April Monthly Poetry Competition 2021
This is the fifth April poetry competition I have entered since 2017. The rules are simple: write at least one poem or more per month, and either post them or not. I will base them on NaPoWrMo, Poetry Superhighway, Writing Digest, Writing Com ‘s Dew Drop Inn prompts and post them here and, on All Poetry, and maybe elsewhere but at least on these sites. I may write a few more but not post them as I need to keep “unpublished” poems for submission.
But this year I will also podcast them using the Anchor program. The podcasts appear a few days later, on Spotify and elsewhere. Look for the World According to Cosmos podcasts or under Jake Cosmos Aller.
I will post the prompt, and the poem and may pick a picture for each poem but maybe not and write a new posting every day (or two).
Enjoy
Oh, not too late in joining in the fun!
Comments welcome, but please keep it civil.
April 1, 2021
Index
Coffee Pot Blues Poetry Superhighway Prompt
Who Is Jake Cosmos Aller? Writer’s Digest Prompt
“Good Golly Miss Molly,” A Dew-Drop A Day in April, Writing Com
“Sam Adams Wakes Up Dead “Nanowrimo Poetry
Poetry Superhighway Prompt
Pick an object where you live and write a poem in the voice of that object describing how they spent this last year, during the pandemic. Think about “what I did last summer” type of essays you may have written in school. How did the events of the past year impact this object? Are there any aspects of the past year that the object particularly liked or disliked, and if so why? What does the object think about you, and your behavior over the past year? Feel free to use humor.
Coffee Pot Blues
The coffee pot sighed
He was getting so tired
Of the whole covid lockdown thing
Every morning his master
Would make himself two cups of coffee
Using him to make the coffee
The worst thing about this covid thing
It keeps them home
For almost one and half years
He wanted them to just leave
So, he could have
Some peace
And not have to work
Every damn day
As their mechanical slave
But did they ask for his opinion
They most certainly not
Much to his dismay
If you write a poem from this prompt, post it as a comment underneath the prompt in The Poetry Superhighway Facebook page #napowrimo #poetry
Writer’s Digest Prompt
For today's prompt, write an introductory poem. Introduce yourself, introduce a friend, or introduce a stranger. If you don't wish to introduce yourself, consider writing a persona poem (a poem in which you write from someone else's point of view like Emily Dickinson or a bumblebee). Of course, you could also introduce a problem, solution, or just a situation. Have fun with it!
Remember: these prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them
Who is jake cosmos aller?
You asked me
Who am I?
And thanks for asking me
I am jake cosmos aller
The only
65 years old
Retired from the government service
Living in Korea
Grew up in Berkeley, California
Lived all over the world
Did so many things
And now I am a published writer
But what is more important is this
45 years ago,
I met my love in a dream
She walked out of that dream
Almost 40 years ago
That was the date
I met my fate
And started my life
With the love of my life
Who became my wife?
In the end
That is all that matters
My friends.
Writing com drew drop inn
Here at the dew drop inn, we gather together to write a poem a day in April as a way to celebrate national poetry month.
Writing Com - A Dew-Drop Inn A Day April for National Poetry Month prompt
April 1—folly in rhyme (some kind of folly in some kind of rhyme, subtle or overt)
Good golly,
Miss molly
What a bit of folly
Let’s be jolly
Have a tamale
NaPoWrMo POETRY
And without further ado, our daily prompt (optional, as always)! Sometimes, writing poetry is a matter of getting outside of your head, and learning to see the world in a new way. To an extent, you have to “derange” yourself – make the world strange and see it as a stranger might. To help you do that, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem inspired by this animated version of “seductive fantasy” by Sun Ra and his Orchestra. If you don’t feel after watching it a little bit like the top of your head’s been taken off, and your thoughts are given a good stir – well, maybe you are already living in a state of heightened poetic awareness!
