When I was young I received a mug as a birthday present that was customized and had my name and it's meaning.  Amanda, worthy of love.   I've always though that was so beautiful and it made me feel so special.  Such a great meaning of a name in my opinion.  But I also have anxiety and often I don't feel worthy of love, or at the very least that I need to prove that I am worthy of love.  This is the idea that I chose to explore in today's poem.  The idea that my name says that I'm worthy of love, but I don't always feel that way. 
As for structure, you'll notice I use two different forms in this poem.  I wanted to physically represent the normal thoughts vs the anxious thoughts.  Normally I don't like to mix styles like this, but for this poem I feel it works really well.   Enjoy!

Amanda

"She's beautiful" they said the day I was born. 
She will be worthy of love. 
Our Amanda. 

But am I really worthy?
What have I done to deserve your love?

I'm really not that special
Not grand or super smart
Not the tallest or the fastest
Nor have the biggest heart

I'm actually quite lazy
when I know I should be working
And rather than socializing
you'll often find me lurking

Simple concepts can confuse me
Unless you explain them right
And if you always question my choices
You're in for a hell of a fight. 

What accomplishments do I have?
What great things have I done?
I could have done so much more
instead of goof off and have fun. 

What have I done to be worthy of your love?
I can be better. 
Let me prove to you that I am Amanda. 

Thanks for reading! 

NaPoWriMo Day 13

 Hello! 

So today’s prompt is to write a poem that is the news article you would like to see tomorrow.  Seems simple enough.   I had a hard time with this though.  Do I go with something serious like “Covid is eradicated” or something that would be a dream come true like “pandas are no longer endangered and everyone gets one”.  In the end I just really wanted jelly beans (I still haven’t gotten any) so here is what I wrote.  Enjoy! 

Jelly Beans For All!

It's a miracle!
Covid has been eradicated!
Pandas are no longer endangered!
To celebrate, jelly beans for all!

Just go to your local candy store and pick up your jelly beans!
Get your favourite flavour!
Strawberry
Lime
Orange
Licorice
Peach 
Watermelon
I recommend the peach and watermelon. 
Together.
Just grab a big handful of both
And stuff it in your mouth. 
Pure bliss. 

Not sure what flavour your like?
Get an assorted pack!
So many flavours out there
Try something new!

Jelly beans for all!
Let's celebrate with some childhood joy

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 12

 Hello!

Today's prompt is all about past and future.  For "past" a word or inspiration had to come from Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary, while for "future" a word or inspiration had to come from the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

I started by just randomly clicking through each to see what sort of things were listed in each.  While looking through the C's in the classical dictionary I thought I saw a word that reminded me of "cryonics".  And so when I saw "cryonics" in the Sci-fi dictionary I went back to find the classical word and it was "Crynis".   This got an idea going in my mind about needing water from Crynis for the cryonics process.  So that you are aware, Crynis is a river in Bithynia.  Bithynia is an ancient region of the Roman empire where Turkey exists currently.  And cryonics is the practice or technique of deep freezing bodies, usually people.  The idea of needing something from the past in order to be able to use this futuristic technique was fun to play with in my head. 

As for format I went with free verse so that I could get my idea across without having to worry about structure or rhyming.   So here it is.  Enjoy!

It's ironic, before humanity can travel the starts we must first travel through time. 

All attempts at "warp drive" or "hyper engines" have failed. 
We're stuck with our slow conventional propulsion. 
To travel our solar system takes years. 
To travel the stars, more than a lifetime. 

We found a solution: Cryonics.
Frozen in sleep you leave Earth
And wake up lifetimes and lightyears away on a new planet around a new star. 

But what of time travel?
To make the solution to cryofreeze a person
You need water from Crynis.
An ancient river from an ancient land.
Bithynia.

After finding traces of ancient water in rocks
We knew we needed more. 
Time travel to Bithynia
To Crynis and it's flowing waters. 

Leaders knew time travel could get out of hand quickly
So it became restricted.
Forbidden to most. 
Only scientists in the Cryos Creation Unit can go. 
And only to Bithynia
For the holy water that flows in the Crynis
So that humanity may travel the stars. 

A journey to the past. 
So that we may find our future. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 11

 Hello!

