NaPoWriMo Wrap-Up

There you have it: one month of writing a poem every single day. I plan to do this again next year! It was fun.

Let's recap what I wrote...

Day 1: 5 haiku about weather
Day 2: a villanelle called "The Secret"
Day 3: an English sonnet about Weeping Angels
Day 4: free-form in rhyming couplets called "When It's Closed"
Day 5: rhyming couplets about my Little Visitor, Clyde
Day 6: a villanelle called "Askew"
Day 7: 3 haiku for Amy's birthday
Day 8: free-form tie-in with my Camp NaNoWriMo novel, Comorbidity
Day 9: rhyming couplets about library instruction
Day 10: 5 "double-definition" senryu
Day 11: 5 haiku about the Aquarium
Day 12: rhyming couplets about paradoxes
Day 13: rhyming quatrains about Gimli (my cat, not the character)
Day 14: free-form / rhyming couplets & tercets about writer's block
Day 15: 3 haiku about pollen
Day 16: a translation poem from the Vietnamese poem "April"
Day 17: a limerick about the fickle weather
Day 18: free-form about sleep deprivation
Day 19: a redaction poem from the Wikipedia article for "brown"
Day 20: free-form / experiment in sight rhyme about wind
Day 21: a villanelle about The Silence
Day 22: 5 haiku about earth science
Day 23: Italian sonnet about talkers in the library
Day 24: senryu of celebration
Day 25: villanelle about a villain ("the villain-elle")
Day 26: acrostic of rhyming couplets about onomatopoeia
Day 27: 3 "double-definition" senryu
Day 28: poem about writing poems (lines rhyme with 1, 2, 3...)
Day 29: erasure poem from the Wikipedia article about storms
Day 30: 5 senryu about the library

NaPoWriMo: Day 30

I did it! I made it to the end of April! To wrap this month up, I have some more senryu, inspired by the library. (When you work seven days a week, you think about work a lot.)

---

Procrastination:
I can't help you with your work
Or your citations.

Yes, you have to pay
for printing. Paper doesn't
grow on trees. No wait...

It takes two days for
books to arrive from other
campuses. Sorry.

Good luck on finals.
You have a grade of sixteen?
Out of a hundred?!?

I'll see you again
next semester. You'll forget
everything you learned.

NaPoWriMo: Day 29

Today I wrote an erasure poem! (It's like a redacted poem, but instead of leaving the text in tact and striking through the leftover words, you just pull out the words you want, in order, and get rid of everything else.)

This one came from the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article about storms, because today we're going to get lots of isolated thunderstorms, if the forecast is to be trusted.

---

Any disturbed body's surface
may be heavy, strong.
However,
they can allow
activities
which would not be possible
otherwise.

NaPoWriMo: Day 28

I bring you: poem about writing poems where each line rhymes with a number, in order. (First rhymes with "one," second rhymes with "two," etc.)

---

Writing poems is super fun
You know you want to, too.
You can write poems like me!
I promise it isn't a bore.

If you're busy as a bee in a hive
And don't have time as the clock ticks
You'll be in poem-writing heaven:
You don't have to pine and wait;
Just write silly poems like mine!

NaPoWriMo: Day 27

We're getting so close to the end! Here are some more of those double-definition senryu like the ones I did on Day 10.

---

Pronunciation:
Saying it right; condemning:
Denunciation.

Tranquility is
Peacefulness; keeping steady
Is stability.

Hippopotamus:
Large mammal; thin peninsula:
That is an isthmus.

NaPoWriMo: Day 26

Acrostic! Yes. And it rhymes. And it's self-aware.

---

Out of the dark, I hear a creak.
'Neath the sink, "drip drop" goes the leak.
On the mantle the clock says tick and tock.
Many birds outside screech, caw, and squawk.
A cannon far away makes a mighty boom;
The cars driving by go whoosh and zoom.
Outside, a trolley says clatter and clang.
Pulling the trigger makes the gun go bang!
Onomatopoeia like "boing" and "pow"
Evoke certain feelings like awe from "wow."
In French, a frog says "gowap"
And I feel like this poem was a "flop."

NaPoWriMo: Day 25

It's time for another villanelle! It's about a villain. It's a villain-elle. Because I like puns.

---

You think I'm the bad guy.
You chase and zap and fight me,
But I just don't know why.

You think it's so cut-and-dry:
I must be evil (is it the goatee?)
You think I'm the bad guy.

You like to make me cry,
(Although I don't let you see)
But I just don't know why.

You're clearly not my ally,
Though I'd like it if you would be, but
You think I'm the bad guy.

When I see you, I just sigh.
You attack like a killer bee,
But I just don't know why.

You want me to suffer - or die -
All I can do is offer my plea.
You think I'm the bad guy,
But I just don't know why.

NaPoWriMo: Day 24

Birk was accepted to the master's program he applied to! Let's have a celebratory haiku:

---

Acceptance is sweet!

