Day Ten

Wow, everybody! As of today, we’re one third of the way through Na/GloPoWriMo.

Today’s featured participant is Michael Jarmer, who brings us a meditative (see what I did there?) sonnet in response to Day 9’s prompt.

Our poetry resource for the day is Poem Talk, a monthly podcast hosted by Al Fireis, sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Kelly Writers House. Each episode features a roundtable discussion of a single poem.

Today’s daily prompt (optional, as always) again comes from our archives. I’m playing to my own strengths here, but I challenge you to write a sea shanty (or shantey, or chanty, or chantey — there’s a good deal of disagreement regarding the spelling!) Anyway, these are poems in the forms of songs, strongly rhymed and rhythmic, that sailors might sing while hauling on ropes and performing other sea-going labors. Probably the two most famous sea shanties (at least before TikTok gave us The Wellerman) are What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? and Blow the Man Down. And what should your poem be about? Well, I suppose it could be about anything, although some nautical phrases tossed into the chorus would be good for keeping the sea in your shanty. Haul away, boys, haul away!

Happy writing!