The Poetry Marathon

For Hour 4, I used both the text and visual prompts. The first line of this poem comes from the last line of the 1984 English translation (by Michael Henry Heim) of Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

The strains of the piano and violin rose up weakly from below
the faintest of echoes dissipating into the clouds
hovering above the treetops

Silence swallowed everything else

You’d never know that anyone had been here
had you not been present to feel the emptiness yourself

Any scratchings that survive
will one day be as faint as those echoes
until erosion finishes the job

26 June 2021

For Hour 3, I used both text and visual prompts.

I’d recognize that bridge anywhere
I don’t remember where it is
but it’s the one they always show whenever they talk about that park

I’d recognize that bridge anywhere
I don’t remember where it is
but it’s the one that looks like Graffiti Bridge after 30 years of unchecked foliage growth

I’d recognize that bridge anywhere
I don’t remember where it is
but it’s the one you always have to say you recognize because everyone knows that bridge

I’d recognize that bridge anywhere
if I’d ever seen it before

But I haven’t
so I’ll have to concentrate on the woman in the magenta dress
stalking the two people having a conversation on the bridge

26 June 2021

I stuck with the text prompt for Hour 2. 

Coffee and change

Used to be a bit of spare change
might buy a cup of coffee or two
(with enough left over to leave a tip on the counter)

Just enough to wake you up
on a slow morning

Seems hardly anyone
drinks straight coffee anymore

Now it’s mostly liquid dessert
in tall, grande, or venti

Just enough to wind you up
for the next sugar crash

And there’s no such thing as change

26 June 2021

For my Hour 1 poem, I used both text and visual prompts.

There you are
in your final moment

before you learned that you can’t trust shadows

forever living
until the screen goes dark

26 June 2021

Apparently, this year’s half-marathon (I never do the full marathon, because I like sleep) will take place during a heatwave. If today was any indication, tomorrow will be quite toasty indeed. Makes me glad I had an air conditioner (excuse me—”ductless heat pump”) installed about a year and a half ago.

This will be my fifth time participating. Much like last year, I have continued to have difficulty writing; instead, I have had much better luck with music (https://tintymusic.bandcamp.com/). Whatever anyone thinks of the sounds, many of the titles I have come up with have been miles better than most of my attempts at new poems. For this reason, I am glad to have this year’s half-marathon (did I mention that I like sleep?) to present a challenge.

With that, I set the timer on my air conditioner (did I mention that I like sleep) and get ready for bed. Six o’clock comes early.

—Kevin
25 June 2021

Last one! The prompt for hour 12 is to (1) grab a book at random off the shelf; (2) read the first line of the book, and the last line; (3) pick one; and (4) use every single word in a poem.

The book I ended up using is Alphabet Juice, by Roy Blount Jr. (one of my mom’s books).

The first line:
According to scholars of linguistics, the relation between a word and its meaning is arbitrary. [Emphasis in the original.]

The last line:
Aah. [Emphasis in the original]

Because that last line is so short, I decided to use both lines. I started with the shorter line, and was thinking of having the poem consist of two parts—but then it came together at the end. So…

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The prompt for hour 11 is to write a poem about a place you’ve never been. I sort of did that. (Sort of.)

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The prompt for hour 10 is to listen to the Cat Stevens song ‘Moonshadow’, then write a poem. Instead, I wrote my poem while I was listening, and finished when the song did.

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The hour 9 prompt is to use at least five words out of a list of ten. I used seven.

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Emoji aren’t my thing, so I went to the random prompt generator for this one from 2016: Write a poem of praise. It can be praising a person, a place, or a thing…

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