You are currently viewing Day 15: NaPoWriMo 2024–Quasi-lyrical, Quasi-bizarre

Day 15: NaPoWriMo 2024–Quasi-lyrical, Quasi-bizarre

Day Fifteen on APRIL 15, 2024

Keep those poems coming, folks! We’re halfway through the challenge as of today.

Today, our featured participant is Karen Kendrick, whose anaphoristic poem for Day 14 revels in imagery from
the natural world.

Today’s daily resource is The Shakespeare & Company Interview, a podcast recorded on-site at the renowned
Paris bookstore. While not all do, many of the episodes feature poets/poetry.

And now for our prompt – optional, as always! Today, we’d like to encourage you to take a look at @StampsBot,
and become inspired by the wide, wonderful, and sometimes wacky world of postage stamps. For example, while
it certainly makes sense that China would issue a stamp featuring a panda, it’s less clear to us why the Isle of Man
should feel the need to honor 2001: A Space Odyssey in stamp form. From Romanian mushrooms to Sudanese
weavers to the Marshall Islands getting far too excited over personal computing, stamps are a quasi-lyrical,
quasi-bizarre look into what different cultures
(or at least their postal authorities) hold dear.

And if you’re not on or able to access the @StampsBot account, fear not! You may find an inspiring stamp
or two by perusing the online “International Philately” (say that three times fast) exhibit from the National
Postal Museum.

Happy writing!

:


April 6th post by StampBot on X. EIRE 32. 1997

The freckled Cow gives
a whole pail of milk
to any who come
to sing songs to her;
the louder they sing
the more milk she squirts

she does not care
how awful the sound
or how dandruff-ed your scalp
as long as you sing
with unfeigned delight, a heart song

likewise, in nature,
Spring does not happen
because the sun rises high
it happens because it is sung to:
by the laughing kookaburras,
the loudmouthed cockatoos,

the warbling magpies,
and nightingales too
by buzzing chimes that come
from spirited bees
that zippity zappy to her

Spring gives not a hoot
how awful the sound
nor the count of hay dust
as long as it’s loud and bouncy…
this brings me to Moon
when she is not full

scrawny, her cheeks in shadows
she looks to the stars
to sing cosmic songs
and slowly, she fattens
with stardust
Moon does not care

how angelic or awful
as long as the notes
bloat her moonbeams
so Cow moos at you
Spring bursts forth with color
Moon sends down a mirror
to help you see your choler —

she adds spells to your senses
and bright-torches your soul
’till bubbles fill your head
that you turn to look up
awe, her power entices–

a reminder
of you,
through the mirror,
being sung to.

© selma

Stary night sky with the silhouette of a cow over the full moon.
Image by Vicki Hamilton from Pixabay

This is my fourth try at National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), and this time
around I’m trying not to spend so much time ‘perfecting’ a task that needs more time
to reach a satisfactory closure. I’m a slow poke after all…

You, my friends, are the first to see me in this vulnerable state. If you think of a
better word to fit in the first draft presented here, please don’t hold back–let me
know. I will be forever grateful.

Thanks for being here with me as I try to work on these first drafts on my
phone–outdoors, weather permitting.

Thanks for reading my Day 15

Selma Martin
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This Post Has 22 Comments

  1. Sadje

    A wonderful and entertaining poem Selma

  2. rajkkhoja

    Wonderful written poem. Inspiring.

      1. rajkkhoja

        Thanks,Selma!
        🌙🤠

  3. Cindy Georgakas

    What a brilliant and fun loving song, Selma. Congrats on being halfway through NAPO👏👏

  4. Gloria

    This was a delicious read. Mooo!

  5. Gloria

    This was a delicious read. Moo!

  6. paeansunplugged

    What a delightful read, Selma! Congratulations for making it halfway through. ❤️

  7. Cheryl Batavia

    What a delightful poem, Selma. I like the whimsy and the varied imagery! 💕🦋😊🌺

    1. Selma Martin

      You’re sweet for saying. Thanks for reading about the cow and other entities and why they moo and sing. Be well, Cheryl. Blessings.

  8. Belladonna

    Cow jumps over the moon!!! Great poem Selma

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