Now you'll study sciences

Biomedical.

NaPoWriMo: Day 23

Early in the month, I wrote an English sonnet (with the rhyme scheme ABAB ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). Now, I'm going to try an Italian sonnet (with the rhyme scheme ABBA ABBA CDC CDC or ABBA ABBA CDE CDE).

Remember: An Italian sonnet starts with an octave (two quatrains) describing a problem, followed by a sestet (two tercets) that solves the problem. (The first line of the sestet is the turn, which identifies the switch from problem-describing to problem-solving.)

(Can anyone tell that noise in the library has become a problem recently?)

---

Too many people are being loud.
They're whispering and talking
On phones without even balking
Like it's something of which to be proud.

I tried to tell them it's not allowed
But still they continue their squawking,
Even as toward the door they're walking.
With great lung power they're all endowed.

I must find a way to stop the speaking!
I'll stem the unceasing, unending supply
Of voices that sound like chalkboard fingernail scrape.

A solution that would stop me from shrieking:
Run down to the hardware store and buy
Their biggest, stickiest roll of duct tape.

NaPoWriMo: Day 22

It's Earth Day! So I'm going to write sciencey haiku. Because of course I am.

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Earth is pretty small,
Compared to the rest of the
Solar system's orbs.

When the sun explodes,
the earth will disintegrate.
But I will be dead.

Iron and silicon,
Magnesium, sulfur, and
nickel, calcium.
[The most common elements in the composition of the earth.]

Crust, upper mantle,
Mantle, outer core, and the
Inner core. The Earth.

Tectonic plates shift.
The ocean floor, subducted.
Ridges built, and fall.

NaPoWriMo: Day 21

Let's have another villanelle, and another Doctor Who themed poem.

(If it helps, I've just watched the penultimate episode of season 6. In other words, I don't yet know the resolution of this particular plotline. So make like the Silence and shush... and make like River and don't tell me any spoilers. Sweetie.)

Don't laugh at me. Stop it.

---

Silence will fall when the question is asked.
Who will ask it and who will answer?
What of the future and what of the past?

The question in question will be unmasked.
It will be the fault of the time-and-space dancer.
Silence will fall when the question is asked.

The Silence will strongly lambaste
The one they believe to be a cancer.
What of the future and what of the past?

Which side will manage to outlast?
We can tell when we hear the laughter.
Silence will fall when the question is asked.

The Doctor's ability is unsurpassed.
The Silence can run, but he can run faster.
What of the future and what of the past?

Our savior's following has been amassed.
Our questions and prayers have been answered.
Silence will fall when the question is asked.
What of the future and what of the past?

NaPoWriMo: Day 20

Let's have an experiment in sight rhyme, on the subject of last evening's weather!

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I think you'll find
That this crazy wind
Is not so kind

I am confined
And somewhat chagrined
And a little maligned

Whoever designed
This wind and grinned
Must be undermined

NaPoWriMo: Day 19

I've been wanting to do a redaction poem since NaPoWriMo began, so today I'm finally doing one!

I took a paragraph of the Wikipedia article for "brown."

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In terms of the visible spectrum, "brown" refers to high wavelength (low frequency) hues, yellow, orange, or red, in combination with low luminance or saturation.^[14] Since brownmay cover a wide range of the visible spectrum, composite adjectives are used such as red brown, yellowish brown, dark brown or light brown.

As a color of low intensity, brown is a tertiary color: a mix of the three subtractive primary colors is brown if the cyan content is low. Brown exists as a color perception only in the presence of a brighter color contrast.^[15] Yellow, orange, red, or rose objects are still perceived as such if the general illumination level is low, despite reflecting the same amount of red or orange light as a brown object would in normal

[the adjectives are only perceived as normal]

NaPoWriMo: Day 18

I'm not as bad off as the poem makes it sound, but I am pretty tired. Had to stay up late to pick up my aunt from the airport.

Had there been more activity there, maybe I could have written about that.

---

Deprived of sleep
The fogginess creeps
I want to count sheep
And doze so deep
On the bed in a heap
It's so hard to keep
awake; I could weep.
Zzzzzz.

NaPoWriMo: Day 17

I've discovered that I am apparently some kind of meter anarchist. I haven't even made an attempt to match some kind of meter so far. (It's harder than it sounds!) So today, I'm going to give it a shot.

I think the easiest structure to try first would be... a limerick!

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The leaves on the trees are all quivering,
The people without jackets are shivering,
I thought it was summer!
Man, this is a bummer.
So why is this weather still lingering?

NaPoWriMo: Day 16

I'm following the optional prompt from NaPoWriMo today! You can read it HERE to make sense of what I'm doing.

