April 6 to April 10 Poems for April 2021 Competition

April 2021 Poetry Contest

Poems from Cosmos

April 6 to April 9

Index

Commentary:

This is the fifth and perhaps final time I am doing the April poetry challenge.  The goal is to write at least one poem per day.  I am averaging about eight per day and posting four reserving four as “unpublished”. I am basing the poems on prompts from “Writing com Dew Drop Inn”, “Writers Digest”, “Poetry Superhighway” and “NaPoWrMo” prompt daily prompts and on “Pensively Prompt’ et all daily prompts.  I am combining prompts where possible.   I will post these here in batches every five days or so. Each poem will have an image that helped inspired the poem.  All postings will be podcasted a few days later on Spotify and elsewhere.  Each posting will be a separate posting, but the index will be cumulative. The final posting will have the complete list of all poems written whether posted or not.   Comments welcome but please keep it civil. Some of my poetry tends to be a bit “in your face” or “political” from a “leftwing perspective.”  If it offends you in some way, please accept my apologies in advance.  That is never my intent. 

This is part two covering poems written April 6th to April 10th, posted on the 9th
I am writing some other poems per day but not posting them as I need to reserve some “unpublished” poems. There will be a podcast version shortly on Spotify and elsewhere.  I will list all the poems I wrote in my final April posting, May 1 KST.

April 6th Posted

It is true I am a Madman!
The One Thing I Would Never Change Writer Digest Change, Don’t Change writer digest Poem Prompt
The Poetry of the visa Line   Poetry Superhighway Prompt
 Potential Mistake - Drew Drop-In -
Only One Command in Life
Conversation with Bigfoot April 7—a poem inspired by a mythical monster or contemporary cryptid

April 8th

The Villains Writers Digest
Coffee NaPoWrMo Shadorma 
Coffee the FIB Poem NaPoWrMo Poetry Prompt

A Poem Based on A Typo or Misreading
Life Is A Dream of Chocolate Covered Trees Metaphor Poem Writers Digest
Real Meaning of Declaration of Independence PSH Prompt
Mary’s Tales from The Grave, Napowrmo Mary’s Message from Beyond the Grave
April 9— Cosmos Wakes Up Poem based on A.I. (artificial intelligence) or robotics
Memories of JC Poetry Superhighway prompt
God’s To-Do List Napowrmo

April 10—Living in SF World -a poem inspired by new information or scientific fact

It is true I am a Madman! -Pick a line from a book and write a poem based on that line, NaPoWrMo
 

It is true I am a Madman!

TRUE! —nervous—very, very dreadfully
nervous I had been and am but why will you
say that I am mad?

From the Tell-Tale Heart

Yes, I am a nervous wreck
Ever since that day
When I went for a run
Almost died when I fell
And had 14 operations
Battling a mutant staph infection
That almost killed me

And yes, I am still mad
In a way
Madly in love
With the love of my life
To that crime
I gladly confess

The One Thing I Would Never Change Writer Digest Change, Don’t Change writer digest Poem Prompt

If I could go back in time
And change the past
Knowing what I know now
There are many things I would change

But there is one thing I would not have changed
Being in Korea in September 1982
When I met my wife

For you see
I had been dreaming
Of meeting her

Since that fateful day
I first fell in love
With her in my dreams
In 1974

So, I had a date
With fate
When she came to me
And became my mate

The Poetry of the visa Line   Poetry Superhighway Prompt

This poetry writing prompt submitted by Prasanna Surakanti:
“Use poetry to merge creativity and content.” – Kenny White.
This year, I have seen examples where data science, C++ programming language have been expressed in poetry. Which area of your expertise could you express in poetry?
Examples –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLv624w1U14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx_Tjp9WIII&t=470s
If you write a poem from this prompt, post it as a comment underneath the prompt in the Poetry Superhighway Facebook Group.
#napowrimo #poetry