Today's prompt is to write a letter to a famous person, and also write the reply.  At first I was having some trouble thinking of who I wanted to write my letter to.  Honestly I couldn't come up with any ideas so then my mind wandered to Pokemon because today is a Pokemon Community Day event.  I thought it would be fun to write a letter between two Pokemon, but from there I was reminded of this picture drawn by the TeeTurtle artists a few years ago on social media.  I love this little doodle of Snorlax and Kirby eating donuts together. 

So my poem became a letter between Snorlax and Kirby as they remember this donut party and plan their next one together. 

I decided to go with a rhyming poem because I wanted to get back to some rhymes and it gave it a cute feel which is what I was going for.  Enjoy!

To my dear friend Kirby, all puffy and pink, 
Of our time eating donuts I often do think.
Our donut feast is a cherished memory of mine,
So as I think of you I hope you are fine.
We really should meet once again sometime soon,
Hopefully before the next phase cycle of the moon.
I await your reply by email or fax,
Sincerely, your beloved friend, Snorlax.

Snorlax, my best friend, I have received your letter. 
To answer you, yes I am feeling much better. 
So many donuts together we ate, 
To do that again, I can not wait. 
Let's get together later this week,
And our favourite bakery, their donuts I'll seek. 
How many we'll eat I can't wait to see, 
Your best friend forever and always, Kirby. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 10

 Hello!

So today's prompt involved listing to a song and written down thoughts, and then looking through a junk drawer for a list of random items.  The whole thing reminded me of a prompt from last year where the prompt was to write about a walking tour, and I wrote about random things around my home to the song "Tiny Paper Elephant" by the Doubleclicks.  I felt that this prompt had the same feel so I wrote some more verses for the poem.  This time I focused more on what was in my office rather than my living room, which was the focus for my first poem.  Enjoy!

There's a baby panda poster
And a faerie on the moon
A box of thread and needles
And a new steampunk costume

A bookshelf full of stories
Tales of epic daring do
There's also Shakespeare's stories
And a physics textbook too

There's a small shelf in the corner
Holding dice and maps and books
Miniatures of men and monsters
And some scribbled in notebooks

My office is a haven
For the things I love in life
Hopes and dreams are all around me
Where I go to escape strife

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 9

 Hello!

Today's poetry prompt is to write a poem in the form of a to-do list of an unusual person or character. Right away my mind jumped to Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson again since my poem yesterday was another character from that series.  Again ideas started to pop into my head for a to-do list for one of the main characters in that series, Kaladin.  He's one of my favourite characters so I thought I would honor him with a poem.  For those who are a fan of the series you'll notice his Windrunner oaths are included in here and also the items on the list are roughly in the order that the events happened to Kaladin through the books.  Hope you enjoy!

Kal's To Do List

Keep on living (don't give into the nothingness)
Stay strong (You got this, weakness be damned)
Enjoy the moment (it's all about the journey, not where this is going)

Meet with Bridge Four for dinner (we're probably having soup)

Protect those who cannot project themselves

Stop by the King's Guard training ground for a training session

Protect those I hate because it's the right thing to do

Visit family, spend time with little brother
Help father in his medical center

After dinner attend depression support group
Fight the voidbringer incursion

Accept that I cannot protect everyone

Tell Syl how much she means to me. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 8

 Hello!

The prompt for today is to use the Spoon River Anthology as a reference to write your own monologue of a dead person.  The trickiest part for me was deciding who to write about.  The prompt encouraged to write about someone not famous, so I thought about my grandparents or an old school teachers, but I couldn't think of what to write.  It just wasn't coming to me.  Then I thought about fictional characters.  I've had many beloved characters die in books that I've read so why not write about one of them?  Thinking about my favourite books I came to the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson and thought of Eshonai. The words just started flowing then so here is what I created.  Enjoy!

Eshonai

In life I was a wanderer
My family wanted me to sit still
And learn the songs
Tend to the fields
Lead our people. 
But I could not. 
The horizon called me
In my travels I met the humans
Learned their ways and showed them ours
A peaceful partnership ensued
But the song of peace would not last
It turned to war.
My people crushed and cornered 
With my sister we find a new path
A new song.
One to bring us triumph!
With song and summoned storm we fight!
But my victory was not to be. 
My people have the upper hand but I am slain
My body kicked to the chasm
Left to rot away
Forgotten
Abandoned
What has become of my sister?
What has become of my people?

