Day Twenty-Eight

Just three days left in Na/GloPoWriMo 2023!

Today’s featured participant is Jacquelyn Markham, who brings us a bouquet of yellow celosias in response to Day 27’s “Blank of Blank” prompt.

And for today’s resource, we have another book and two chapbooks published by Na/GloPoWriMoers, featuring poems written during the challenge. For our book, we have Bruce Niedt‘s collection, In the Bungalow of Colorful Aging. And for our chapbooks, here’s Lorraine Whelan’s Home Sweet Home Goodbye and Nina Lewis’s Fragile Houses.

Last but not least, here’s our daily prompt, optional and once more taken from our archives. Have you ever flipped to the index of a book and found it super interesting? Well, I have (yes, I live an exciting life!) For example, the other day I pulled from my shelf a copy of on old book that excerpts parts of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s journals. I took a look at the index, and found the following entry under “Man”:

fails to attain perfection, 46; can take advantage of any quality within him, 46; his plot of ground, 46; his use, 52, 56; not to be trusted with too much power, 55; should not be too conscientious, 58; occult relationship between animals and, 75; God in, 79, 86; not looked upon as an animal, 80; gains courage by going much alone, 81; the finished, 89; and woman, distinctive marks of, 109; reliance in the moral constitution of, 124; the infinitude of the private, 151; and men, 217; should compare advantageously with a river, 258.

That’s a poem, right there!

Today, I challenge you to write your own index poem. You could start with found language from an actual index, or you could invent an index, somewhat in the style of this poem by Kell Connor. Happy writing!

Happy writing!

(updated to fix the broken link to our featured participant’s poem)