Ask Us About Our Ninja Disguise

[Sorella]

No, they're not! Actually, depends on my mood, on the movie. I like your two takes on it.
The whiskey-drinker: I would say a pessi-optimist is a realist, really.

As for the Schadenfreude motivation: yup! Why should anyone have any fun while I don't? Works too, until you're feeling happy and generous again.

Both well executed, but we expect that in this thread by now!

Sorella

[Mimic_Octopus]

I love the sheer variety of moods and subjects you've explored as a result of the prompts. The 'season to mow' pieces verged (arf) on the zany, while the 'found at the dump' pieces, in contrast were very poignant and quiet. The second piece in particular could be written as a sinister sci-fi piece with a real baby, rather than a doll. This has been a great month for you both.

[Donner]

Wendy, ME, Sorella and Kirsty - thanks so much for stopping by so often. Much appriciated and way beyond the call of duty.

Mary - Working off someone else's prompt is very different from working off your own ideas, but not really, if that makes sense. It just means you find a way to work your own experience around it. I've found that some of my own prompts have stumped me more than some of Melanie's. As is often the case, you think a poem is going to go one direction when you come up with an idea, then it skews off in another. That's not the case with her prompts because I don't have any preconceived notions of what I want to write.

Thanks again.

Donner

[Donner]

April 27 Prompt - buying a lizard

* * * * *

On Buying a Lizard

She watches Animal Planet, and nature
shows, and already knows what she wants,
but they tell her she’d rather room with a bearded
dragon. They’re friendly, considered to be
lazy, and grow long on dandelion greens.
Or, a Chinese water dragon – diurnal guys
who need their space, a bathing pool
and high heat while they bask in man-made light.
But, she shakes her head, and tells them stern,
insists she knows what she wants, she can’t remember
what kind it is, she’s watched it
on tv, the cutest one she’s ever seen,
white and green, and has a British accent.

* * * * *

Everything Can Be Replaced

Mona broke up with Ramone last week,
but despite his two-timing
ways, she was lonely. Mona decided
a pet would fill in, so she's buying
a lizard today to remind her
of his dark eyes, his smooth skin,
his darting tongue, his cold-
blooded heart. Mona will name him
Alimaña and keep him confined
to his tank so he will never wander
off like Ramone.

[Donner]

April 28 Prompt - To live life as an Elvis impersonator

* * * * *

Clothes Make the Man

You got the suit, rhinestones intact
at a garage sale. It was like Cinderella,
you put it on and you were new,
you grew sideburns, and your voice
changed. Your lip snarled, And your
hips had joints they never had before.
It was magic. You sang and danced and ate
bacon, and peanut butter and bananas,
and peanut butter and bananas and bacon.
And peanut butter. And you continued
to live life as an Elvis impersonator
until the suit didn’t fit.

* * * * *

Visions

Prince walks among the crowds
and poses for selfies next to Kiss,
Katy Perry drives a cab and Tina Turner
keeps on rollin' down Fremont Street.
You can make a living playing dress-up

in Vegas. To live life as an Elvis
impersonator has its perks. You can lose
the pompadour and cape after your shift,
shop for bacon and orange juice
without getting mobbed. She had visions

once, but she's tired of wearing
the good wife persona that never fit
right, as tired as the showgirl hawker
who takes five on a window sill,
draws in the hot smoke and dreams.

[Donner]

April 29 Prompt - Where the needle goes

* * * * *

Like My Mother Taught Me

When I slide it through the layers,
the needle meets my finger
placed to gauge the stitchlength
just like my mother taught me
and her mother had taught her.
Its eye follows rather
than scouting out the trail
for the thread that will settle
down in the seam, so it needs
guidance to know when to return,
is how Grandma put it. I wondered
where the needle would go
without restraint. Mom told me
what her mother taught her,
that learning the art of sewing
and love are both an acquired skill:
both take time, both come with lots
of pricks and tears, but after
a few bandages, you learn when done right,
no bond proves stronger.