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 7

 Hello!

So today's prompt is to write poems based on the number of syllables in each line.  The haiku, one of my favourites, is a well known example, and today the prompt introduced me to two other styles.  The Shadorma with its 3/5/3/3/7/5 structure, and the Fib (based on the Fibonacci sequence) with its 1/1/2/3/5/8 structure.   While only one was required, I really love syllable structured poems so I tried both.   And being the nerd that I am I wrote the Shadorma poem about writing poems that use syllables, and the Fib poem about the Fibonacci sequence.  Not the most original, but it's so meta that I love it.  So here are today's poems.  Enjoy!

Syllables
Are a fun way to
Write poems
I love to
Count the ways I can use words
In a new sequence

Shells
Trees
Flowers
Galaxies
Fibonacci here
And also in this poem now

You'll probably see me using these syllable structured poems for future prompts as well.  It's awesome to have more options than just the haiku now.  <3

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 6

 Hello!

For today's poem the prompt is to take a line from a book, write a poem with that line as the title, then go back and change the title after the poem is written.  Right away I knew I wanted to use a line from one of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books.  There are so many iconic lines and so many good inspirations.  In the end I picked the line.... actually I'm not going to say.  If you are a Sanderson fan it should be pretty obvious what line I picked, or at least what the poem is about.  And if you're not a Sanderson fan, well you should be.  Go read his Cosmere books.  I recommend starting with the Mistborn trilogy, though Warbreaker is also a good book to start with. 😉 

Hope you enjoy today's poem!

The Paladin

Destroying evil is my purpose
My mission
My oath
My cause
I shall not rest until evil has bene purged from the lands.

My singular focus
The drive consumes me
My goal a world free from evil. 

I have travelled with many allies over the years
Each a new personality
To join me in my quest of cleansing the land of evil.

I do not waver in my devotion
I believe in my cause
Nothing will cause me to stray from the path. 

For until the Cosmere is rid of evil
I shall not rest.

Evil must be destroyed. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 5

 Hello!

So today was an interesting challenge for poem writing.  It was: "find a poem, and then write a new poem that has the shape of the original, and in which every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem".   The prompt writer mentioned a poem that they remembered from their school years and used that as an example.  That alone reminded me of a poem from my grade school years that I still have memorized so I decided to use it for the base poem for my prompt today.  It is Muddy Puddle by Dennis Lee.  Here it is:

While I do love this poem and it's imagery, part of me always cringes at the thought of sitting in a soggy wet muddy puddle and getting wet and gross and dirty.  *shutter*  So I decided to flip this poem around and write about a nice sunny summer morning.  The weather is rather nice here for spring so it helped with the writing.  lol   So here is my new poem.  Enjoy!

Summer Morning

I am standing
In the sunshine
Of a lovely
Monday morning
Wind is blowing
Flowers blooming
And the world here
Feels at peace.

Whistling birds
All around me
Greet the morning
Going on now
As I sit here
Softly humming
To the sweet sounds
Of their calls.

And I feel that
While I sit here
While the world goes
Revolving on
Time to be calm
Is a blessing
I shall enjoy this new day. 

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 4

 Hello!

Today's prompt is to take one of the photos from @SpaceLiminalBot on Twitter and write a poem about it.  There were a lot of interesting photos on there, but in the end here is the one I choose:

Lately I've been watching Star Trek and as soon as I saw this I thought about standing aboard the Enterprise looking out into space while everyone is asleep and the lounge is quiet.  I decided to make my poem the log of a science officer, though I made it rhyme which is something unique that you wouldn't normally think of in a Starfleet log.  Hope you enjoy!

Science Officer's Log, Stardate 55362.9

They say space is the final frontier
Our path is open, the way is clear

With the command of the captain we are on our way
Another planetary system, another day

On 10 Forward I stand looking out into space
The stars out the window shine onto my face

Tomorrow we arrive at a binary neutron star
To come here we have traveled far

My role to always gather scientific information
To learn about our universe's formation

Standing here alone I find some peace
Here after hours the noise has ceased

Startfeet officer my path in life
Of adventures through the stars my life is rife

Tomorrow will be another day of duty
But for now I stand here in the universe's beauty.

