2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 12

As much as I like the image, I went with the text prompt for my final poem of this year’s half-marathon. Thirty years ago this summertime I was watching Total Recall on laserdisc while eating some Snickers ice cream bars after coming back from Shibuya…

2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 11

Went with the text prompt for Hour 11. Not my favorite, but this is what I got. In her pretend forest ranger fantasy she wore periwinkle gumboots and yellow ribbons Every afternoon she’d dance between the skyscraper trees and skip past squirrel-run storefronts on her…

2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 10

As much as I like the image, I went with the text prompt for Hour 10. In keeping with the season we shall observe the ritual as we have done for many years now long enough that the practice from which we turned away has…

2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 9

Using the text prompt to engage in some silliness for Hour 9. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch because to make an omelette, you’ve gotta break a few eggs and that’s only going to throw off your tally You’ve gotta walk and don’t look…

2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 8

For Hour 8, I went with the text prompt. Our Hero sets out on a quest and has a series of wacky adventures until we get to the end of the book But I’ve forgotten how it ends Usually, I forget bits that happen in…

2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 7

I opted for a different take on the text prompt. The question has been raised: N or Mal? Well, mal is bad— but then Mal can be a pal (ask the Beatles) getting the word out and getting things done and without it a polar…

2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 6

For Hour 6, I used both text and visual prompts. Wipe clean a spot on the foggy window to see what the morning has brought Ignore the treacly soundtrack leaking from the headphones of the person in the next seat I hear there’s a park…

2021 Poetry Marathon, Hour 5

My Hour 5 poem uses both text and image prompts. The time capsule is an old standby in the popular imagination— a hunt for buried treasure a promise of revisiting innocence an antidote to the popular complaint The time capsule is an ever-evolving proposition in…