Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day twenty is:”For today’s prompt, write an even poem. The poem could be about even numbers, sure, but also about “getting even” with someone. Or perhaps being even-handed. Or even, well, whatever you’d like to do with the word even.”

Sniffle

Even cowgirls
get colds
even-
tually.

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day nineteen is: For today’s prompt, write a customized poem. Could be about the process of customizing a car or how you order a meal. In some ways, a customized anything is an ideal form of that anything (if that helps you figure a way in to this poem). Also, one more way to write a customized poem would be to use a poetic form (here’s a list of 100+ poetic forms) and/or customize your own.”

Haiku-ish

Sore throat daggers
Sinuses slow burn
Sick day coming

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day eighteen is: “For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) Cycle,” replace the blank with a new word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles might include: “Production Cycle,” “Life Cycle,” “Water Cycle,” and/or “Riding My Bicycle.” Don’t be afraid to recycle a former poem today.”

Endless cycle

He says
she says
they say

Do
do not
try

Done with trying
doing
saying

Until tomorrow
when

The cycle

starts
again

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day seventeen is: “For today’s prompt, write a refresh poem. A person might refresh their browser, or give their home decor a little refresh. Lemonade on a hot summer’s day could be refreshing. And well, a positive news story is refreshing as well. Poems, of course, are refreshing too.”

If only it were that simple

All I need
to refresh

is an end to the week,
a glass of wine,
and a kitten
on my lap

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day sixteen is: “For today’s prompt, write an animal poem. Your poem can be about an animal (or animals), feature one in passing, and/or be written from the perspective of an animal. Your poem, your call.”

Perspective

Cat highs:

Fireplaces
dinner time
little pieces of paper rolled up in balls
stained glass on window waiting to be batted

Cat lows:

Late breakfasts
human getting up, disturbing rest
little pieces of paper rolling under furniture
being yelled at by human while enjoying batting stained glass

There should always be
more cat highs
than lows

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day fifteen is: “For today’s prompt, write a poem without pronouns. This was actually more difficult than I realized, writing a poem with he, she, they, me, our, I, we, anybody, everybody, them, and so on. But it’s a fun challenge to try writing with a different mindset.”

A November Wednesday

Darkness upon waking
ushers in
a day of cold and upset

Sunshine in the middle
hard to recall in
the rush of decisions met with horror

Darkness to usher in the day’s end
and the cold night
Tomorrow it begins again.

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day fourteen is: “Today is the first Two-for-Tuesday prompt, and it’s my favorite recurring prompt: 1. Write a love poem, or…2. Write an anti-love poem.”

Love, zero

Love lobbed back and forth
a birdie between rackets
on the badminton court
or better, a ball
furiously slapping
ping-ponging
Back and forth
Back and forth

Slap, slam, clack

Then over the table
over heads
ducking out of the way
rolling until
gone

Never to be found
until moving day arrives
and under the couch
a pile of dust bunnies, cat toys, and balls

Oh, that’s where love went!

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day thirteen is: “For today’s prompt, write a luck poem. With it being the 13th, you might be tempted to write a bad luck poem. But there’s no reason you couldn’t also write a good luck poem. Or write a poem that debates whether luck exists at all. May we all have good luck writing our poems today.”

Good luck
In luck
Beginner’s luck (it’s not luck if you’re not a beginner)

Lucky duck
Lucky break
Lucky Luciano (who wasn’t so lucky)

Luck of the draw
Luck, a little bit of
Luck be a lady (never a gentleman)

Luck over roast lamb and potatoes
Luck driving down the street along the ocean
Luck hanging out in front of the fire on a cold rainy day

(I’ll take whatever luck I can get.)

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day twelve is: “For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(blank) for (blank),” replace the blanks with a new word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles might include: “House for Sale,” “This for That,” “Live for Tomorrow,” and/or “Don’t Forget What You Came Here for Back in the Old Days.” Now write a poem for this prompt!”

I trade my job for a bag full of magic beans

Magic beans
are more reliable
than institutions

Plant them, they grow.

No bureaucrazy nonsense
no five year plan
no strategic priorities.

Only rising through the clouds
so you can climb,
kill the giant,
save the village
and find the happy ending because, fairy tales.

Yes, I think I prefer to count on magic beans and fairy tales.

Hi everyone.

This November I will be presenting to you a month of daily poems as memoir, little ditties to tell you about my day or my thoughts during the day, whatever.  Of course I hope you enjoy them, but it’s ok if you don’t.  Just move on to the next blog in your list.

Day eleven is: “For today’s prompt, write an odd poem. The poem could be about something outside the ordinary (or odd). Of course, today is the 11th, and 11 is an odd number. So there’s another odd possibility for your poem…to write about odd numbers. But, you know, I’ll probably accept about any odd ideas you might have today (or any day really).“

I’m not odd, you’re odd

Who decides
if a poem is odd?

Like writing a poem about nothing:
once you write something
how can it be nothing?

Maybe oddness
is just a state of poetry