by Carolee Sherwood
I know that when I provided a prompt for day 3 of NaPoWriMo, I used the number three in the prompt. I know it’s slightly lame to write another prompt using the number of the day. However, the connection this time between the number and the prompt is a loose one, so I’m going to allow it. (Hey, I have my own writing to do, too, you know.)
Today, NaPoWriMo-ers turn 21. Twenty-one poems (or 21 attempts or 21 acknowledgments that we “should” write a poem) in 21 days. It has me thinking about how here in the United States the drinking age is 21 and how it’s quite a big deal, a rite of passage to go out and drink heavily (and legally). So I was thinking that today we could write about rites of passage and how we mark them, from the sacred to the profane. Births. Deaths. Weddings. The First Communion. The onset of menses. The loss of virginity. Circumcisions. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Inductions and initiations. How much of the ritual in your life is cultural? Religious? Commercial?
Is there a rite of passage in our lives that doesn’t get much attention? For example, we tend to celebrate success and bury failure. What if we honored our mistakes? We tend to endorse transformation and overlook the ordinary. What is important enough in your own life to warrant a ceremony? What do you value and how could you pay it homage?
* * *
A note from “admin”: This month, since we’re all trying to write every day, we’re leaving the comments open with each prompt so you can post links to your poems as you write them. So, go ahead and write your poem, post your poem (with a link to Read Write Poem and a Read Write Poem tag, if you would) and come back to this very spot and share your link with us.
Of course, if you’re a creature of habit, you can always post your links at this week’s “Get Your Poem On” post. Who are we to mess around with what works for you?
And don’t forget to go read the poems of others in this wonderful writing community. We’re all in this NaPoWriMo “mess” (ha ha!) together; let’s support each other in the insanity that is writing (every day)!
[...] NaPoWriMo Read Write Poem Prompt #21 [...]
Congratulations everybody on reaching day twenty-one!
http://sewina.blogspot.com/2009/04/napowrimo-21-tuesday-naisaiku.html
Pontoon!
rites of pass·age
here’s mine, with apologies for the pun.
http://knittingthewind-westering.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-walked-down-corridor-on-tuesday.html
http://poemsotherwise.blogspot.com/2009/04/lost-in-mourn.html
What a great prompt! I haven’t used it yet, so here is another poem instead: http://malleryk.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/napowrimo-poem/
Mine is rites of passage…sort of.
the big end’s gone
Number 19 now ~ not long to go to catch up
A Famine, A Flood
Here it is. Old Dog
it’s like i’ve anticpated the prompt!
http://a-mus-ing.blogspot.com/2009/04/passage.html
I wrote this:
riots of passage in a sandwich
Oops, that should rites!
Maybe riots suits better!
i see much that could be done with this
but 21 stands out in my mind…
for it’s own milestone.
http://itsacanadiangeek.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-09-post-poem-8.html
When someone is arrested for a horrible crime, the wife or fiance is left as the person who must wipe up the mess.
He Couldn’t Have Done It
I tried and failed so I just put my own spin on the challenge.
http://lori102870.blogspot.com/2009/04/you-and-ithree-in-one-blogby-me.html#comments
Here’s my 21st.
Thanks, again, for all the inspiration!
[...] This poem is in response to a writing prompt given by Read Write Poem, which can be read here. [...]
My poem is the one directly above (“Penance”); I didn’t realize it would do that!
Anyway, I’ve followed/lurked on RWP for months now and thought I’d get involved, even though I haven’t been diligent at all with NaPoWriMo.
4 poems for day 21 of NaPoWriMo
on my Facebook Notes
and
here:
http://dash30dash.ning.com/profiles/blogs/4-new-poems-for-the-21st-day
Write on.
Woo! #21. Three weeks through!
SPRING SURPRISE – RITE to LIFE
here is my #21…WRITES of passage
PHOENIX
here’s mine
almost a year
Mine is a bit vague I think, but it is about a rite of passage. Over 10 years later and I still can’t come out and say it. Tragic.
http://readwritepoem.org/2009/04/21/napowrimo-21-rites-of-passage/
Here’s my # 21:
Dental Garage
http://brokeness.blogspot.com/2009/04/dental-garage-i-dont-like-going-to.html
My NaPoMo poem #21, prayer for the marriage ‘rite of passage’: Our Dreams
[...] Wow. Don’t quite know where all that came from. Hey, can this thing count for more than one day?? It’s like seven poems really, right?
Although I ended up calling these miracles, it was Carolee’s prompt for today on rites of passage that got the wheels turning on this one. Find more Napowrimo Day 21 poems here. [...]
Great prompt, Carolee!
http://thisyearsblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/napowrimo-2009-day-21-poem-17/
Left the wrong link in my original post.
Thanks for the heads up Elizabeth
http://paperdreams-jgc.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-21-rite-of-passage-and-trouble-with.html
A haiku today:
http://blog.elizabethenslin.com/2009/04/grand-canyon-haiku/
Okay, have you been reading the journal I don’t keep? Oh, my life is plum ripe for this one. Don’t know what I’ll come up with, but I can’t say I don’t have any material for this prompt.
This prompt definitely hit a strong emotional chord with me.
http://freckledwriter.blogspot.com/2009/04/pomp-and-parenthood.html
Wonderful post by Christopher J Jarmick but nowhere to leave a comment.
My playful take on NaPoWriMo # 21. See why…
http://joybringer.gaia.com/blog/2009/4/21_napowrimo_21
So how many of those 21 things apply to you?
If you can dare to share which ones too,
you get 21 surprises in the next 21 days, joking (not) included!
My playful take on NaPoWriMo # 21. See why…
http://joybringer.gaia.com/blog/2009/4/21_napowrimo_21
So how many of those 21 things apply to you?
If you can dare to share which ones too,
you get 21 surprises in the next 21 days, joking (not) included!
Finally! I am completely caught up on NaPoWriMo! Man, that was a lot of work. Glad to be here, on the current date.
http://cassandralee.tumblr.com/post/98703606
Inspired by a photo of my daughter’s wedding last summer:
In White She Steps
“kentucky memorial day” for #21–
http://therer2doors-thespacebetweenwords.blogspot.com/2009/04/kentucky-memorial-day.html
Didn’t really follow the prompt today, but I suppose you could say that it’s a passage of sorts: The Seasons.
I READ LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE’S POETRY, ESPECIALLY GOOD POETS (or what I think is good poetry). I checked 4 things, but that’s my favorite. I used to write and not read. but I enjoy it more if I write and read.
http://alotus-poetry.livejournal.com/74472.html
[...] pareerica’s flicker photostream page thingy.) It cross-pollinated with their next prompt, which was “Rites of Passage”. And then tangled for good measure with a memory of my [...]
http://amidweststory.blogspot.com/2009/04/napowrimo-21.html
my response to #21 rite of passage
http://eneri-hot.blogspot.com/2009/04/morphing-into-manliness.html
My rites poem. A fun one, for once.
http://sintaxandsemantix.blogspot.com/2009/04/modern-rites.html
Rejection Letters are rites of passage that should definitely be celebrated.
Still plugging away…
Blood Will Out
bogged down.