Tag Archives: NaPoWriMo

Wait and Hope

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Day 11  of the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May-Book Giveaway .

Today’s question: Roald Dahl arranged to have April’s piece published. What’s the nicest gesture someone else has made to support your writing? Or share a memorable response to your work that has stayed with you over the years.

 

My response:  When I first started submitting writing for publication, I have to admit it was kind of discouraging. I would submit, wait and hope, and often hear nothing back, even when I queried once or twice. “Why bother?” I started thinking. But I persevered because I really wanted not just to see my writings in print, but more importantly, to make connections with others. It was about this time that I started my blog. While originally it was just a place to capture the poems that I was writing in April for NaPoWriMo, soon I started getting feedback in the form of comments, some from people I knew in real life, and some from complete strangers. For the first time, I stopped feeling like my writings were going off into a void. Instead I had become an active member of a worldwide community of writers. I still love seeing my writing in print—who doesn’t?—but I equally value the wonderful give and take from readers who suddenly don’t feel like complete strangers anymore.

It’s not too late to join in! The complete rules for this giveaway can be found here.

NaPoWriMo Recap

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With National Poetry  Month officially over, I figure it’s time for a recap.

On the NaHaiWriMo front, I completed the challenge, sometimes even posting more than one haiku a day. All of my haiku can be read on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page. In fact, even after three consecutive months of daily haiku-ing, some of us have not yet had enough, so NaHaiWriMo will be continuing throughout the month of May. And to add to the fun, I have been asked to be the guest prompter for May! All my prompts will be posted to the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page, as well as here on this blog. If you have not yet had the chance to join in the fun, check it out. And if you’re new to haiku, a great place to get started is by reading this article by Michael Dylan Welch, the founder and guiding force behind NaHaiWriMo.

I wasn’t quite as prolific this time around, with my fifth Poetic Asides PAD challenge. I only had time to write to about half of the prompts, and I posted even fewer to this blog. Still, I got some reasonable poetry out of it, and have enough poems to choose from, to submit for consideration to the Top Fifty List.

2010 napowrimo #29

Poetry 8 Comments

Fun prompt today on Read Write Poem. We were to take ten newspaper headlines and select elements from them to create our own event to write a poem about. I couldn’t resist. I took the headline “Better without the bigger?” (actual article is about Portland Public Schools), combined it with “My little, possibly record-setting pony” (which really is about a miniature 14″ pony) and came up with the following:

Better, Not Bigger

Scientists today have been successful
in crossing a Polly Pocket
with a My Little Pony,
resulting in a new breed
they are calling My Pocket Pony.

At only ¼ inch high,
scientists are hailing this new breed
as a tremendous breakthrough
adding that the goal of
“a pony in every pocket”
is now within reach in our lifetime.

When asked “Why this new breed?”
a spokesperson simply replied,
“Because we can”.

2010 PAD- Day 28

Poetry 2 Comments

Fitting that this Poetic Asides prompt should come today.

The End of the Line

He asked me once
if this was the end of the line.
I don’t recall my reply.
Perhaps I mumbled something
about there always being hope
perhaps I sighed,
and reached for his hand,
or perhaps I said nothing at all
and he read his answer in my silence.
Now he lives on in my heart,
and in the rich legacy he left behind.
Rest in peace, Dad.


Stanton Cohn
 August 25, 1920- April 28, 2008

2010 napowrimo #28

Poetry 8 Comments

I lost my beloved father two years ago today. It is these anniversaries that are the most difficult– they catch you by the throat and force you to take notice. Two years  have come and gone. Time has softened the edges of my grief, but the sorrow is always there, just beneath the surface. Perhaps my poem is a little sad today, reflecting the wistfulness I am feeling. I can’t quite tell.

C’est la Vie

For three days now, a little songbird—
perhaps a wren—has been banging his head
against my window. Something elusive
is drawing him to it, either a misguided
sense of direction, or an intense desire
to want what he can’t have. My heart
goes out to him, this little bird, yet
I’m powerless to intervene. The way
I see it, either he will eventually
knock himself senseless, or finally
realize the futility of his efforts,
and redirect his flight pattern.
Such is life.

I wrote the blog post In Memoriam to dad, last year on this date.

2010 napowrimo #27

Poetry 6 Comments

Today’s prompt for Read Write Poem was to have some fun with an acrostic poem, starting with a word that’s part of us. What could be more a part of me than my name. 🙂

Cara Holman

Crazy to have started not one, but two PAD
adventures. Words are consuming her life. She’s
ready to wrap and move on,
and yet…

Having begun, she can’t stop now. Focused
on the goal of finishing in style, she
lopes on, carrying the poetic torch, hoping that
maybe her best poem to date is just
around the bend. Perhaps so, perhaps
not, but persevere, she will.