Day Twenty-One

Hello, everyone, and welcome back for the 21st Day of NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo! We’re three weeks in now, with just one week and some change left to go.

Today’s featured participant is Katie Staten, whose poem for Day Twenty used kennings as a jumping-off-point to develop a larger theme.

Our poet in translation today is Iran’s Rosa Jamali. Jamali’s poetry uses surreal imagery, broken syntax, and a wealth of mythological references to create a mysterious, urgent sense of speech. Eight of her poems can be found at the link above.

And now, for our prompt (optional as always!) Just as Rosa Jamila’s poems often sound like they come out of a myth or fairy tale (and not always one with a happy ending), today I challenge you to write a poem in the voice of minor character from a fairy tale or myth. Instead of writing from the point of view of Cinderella, write from the point of view of the mouse who got turned into a coachman. Instead of writing from the point of view of Orpheus or Eurydice, write from the point of view of one of the shades in Hades who watched Eurydice leave and then come back. Happy writing!