by the Read Write Poem Staff
You’re almost there, and inspiration for your next to the last NaPoWriMo poem is at your fingertips! D.S. Apfelbaum recalls what William Carlos Williams once wrote, “It is difficult/ to get the news from poems,” but asks, “Who says you can’t get poems from the news?”
For this prompt, choose your favorite newspaper or online news provider. Jot down five to ten headlines that jump out at you and without reading the articles, select elements from each headline to create a new event about which your poem reports.
Alternately, let short-format sections inspire you. Write a poem in the form of an obituary, a personal ad, a classified ad, etc. (Bonus points if you can pull off a poem in the form of a crossword puzzle.) 
Reminders for everyone
Read the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Kickoff post for details on how the challenge works — and how you can engage with Read Write Poem this month, no matter what your personal writing challenge is for the month of April.
Please read this page to find out how Read Write Poem’s prompt posts work. Remember that work linked from any post this month is shared in precisely that spirit: sharing, as opposed to critiquing. If you haven’t done so already, please read all the pages under About in the navigation bar.
A villanelle about coughing and sneezing–
http://theresebroderick.wordpress.com
http://healingforthehealthy.blogspot.com/2010/04/liar.html
Oh my stars – I almost forgot to post here:
http://herwordsbloomed.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29-front-page-news.html
classified ad:
http://marcieaf.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-29.html
News for Hosers, an homage to my sort of adopted land: http://poetry.disorderedcosmos.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29-news-for-hosers/
http://systematicweasel.blogspot.com/2010/04/listening-4-29-2010-poem-day-challenge.html
Off prompt today, but would still like to share my work.
I scoured the paper and came up with six headlines—did not read the articles! And this is where it led me—http://word-painting.blogspot.com/2010/04/surrealist-alters-dream.html
Hmmm—
http://word-painting.blogspot.com/2010/04/surrealist-alters-dream.html
Fight Club
http://pamelavillars.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/april-29-10-fight-club/
This headline brought back a memory.
Off prompt today – couldn’t resist a ‘no flipping coins’ sign. (Will have to revise text later – ran out of minutes in the day!)
http://www.shicho.net/words/?p=1176
I couldn’t resist. I took the first two headlines I came across in yesterday’s Oregonian (“Better without the bigger?” and “My little, possibly record-setting pony”), and crossed them to create:
“Better, Not Bigger”
http://caraholman.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/2010-napowrimo-29/
Dragon Boat Festival
Angeliad of Surazeus
2010 04 29
http://open.salon.com/blog/surazeus/2010/04/29/dragon_boat_festival
Who walks alone in cool evening mist
wandering nowhere over rugged meadows
of southern hills and singing laments
for his people butchered in cruel war.
Chu Yuan stops by a deep shining well
and stares at reflection of his thin face
gaunt from sorrow of a broken heart
remembering his king killed in fierce war.
Can cold flowing waves of Miluo River
wash away all these bitter tears of woe
cries Chu Yuan in old tattered robe
reaching arms to eyeless silent moon.
Banished from court of good king I love
for speaking truth about danger of war
I lament by Miluo River at fall of Ying city
where mothers weep over slain warriors.
Chu Yuan sings alone on mountain top
I see a woman clothed in grape vines
riding a leopard in a magnolia chariot
wearing long orchid cloak in falling rain.
King and courtiers spurned my help
so why should I yearn for noble city
for wisdom is scarce in this wide world
so I seek stream where a sage drowned.
Wind blows his long black hair wild
and white robe whirls on river shore
where gold sun glimmers on silent lake
that hears his lament without comment.
Chu Yuan floats in waves of Miluo River
arms spread to embrace peaceful death
as villages paddle boats and cry aloud
beating drums and splashing water bright.
Come and throw rice dumplings zong zi
to float on deep waters of Miluo River
to keep fish from eating body of Chu Yuan
they cry riding dragon boats in falling rain.
Villagers race dragon boats on Miluo River
beating drums and singing sad laments
to remember spirit of noble Chu Yuan
who weeps forever in well of lost dreams.
My offering for today’s prompt #29:
http://timkeeton.wordpress.com
http://undeadpoets.wordpress.com
Tim Keeton
(Undead)Poet/Wizard/Teller-of-tales
Finally! Today’s poem:
http://memali.posterous.com/2930-1
Spilling
http://eveningpoems.blogspot.com/
http://disorder1313.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/transliteration-of-catullus-xxxvi/
So, the internet is down, so I haven’t been able to link to my poems for the final three days of NaPoWriMo (Yes, it’s Friday for me today). So, Wednesday was Wrenched, Thursday was Golem, and Friday is Lilac. I hope you enjoy them all. Congratulations on finishing NaPoWriMo!
This one was close; not quite as complex as the prompt suggested – “Robbing Peter”
http://www.cathymcguire.com/poetry.htm
http://web.me.com/susansonnen/Susan_Sonnens_musings/Blog/Entries/2010/4/29_NaPoWriMo%2C_Day_29.html
Day 29.
http://paperdreams-jgc.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-29-haiku.html
I can’t believe just one more day… wow!
well, no prompt poem again today, although I did love this prompt there was just too much thinking involved for a day like today. But I put the idea on the burner as the headlines I pulled from the NYTimes were awesome and I won’t waste them.