Sam Adams Woke Up Dead
Sam Adams woke up dead
He had met a strange man
In a strange bar, in a strange land
The man told him
Beware, today is the date
You will meet your fate
Sam Adams drank too much
Twenty drinks too sober
Drank until he died
Found himself in a huge room
With hundreds of people milling about
The hangover from h … pounding his head
Sam Adams groans,
Shouting out
Where am I?
“in limbo, my friend, in limbo”
Growled Mr. GR, the grim reaper
Dressed in a sharp, expensive, tailored black suit
Wearing cool Ray Ban Sunglasses
State your name
Sam Adams
Hmm
Oh, there may be a mistake
But what the hey,
The records are never fake
Not yet the date
For you to meet your fate
Go back to your mate
He found himself
Home with his wife
The love of his long life
Wondering until late
If it had happened?
What was his fate?
He asked her
Did I go out last night?
What, no you’ve been here
He explained what had happened
She said it was just a bad dream
Covid fears had kept them home
The phone rang
It was the man from the bar
Did you have an interesting night?
Oh well, gr comes for us all
Soon you will meet your fate
But not on this date
April 2 Poems
Poetry Superhighway Prompt
Imagine you are plotting a Mars Rover- just as all the other astronauts in your team blast off from the planet Mars leaving you behind (as in the film, “The Martian”, what do you see, what do you miss from home? What is your last message?
Sam Adams Stranded on Mars
Sam Adams
Groaned as he realized
Good God I am stranded
Here on the planet Mars
All alone in the universe
What am I going to do?
How will I survive
The long wait for survival?
Sam looked up
Seeing through the dust storm
His shipmates flying off
Leaving him for dead
He got back
and fired off
a message
Hey guys
You left me behind
I am alive
Come get me!
The garbled message
Came back
Sorry we can’t return
Someone will get you
In six months
Stay alive until then
We will see you
Back at HQ
Sam groaned
And made his survival plans
Thinking it would make
A great movie
Then realized
Hey, it was already done
But the reality was far worst
Then in the movies
NaPoWrMo
And now, for today’s (optional) prompt. In the world of well-known poems, maybe there’s no gem quite so hoary as Robert frost’s “the road not taken.” Today, I'd like to challenge you to write a poem about your road not taken – about a choice of yours that has “made all the difference,” and what might have happened had you made a different choice.
Falling in love with my dream woman
When I was a young man
I dreamt of meeting a woman
For eight years she haunted my dreams
Then I met her in Korea
Where I was teaching
For the U.S. army
After finishing the peace corps
I had a choice
Follow my heart
Seize the moment
Be with her
Or leave Korea
Within a month
To go to graduate school
I decided to postpone
My graduate school
For one year
Got a deferred admission
And joined the woman
Of my dreams
Thinking back
I had no real choice
But I chose to walk
The path of life
With my dream girl
And that has made
All the difference
In the world
April 2—voila! (remember something in a short lyric burst) drew drop-in writing com
I will always remember that date
In 1982 I meet my fate
When the love of my life
Walked out of my dreams
Becoming my wife
Writer’s digest
For today's prompt, I want you to answer the question, "what does the future hold?" then, make your answer the title of your poem and write your poem. Your answer could a general idea about the future like "robots will rule the world" or more personal things like "veggie pizza and sweet tea." even if it's not in your title, I'm hopeful the future holds a lot more poeming.
The future is here
The future is here
They say we live in an SF world
Everyday SF stories become real
AI proliferating
Robots cooks, robot workers,
Soon robot maids, robot drivers
Yet our politics
Fighting the battles
Of the past
With the challenges
Of the future
Overwhelming us all
Where it ends
My friends are anyone guest
All I have are questions
Will the promise
Of technological marvels
Benefiting us all come to past
Or will it lead to a world
Where the powerful
Control the technology
Will a real ai be a god-like figure
Will humanity become nothing
But slaves to the AI supermind
That may be the future
Coming at us
The future is here
I don’t know
Whether to fear
The future or embrace it
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