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A Poetic Challenge

Dear Readers,
I am almost at the end of a poetry-writing marathon and fundraiser for Tupelo Press—one of the premier independent publishers of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in the United States. They have published the early books of many renowned poets such as Annie Finch, Ilya Kaminski, Maggie Smith, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Gary Soto, Kazim Ali, Lise Goett, Matthew Zapruder, Rajiv Mohabir, Rusty Morrison, and so many more.

The challenge is to write a poem a day for 30 days, Tupelo 30/30 project. I am asking you to take a look at the many contest and submission opportunities at Tupelo Press and also support the press in honor of your favorite participating poet in this challenge, although I hope you would support my (Pratibha’s) campaign.

If you enjoy reading and contributing to  The Literary Nest, I would urge you to support my campaign by donating a small amount by clicking here. 

Also, keep those sonnets coming for our summer issue. The deadline is June 15. Here are the submission guidelines.

Stay well out there, readers.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 30 2020

Here we are at the end of April. Today is the last day of this National Poetry Month challenge. I hope you have enjoyed these prompts and had as much fun writing poems as I had creating them.

I will keep it simple today. Write a good-bye poem with an optimistic outlook.

Just a reminder about submissions. The summer issue will feature sonnets. Check out the submission guidelines, consider submitting, and spread the word.

As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 29 2020

Eavan Boland is one of the foremost female poet voices in Irish literature. Sadly, she passed away on April 27, 2020. I love her poetry because she speaks in an urgent voice to express the female experience. There are many other reasons to admire her poetry, and you can find out more about her by just googling. As a small tribute to her, I am quoting her poem Quarantine written circa 2008. It is a fitting commentary for the current times.

Quarantine
— Eavan Boland (1944-2020)

In the worst hour of the worst season
of the worst year of a whole people
a man set out from the workhouse with his wife.
He was walking—they were both walking—north.
(Read the rest on Academy of American Poets)

Write a poem inspired by something in this poem. It doesn’t have to be about the pandemic. There is so much more you can discover about relationships and humanity in the poem. Find your groove and write.

As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 28 2020

Bee in action detail

Hello poets and readers, I hope you can stand one more prompt about the shelter-in-place situation. I came across the following poem while doing research about sonnets. This poem by William Wordsworth shines the light on a paradoxical truth. Sometimes, constraints can be liberating. We put the real constraints on our mind, and somehow external constraints can set the mind free.

Nuns Fret Not
by William Wordsworth (1807)

Nuns fret not at their convents’ narrow room;
And hermits are contented with their cells;
And students with their pensive citadels;
Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom,
Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom,
High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells,
Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells:
In truth the prison, into which we doom
Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me,
In sundry moods, ‘twas pastime to be bound
Within the Sonnet’s scanty plot of ground;
Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be)
Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,
should find brief solace there, as I have found.

See if you can write a poem in any poetic form of your choice.
As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 27 2020

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Folks, the time has quickly passed, and the countdown to May has begun. Most of us are still sheltering-in-place. Are you dreaming of your next vacation? Of course, the entire world isn’t going to open overnight. It will be perhaps a year or two before things return to pre-2020 normal. But just imagine, if you were free to go anywhere, where would you go? Is your dream destination a tropical island, a safari, climbing mountains, camping, or perhaps glamping in the wilderness? Write a poem about a vacation you are looking forward to.

As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 26 2020

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Apparently, many people are reporting the increase in the number of dreams they are having during this pandemic. Not only are they experiencing more dreams, but dreams are also becoming more vivid. As for me, I always have vivid dreams, so this phenomenon piqued my curiosity. I found several news articles where experts are weighing in. Here is one of them.

Also, from Today Website:

Weekend TODAY’s Peter Alexander recounts a weird dream he recently had. Then, Harvard dream researcher Deirdre Barrett explains why some people, like Peter, are having vivid dreams during the global coronavirus pandemic. She says some reasons may include sleep deprivation and waking up naturally after a dream period.

So, here’s the prompt for you. Have you had any unusual dreams lately? Either use your own dream or use one from looking up other people’s dream reports, and write a poem about it.

As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 25 2020

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In the current atmosphere of uncertainty, it is natural to be anxious. People can tolerate different levels of uncertainty in their life. What are you doing to tolerate it in your life? This short poem by Emily Dickinson speaks to this uncertainty.

In this short Life that only lasts an hour (1292)
–Emily Dickinson

In this short Life that only lasts an hour
How much – how little – is within our power

Write a poem that addresses the actions that you or someone you know is taking to keep life moving in a way that keeps anxiety at bay.

As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 24 2020

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A tercet is a group or unit of three lines.  It could be a three-line poem such as a haiku, or it could be a longer poem consisting of several tercets. The three lines of a tercet often rhyme together. Terza Rima is one of the most challenging forms of a tercet. It is composed in iambic pentameter and employees the following rhyme scheme “ABA BCB CDC.”  As you can see from the following poem by Robert Frost, this rhyme scheme has the effect of linking the stanzas together in a rhythmic fashion.

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain – and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Write a poem using tercets. Don’t worry about getting the form right.

As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 23 2020

Today’s prompt is simple, or is it?. Write a haiku. Rules of Haiku writing are simple. Not so with creating the deep meaning in a stunning manner.
Here is the definition from the Academy of American Poets.

A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.

Here is one great example from the famous haiku master, Matsuo Basho.

A field of cotton—
as if the moon
had flowered.
– Matsuo Basho
Translated by Robert Hass

Here are two “computer error message” haiku. I am not sure of the source of these.

First snow, then silence.
This thousand-dollar screen dies
So beautifully.

Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.

As usual, you can post your haiku poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.

blog, NPM2020

Prompt April 22 2020

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April 22 is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It is the anniversary of the birth of the environmental movement in 1970. For decades before Modern industrialization and inefficient automobiles caused poor air quality and smog. Industrial waste piled up. The health effects of this polluted environment went unnoticed for a long time. In 1962, Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring was published raising concern for living organisms and the link between the environment and public health.
The question we have to ask ourselves is that have we done enough to protect the environment? Try to express your concerns and ideas for the future of Mother Earth in your poem.

Remember, the prompts are optional. If you want to write about anything else, go ahead.

As usual, you can post your poem here if you like. You will need a password. Write to theliterarynest@gmail.com if you need the password.