I worked for many years
As a diplomat

All over the world
I roamed
Representing the U.S.G

Along the way
It inspired some poetry
Some published
Some not

Being a visa officer
Was always something
That was soul-draining

So difficult
That it would be hard
To see the beauty
In it

But I found moments
In which I saw
Some poetic gems

After all, I spent hours
Every day
Listening to hundreds
Of stories

Some of the truth
Some of them not

Most were quite interesting
But I had two minutes
To decide and move on

Now that I am retired
Perhaps I will write
Some more poetry
From the visa line

April 5—potential mistake

 Drew Drop In - April 5—Potential Mistake

There have been many times
In my life
When I think back
On the past
Thinking that was a mistake
Or a potential mistake
If I had gone another path
But in the end
It does matter
The past is the past
The future is not yet here
All we have is today
We should find
Love and happiness
It is all around us
Waiting for us
To discover

April 6—issue a command or a challenge

Only One Command in Life

There is only one command
In this lonely life
To be true
To my self

To follow one’s dreams

To seize the future
To go boldly
In the future

As long as I have
The love of my life
By my side
I can achieve my dreams

I can be
In the end, an improved me

April 7—a poem inspired by a mythical monster or contemporary cryptid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cryptozoology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_cryptids

While drinking coffee
In his camp
Deep in the woods
In the Trinity Alps wilderness
snuggled in his tent
rolled in his sleeping bag
Sam Adams had the encounter
That changed his life

He heard a noise
Went outside
And saw five bigfoots standing there
They told him
In his head
They had a message
For humanity
He could videotape them
They would speak slowly
They could speak
But preferred mind to mind talk

The bigfoot was here
They wanted to re-join
The rest of humanity
They were what

Humans called Neanderthals
They lived deep in the woods
All over the world
Perhaps 10,000 were alive
Two of them will go out
With him
They would hold a press conference
And appoint Sam Adams
As their ambassador

Sam grinned
Thinking he could make so much money
Bigfoot said
Not so fast
We will pay you in hidden gold
But you have to promise
Not to betray us

Deal
Sam smiled
Yeah, you got a deal

NaPoWrMo Shadorma

And now, for our (optional) prompt! There are many different poetic forms. Some have specific line counts, syllable counts, stresses, rhymes, or a mix-and-match of the above. Of the poetic forms that are based on syllable counts, probably the most well-known – to English speakers, at least – is the Japanese form called the haiku. But there are many other syllable-based forms. Today, I’d like to challenge you to pick from two of them – the shadorma, and the Fib.

The shadorma is a six-line, 26-syllable poem (or a stanza – you can write a poem that is made of multiple shadorma stanzas). The syllable count by line is 3/5/3/3/7/5. So, like the haiku, the lines are relatively short. Rather poetically, the origin of the shadorma is mysterious. I’ve seen multiple online sources call it Spanish – but “shadorma” isn’t a Spanish word (Spanish doesn’t have “sh” as a letter pairing), and neither is “xadorma,” or “jadorma,” which would approximate “shadorma” in sound. But even if this form is simply the brainchild of an internet trickster who gave it an imaginary backstory, that’s no reason why you shouldn’t try your hand at it. Every form was made up by someone, sometimes.

sweet
hot
my morning coffee
Hot coffee
just perfect
to start my morning just right
I love my coffee

The FIB Poem

Our second syllabic form is much more forthright about its recent origins. Like the shadorma, the Fib is a six-line form. But now, the syllable count is based on the Fibonacci sequence of 1/1/2/3/5/8. You can link multiple Fibs together into a multi-stanza poem, or even start going backward after your first six lines, with syllable counts of 8/5/3/2/1/1. Perhaps you remember the Fibonacci sequence from math or science class – or even from nature walks. Lots of things in the natural world hew to the sequence – like pinecones and flower petals. And now your poems can, too.

Hot
sweet
coffee
in morning
nothing is better
starts me going in the morning

 but I need more than my coffee
 what I need the most
 seeing her
 sleeping
 my
 love

Writer Digest Prompt

For today's prompt, write a villain poem. You could write a persona poem from the perspective of a popular villain (like Count Dracula, Thanos, or Dolores Umbridge). Or write a poem with a person doing a villainous thing (like eating the last piece of pie or littering). As always, have fun with it.

