Day Twenty-Nine

Happy Friday all, and happy penultimate day of Na/GloPoWriMo 2022!

For the first time, we have a trio of featured participants, as there were so many wonderful responses to Day 28’s “concrete” poem prompt that I had even more difficulty than usual choosing! First up, here’s Alice Whitehead‘s lovely pear-shaped poem. Nex, Joy Wright‘s criss-crossing, repeating poem about a bandstand, and last but not least, flippedserendipity‘s wavy ocean poem.

Today’s featured online magazine is On the Seawall, which has been publishing issues at least monthly since 2018. From the poems they’ve recently published, I’ll direct you to Barbara Daniels’ “My Lost Generation” and Melissa Eleftherion’s “Fool Reversed/Let Go.”

And here’s our prompt (optional, as always). In certain versions of the classic fairytale Sleeping Beauty, various fairies or witches are invited to a princess’s christening, and bring her gifts. One fairy/witch, however, is not invited, and in revenge for the insult, lays a curse on the princess. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem in which you muse on the gifts you received at birth — whether they are actual presents, like a teddy bear, or talents – like a good singing voice – or circumstances – like a kind older brother, as well as a “curse” you’ve lived with (your grandmother’s insistence on giving you a new and completely creepy porcelain doll for every birthday, a bad singing voice, etc.). I hope you find this to be an inspiring avenue for poetic and self-exploration.

Happy writing!