Untitled Poem of the day
From my ear lobes
hang no glistening baubles
of light, but I listen and hear
with understanding when
you enter speaking, and
though I may appear to
be indigent without jewels
the better to hear you, with
my being free from fool’s gold
hoops of reinterpretation, gilt
by free association with the
past inconsistencies of others
what I think you really mean to say —
despite your words or their meanings
In this way I go unadorned to be addressed
by the precious metal of your presence
speak to me
http://katharinewhitcomb.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29-arts-page.html
This one turned out a little weirdly. But I’m glad to post something.
So, I used the following headlines:
South Korea ship sinking may be perfect crime for North
Army symbol is religious, should be changed
Man who found – and sold – missing iPhone unmasked
Rielle Hunter dishes the Edwards dirt on Oprah
Man stabs 28 children at kindergarten in China
Japan issues warrant for anti-whaling boss
California man says he hates himself for killing teens
Cleaners paint over priceless art
A containable accident, then suddenly a crisis
Brown goes for broke in final tv economy debate
scrambled them up and made this poem:
http://mylineofwords.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29-reality-bites.html
http://wintermintfruit.blogspot.com/2010/04/pope-falls-asleep.html Only the most reputable news sources for me! Yes sir! |D
http://sky-lined.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29.html Science Daily |:D
Personals
Misunderstood entomologist
seeks accident-prone albino
for sheep counting, skeet shooting
and self loathing. Must own hockey stick,
enjoy finger painting and be tolerant of
opera – fondness for rubber gloves a plus.
Deep sea divers need not apply
Forgetful anchorman seeks
ruefully ambitious copywriter
for explication of sadness, archeology
and movie quotes. Must love be-bop,
use college-ruled paper and be tolerant
of midgets – fondness for Hello Kitty
a plus. Fictional characters need not apply.
Exhausted poet quietly seeks
lenient small-press publisher
for binge drinking, recycling verbs
and Twin Peaks marathons. Must eat
Caesar salad, love Terry Gilliam films
and be tolerant of dogs – fondness for
clouds a must. Gods need not apply.
Poem #29. “Mixed Blessings.”
Thank you, Muse.
Posted at: http://troysworktable.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29.html
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/archer-the-cat-shot-with-air-rifle-20100429-ttwj.html?autostart=1
http://redshoepoet.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-challege-29.html
My poem for today: The Vindication of Heresy
I had a headline of ‘marimba-playing robots’…OF COURSE I had to use it.
http://www.mayaganesan.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29.html
I combined elements from these two headlines:
FDA Approves Vaccine for Prostate Cancer
Debate Continues Around Facebook Privacy Changes
~~~~~~~
FDA Approves Vaccine for Facebook
500 billion minutes per month
basking in the glow of the screen,
“interacting” with “friends,”
“liking” clever memes and tending virtual farms
while life leaks like air from a balloon
minute by minute by minute.
But today
The Food and Drug Administration
approved a vaccine
that will save millions worldwide
from the scourge of Facebook.
The culmination of years of research,
“Faceblock” harnesses the immune system
to fight Facebook’s seductive powers.
There is now hope
for the 400 million users
and the millions at risk of succumbing,
hope that people will now engage
in conversations instead of chats,
read books instead of status updates.
Some are going so far as to dream
about all the good that could be done
in this sad world
with 500 billion minutes a month.
NaPoWriMo #29 Robots Work to Stop Leak
http://scriptophobe.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-29-front-page-news.html
Day 29 at http://alienfireworks.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-29-todays-rwp-prompt-was-to-choose.html
I realized what I liked so much about poetry and prompts. Several times this month, I went into a prompt with a very clear idea, but once the words started. That very clear idea wasn’t what came out at all. And I learned an opinion that I didn’t realize was so much stronger than I would have known.
http://menremainboys.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/cities-of-the-future-fall-beside-rome/
had to post this late. wrote from a headline about a child artist dubbed the new picasso.
Little Picasso
Picasso sounded like the name of a peanut,
something small and edible wavering on a stem.
This is all Picasso was to him, a word
with a nutty texture, an aroma of bees breath.
Canvas empty as silence, as full, as the bells ring
and horns going past bring clowns in small cars
to his room, as the boiler kicks starts,
and fathers voice downstairs sounds
like its sporadic slow roar. He closes his eyes
and lets the colour come, squares of light
on the river where father collects stones
to sort and polish into bracelets for the tourists.
I knows only them, the refracted hours
passed by in the small row boat, parts of sky
and land in tourists shades in these things
he dips his brush and paints stillness
he can hang on his wall, everything separate
as dollars his father counts, comes together
in the roll in his hand. Little Picasso is born.
Ahhhh! I know, I know! I am slacking! http://kagerrr.tumblr.com/post/561412116/april29thpoem
My thank God April only has 30 days poem:
http://daily-yawp.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much for these prompts and for the inspiration to keep on going. Here’s today’s final poem:
http://memali.posterous.com/3030-7
This is mine: Darkening.
http://thebooklife.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/4-29/