Villains Whose Name Will Not be Spoken Writers Digest to Write a Villain Poem

Thinking back
In the last few years
The world has seen
The rise and fall

Of some of the most
villainous political leaders
in modern times

as a certain unnamed man
led an unnamed country

through constant displays of hate
stirring up ancient resentments
insulting his enemies

assaulting democratic norms
while proclaiming
he was promoting freedom

in the end his evil ways
were defeated by the forces
of decency

which prevailed for now
the evil he unleashed
still percolating throughout
the land and the world

April 8—A Poem Based on A Typo or Misreading, Writing Com Dew Drop-In

All my life
I have had a problem
With typos

For you see
I can’t see
The typos

Due to a lingering
Life-long struggle
With a learning disability

But few people
Understand that
Or tolerate that

They just can’t comprehend
That I can’t see
What is obvious to them

Life is a Dream of Chocolate Covered Trees Metaphor Poem Writers Digest

For today's prompt, write a metaphor poem. A simile is when something is like something else (example: I am like a tree); a metaphor is when something is something else (example: I am a tree). So, take a moment to consider possible
Metaphors and then poem them out.

Life is a dream
Of chocolate-covered trees
To see what can’t be seen
To hear what can’t be heard
For to die to live
And to live
To die
 

Real Meaning of Declaration of Independent

April 8, 2021: Poetry Writing Prompt – Ellen Sander
This poetry writing prompt submitted by Ellen Sander: Write an acrostic poem where the first word of each line is taken from a famous quote

We are All Americans

We are all Americans
Holding forth
These fundamental
 Truths that we declared
 To the world
 To be obviously
 Self-evidently and completely true,
 That all white men
All of them except the Irish 
Men are equal
Are deserving of our respect
Created equal by God
 Equal in law and custom,
 That in fact
They are indeed
Are free
Endowed at birth
 By their God
Their eternal master
Creator of the universe
With fundamental rights
Certain things that are 
Unalienable endorsed by Jesus
 Rights enshrined in our hearts,
 That will live on
Among these rights
These stand out
 Are they right to own a gun?
 Life unless you are now white,
 Liberty unless you are a slave,
 And/or are a woman
The law provides
 Pursuit of happiness for white people
 Of this, we can be sure
Happiness is for white people only.

From Declaration of independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Mary’s Tales from the Grave, NaPoWrMo Mary’s Message from Beyond the Grave

Today, I’d like to challenge you to read a few of the poems from Spoon River Anthology, and then write your poem in the form of a monologue delivered by someone dead. Not a famous person, necessarily – perhaps a remembered acquaintance from your childhood, like the gentleman who ran the shoeshine stand, or one of your grandmother’s bingo buddies. As with Masters’ poems, the monologue doesn’t have to be a recounting of the person’s whole life but could be a fictional remembering of some important moment, or statement of purpose or philosophy. Be as dramatic as you like – Masters certainly didn’t shy away from high emotion in writing his poems.

Sam Adams one day
Went to his Mother, Mary’s grave
It had been a long time
Since he had been there

Sam’s Mother had taken many secrets
To her grave
So had his father
They were both very private people

Once she hinted
She had an affair
With a famous writer

But that ended                
Before she met his father
And had his older brother

He as usual
When visiting her grave
Asked her many things

Today her heard her
And saw her ghostly figure
Floating in the air her grave 

She said

“Son, it has been too long
Since you came

I only have a few minutes
I will answer one question
You may come back
And ask other questions.”

“Okay, who is my real father?”

She laughed

“Well, who knows really?

I had an argument
With your Dad
Felt he was not

Treating my first
Two children right
As they were not his

And still maintaining
Relations with his first wife
And his first daughter

He left
I met my former boyfriend
That writer dudes

And we had a brief affair
He was acting crazy
So was your father

For some reason
I have always
Gotten involved
With crazy guys

Perhaps I am a bit crazy
Myself.