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 3

Hello!

So for today the prompt was to make  Personal Universal Deck and then use the word(s) randomly chosen from that deck to write a poem.  To be honest I didn't have the patience or paper to make this deck of works, so instead I spent the morning playing a type of Madlibs with myself and thinking about random words that came into my head.  After looking at a picture of Zelda in my office I thought of "Twilight" and "Bow" and then ran with that. 
I decided to go with a series of haikus today because it's my favourite poetry style and even though it has only been a few days the fact that I hadn't written a haiku yet surprised me. lol  So here is today's poem.

Twilight bow shoot true
Preceding coming darkness
Arrows that bring night

Bow of flame burn bright
Fiery inferno blaze
Here strike down my foes

Bow of winds blow strong
Winds carry your arrows far
Find targets beyond

Water bow flow straight
Cleansing waters purify
Destroy muck within

Earthen bow stand firm
Commanding earth to defend
None shall pass this line

Bow of light reveal
Light of truth strike my foes true
Save Hyrule today

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 2

 Hello!

Today's poetry prompt is to write about the "road not taken".  Basically to think about a choice that made all the difference in your life and perhaps how things could have been different if you have chosen differently.  For me a major choice has been on my mind and I decided to use it for today's poem.  Back in 2012 I left Ontario and moved to Alberta.  It was a big change and it changed my life in a big way, perfect inspiration for this poem. 
As for the writing of the poem the idea that I was "making the trek west" made me think of myself as some sort of pioneer living on the frontier.  Like someone panning for gold or looking for oil, or someone trying to make a life in a barren land.  So I used that idea for the overall tone of the poem. 
So here is today's poem.  Enjoy!

Cross Country Trek

Prospects are slim here
Living is hard
Workin' three part time jobs
And still going hungry

Had a few shiny nuggets come my way
But nothing solid
Nothing that lasts
Just one dead end and dry well after another

One relative encourages me to make the trek west
Join them in greener pastures
With my years of learnin' and skills
I could live like a princess

But my family and friends
This land is my home
I've traveled far before, but always returned
Can I really live it behind?

Time passes and hard times keep coming
It wears on my soul
I deserve so much better in life
So I pack my things and head west. 

Things start out slow
But at least I have a place to stay and a temporary job
Before too long I have a good job and money flows
Let the good times roll!

But it's not good forever
As I learn to live the high life hard times come to the green pasture
I need to tighten by belt
But things are still better than they were those years ago

Years pass and I miss home
But I've made a new life here in the west
And though times have been hard for those around me
I've managed to flourish like a desert rose

What would have become of me if I didn't make the trek?
The road not taken.
Could I have eventually thrived?
Or would I have been beaten down into the dust?

Thanks for reading!

NaPoWriMo Day 1

 Hello!

Time for the first official poem of NaPoWriMo 2021! Yay!

The prompt for today is to get outside your head and see the world in a new way.  The world can be very strange, and sometimes for poetry it's useful to see it that way.  Thinking about this prompt I am reminded of face pareidolia.  That's when our brains see faces in pattern or inanimate objects that don't actually have a face.  Things like houses, cars, even food like green peppers are well known to cause this effect.  It makes the world a strange and creepy place when you see all these faces around you.  It's something I try not to think too much about lest I get creeped out and feel like I'm always being watched and judged. 

Running with this idea I decided to use the triolet poem style that I learned last year with NaPoWriMo.  This poem style always feels very awkward to me; any poem written in this style feels uneasy or angry.  Perfect for the creepy feeling I want to convey of seeing faces all around you. 

So I hope you enjoy my poem today, and if you need to go hide under a blanket afterwards I won't judge. 

Faces

Faces everywhere watching me
The eyes unblinking, staring
The dwellings on my street and rolling down the road it's me they see
Faces everywhere watching me
Under the glare of the capsicum I want to flee
Expression so blank and uncaring
Faces everywhere watching me
The eyes unblinking, staring

Thanks for reading!