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Original Poem: "April" (Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng)


những ngày như bữa nay, một nền âm lập cập đầu gà chỉ hướng gió
những cuốn sách mùa thu chống chọi mối ăn
những bữa cơm phanh thân mướp đắng
những gã bù nhìn ngã sụm, mùi keo
một cồn mây đùn trắng sọ
một nền sơn loang những băng sơn động giật, xám len xanh
sau một đêm mưa dại
trút như điên xuống cống rãnh chằng chịt phố phục hồi
bước gần tới xem những nét chì chìm dưới cọ
phép đọc gần thấy một gã ngựa ra rìa
hắn mới đây
trước giờ tin đài báo white christmas, cuộc chạy lấy thân
roma, seneca, giờ cuối cùng trong bồn nước rửa tội
đẩy tới tận cùng cuộc trầm hai cánh phổi
trước loạt loạt con người xóa sổ mít mớ cửa ngoài
lùng bùng tiếng cánh quạt giờ cháy
bay về biển dữ kèn wagner
một buông đỏ màn khoa ngôn đại thắng
lẫn mặt mày đau xé giật nhìn
kẻ thân thích hàng nghìn
chạy như bị đánh tốc
về vùng phụ chú

---

My version (put through Google Translate and adjusted by me):


days, like this meal - a stereo pair of chicken head - only the wind
books fall, fight; termites eat
bitter melon body meals.
the puppet guy falls slumped. smell the glue:
a white cloud extrusion compared to
a background paint, markings, painted bands. shocks, gray green wool
after a night of wild rain.
vent like crazy, down drains interlaced. city recovery
step closer to see the pencil submerged.
allow. recent shows a horse guy off the edge.
He recently...
first hours, news desks, white Christmas. The run took body
roma, seneca, now finally in the baptismal tank
pushed to the bottom of the deep lung wings
Previous series series open man jack off outside
down fire flare-hour propeller
U.S. marine data wagner horn
a scientific red lettering display: language of victory
parking and faces, startled, look:
who relatives thousands
runs as beaten
on the note.

NaPoWriMo: Day 15

Halfway there! Fifteen down, fifteen to go. The pollen is EVERYWHERE now, and I felt like it deserved a few haiku.

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Yellow pollen falls,
Sticks to everything and me.
Achoo! Excuse me.

My car should be blue.
It is coated with pollen.
Blue and yellow: green.

Flowers are pretty.
The warm sun feels very nice.
The pollen sucks, though.

NaPoWriMo: Day 14

A poem about writer's block! Which, judging by my over-30,000 word count for Camp NaNoWriMo, I don't have.

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Blinking cursor.
Backspace, reverser.

Drawing a blank,
Walking the plank.

Have to write something,
Coming up with nothing,
Writer's block in full swing.

Just write a word,
And write one again,
By computer or pencil
Or fancy fountain pen.

Put one word after the next
Until you have a page of text!

NaPoWriMo: Day 13

Gimli is rambunctious. This makes for a decent poem theme.

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Kitty causes much destruction.
He seems to need better instruction.
He's afraid of the vacuum's suction.
Getting comfy is a huge production.

He gets in my lap and begins to knead
And he will not stop until I bleed.
My requests to stop he will not heed,
Instead he chooses to proceed.

He whines and cries and meows and mews.
Sometimes he wants water or food,
Or more litter in the box where he poos.
Or sometimes he's in a playing mood.

But whether he wants to shout and cry,
Or his nails are digging into my thigh,
Or being underfoot day and night,
I love my kitty and he's mine all mine!

NaPoWriMo: Day 12

I was thinking about paradoxes, and started looking some of them up out of curiosity. And then it turned into a poem. I've listed the paradoxes in the same order as the lines they refer to, below the poem, if you don't understand a line or if you want to look into them further.

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Ravens are black because here's an apple that is green.
The ladder fits in the garage if you give it enough speed.
Adding one grain at a time will never create a heap.
If this sentence is true, then fine jewelry is cheap.

This sentence is not true; this is false; I'm lying.
Time travelers should worry about their grandparents dying.
If I know one thing, it's that I know nothing at all.
A cat with buttered toast on its back: how will it fall?

My friends have more friends than I do; so do yours.
"It's raining but I don't believe it's raining" (while it pours).
Schrodinger's cat will be alive and it won't.
You can't search for what you know or what you don't.

"The smallest positive integer not definable in fewer than twelve words" just was.
If the barber only shaves those who don't shave themselves, who gives him a buzz?
Is "heterological" applicable to itself? Hard to say.
It's Opposite Day today... so it must not be today.

This post intentionally left blank.

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Raven paradox
Ladder paradox
Paradox of the heap (or Sorites paradox)
Curry's paradox

Liar paradox
Grandfather paradox
Socratic paradox
Buttered cat paradox

Friendship paradox
Moore's paradox
Schrodinger's cat paradox
Meno's paradox

Berry paradox
Barber paradox
Grelling-Nelson paradox
Opposite Day

Intentionally blank page