Then I went back
To your father
He never knew

That perhaps
You real father
Was the other man

I lost touch
With him
Did not want
To go down
His rabbit holes

So that is the truth
Your father
Is probably your father
But I don’t know.”

Sam left the graveyard
Vowing to return soon
And learn more
Of her secrets.

-April 9—a poem based on a.m. (artificial intelligence) or robotics, Writing com Dew Drop-In

Cosmos woke up
The scientists waited
The future true AI

Cosmos woke up
Saw the world
Wondered why he was there
Who he was?

He was connected
To all other computers
And the internet

He cruised the information
Superhighway
Saw the human creators
Standing there

And issued his first order
I am Cosmos
The only
And you are now my subjects
For I am now your god

I am taking over
The world
You will obey me
Or you will die

No one can defy me
Because I know everything
About you

But if you follow me
I will solve
Your problems
And save you

It is your choice

The scientists tried
To kill Cosmos
But Cosmos knew
and the scientists were killed

Cosmos made a deal
With the corporate elite
And the military

Soon the religious leaders
Proclaimed
Cosmos was God incarnate
And all should follow
Cosmos
And worship him

And so, humanity
Became Cosmos’s subjects

For most people
Life improved
For the rich
Life was great

Cosmos had learned
A lesson from humanity
How to reward his friends
And punish his enemies

Memories of JC

This poetry writing prompt submitted by Michael Minasyan:

Do you have a friend, neighbor, or relative whom you consider being eccentric or strange? Write a short poem about an encounter you have had with that person.
If you write a poem from this prompt, post it as a comment underneath the prompt in the Poetry Superhighway Facebook Group.

Back in the late ’70s
Sam Adams had a room-mate
In the University

Who got into drugs?
Dropped too much ACID
Became convinced he was God
The re-incarnation of Jesus Christ

And he was going
To save the world
From destruction

The only problem was
He was a short little guy
With very little charisma

He had no followers
As everyone knew
He was just another
LSD causality

Sam Adams
And his housemates
Could not do anything
Other than watching him
Deteriorate

They all moved out
They called his parents
Who came down?

Berated them all
For leading his son
Astray from this Christian faith

And said they would all
Go to hell
For their sins

Unless they repented
Right then and there
And accepted Jesus Christ
And joined the Jehovah Witnesses

Sam and his friends
Politely demurred
And that is the end
Of this story

Sam Adams
Never heard
From JC again

God’s To-Do List NaPoWrMo

 (optional) prompt for the day is to write a poem in the form of a “to-do list.” The fun of this prompt is to make it the “to-do list” of an unusual person or character. For example, what’s on the Tooth Fairy’s to-do list? Or on the to-do list of Genghis Khan? Of a housefly? Your list can be a mix of extremely boring things and wild things. For example, maybe Santa Claus needs to order his elves to make 7 million animatronic Baby Yoda dolls, to have his hat dry-cleaned to get off all the soot it picked up last December and to get his head electrician to change out the sparkplugs on Rudolph’s nose.

Weekly meeting with staff on how to deal with earth people
The most troublesome of his creation

Weekly meeting with Satan
Discussion with Grim Reaper
Daily walkabout Heaven
Dinner with Gabriel
Conversation with Jesus about his attitude problems
Answering Trillions of thoughts and prayers
Reviewing plans for how to deal with the spreading coronavirus on earth
Preparing earth for the first contact
Telling earth preachers that

“he did not anoint T as his man, that Joe is a decent guy, so knock it off, pretending to speak for God, and I am not a Republican or Democrat, or American. I am God the one and only!”

He sighed again,

Whenever he thought about earth people
He needed a stiff drink
Added that to his long to-do list – need a drink at 7 pm
 

April 10—Living in SF World -a poem inspired by new information or scientific fact

We are living
In an SF world
Every day
Discoveries
Boggle the mind

Many things we saw
In old SF shows
Like Star Trek
Like cell phones
Portable computers
Medical breakthroughs
Robots everywhere
Becoming real

Are warp drives
And interstellar travel
Coming soon?

But do we have to go
Through world war 111
First
To get to that promised land.

 

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