* * * * *

Betrayal

We are the same, but different .
We are confidants, lovers
since our hearts crossed, co-existing
on the same cushion, like pins

and needles, but the pin doesn’t
always go where the needle goes.
I made voodoo dolls, you tortured
them. I had other friends, you didn’t
like them. Jealousy is a jab
in the heart, a stab in the gut,
a hope-to-die relationship.

You were the blind one
but I’m the one who didn’t see;
my eyes were full of dreams for us,
your eyes looked like pincushions.

[prooftheory]

Was she looking for a gecko? I like how in both the lizard poems there is this weird conflict between anthropomorphising lizards and actually having ownership of them. This is more obvious Everything can be replaced where you wonder if Mona's possessiveness is what drove Ramone away, but it is there in the other one too.

I liked "bacon, and peanut butter and bananas,/and peanut butter and bananas and bacon./And peanut butter." The last stanza of Visions is really strong.

[GreaterMandalaofUselessness]

Of this last few, Visionary stood out for me. I like the way the story unfolds. At first it seems like an accident, and a cruel one, that the person that finds the baby lives next door. Then I realise it must have been planned, that for N the dump is wonderland, and that being found (and presumably raised) by the junk collector is what she wants for her baby. Then there's the idea that baby is also glitter, find among the rubbish: the baby, like the toys and shiny things is "waiting to be owned again". One to come back to I think. How it ends and Everything can be replaced both made me smile.

-Matt

[Donner]

proof and Matt - Thanks for stopping by!

* * * * *

April 30 Simultaneous One-Word Text Prompts -pillow/Cheetos
(We could use one word, either or, or both. We both used both.)

* * * * *

Selfless

Pigeons mass quicker than she can ration
Cheetos in broken quarters or halves. A handful
for them, a bite for her; pieced from a bag
she found in the Market Street bin, it provided
a pillow last night, a meal today. The bag
was unopened, outdated, and almost stale
but happy manna for her and the birds.

Like her, the flock is almost always there, always
hungry, and not too shy to accept handouts.
She stops feeding at half a bag, tells them
she’ll be back tomorrow. She still worries
what they will drink, and where
they will lay their heads tonight.

* * * * *

Wild Flower

He lays a bouquet
of sunshine
captured in dandelions,
field daisies white
as her skin, lilac vines
of vetch and poppies
as orange as Cheetos
tied with a compliment
of blue ribbons
on her pillow
where earlier
her copper hair
had tendrilled
across like vicia.

[MEHope]

Well, two more strong pieces, no idea who is behind what, but like he dreamy quality of the last, the sadness if the first.

Good job, ninjas!

[Steven]

Wild Flower is beautiful.

Obviously both poems had the challenge to include cheetos, which is nice, comedic touch. Think I'd prefer that line excised from a future revision, though. I love the adjective-noun combos in this piece - lilac vines, field daisies, copper hair. Some interesting word choices as well, 'tendrilled', 'vicia', 'vetch', that give the poem that hint of the unknown and familiar unfamiliar in nature. I'm sure I've heard these words, but I don't understand what they are.

I like the hint of metaphor in 'Selfless' and the faithful transcription of feeding birds provided me with a strong nostalgia trip. A very composed tone and convincing details. I like also the implicit comparison of the N to the birds themselves, that they somehow need each other.

Thanks Donner for your work through NAPO and all the best for the revisions.

[kristalynn]

#1, yes, selfless indeed. I like it. #2, I like the tendrilling hair.

[Andrea345]

I say never underestimate the power of a church secretary. Donner, you deserve a cape for getting Melanie going through NaPo. You two have some beautiful pieces.

[Donner]

Thank you mucho, ME, Steven, Andrea, and Andrea for taking time on this last day of NaPo to read and comment. And everyone else, too. NaPo is very much a community effort and it wouldn't be nearly as fun or productive without the fluff and support we all give each other.

Steven - I'm sure I'd take out or subsitute "Cheetos" if this were anything but a NaPo poem, but California poppies are just so Cheeto orange so it fit. Heh.

Andrea - Melanie owns my soul for asking her to do this with me.

OK, so, time to fess up to who wrote what.

[Donner]

April 1 Prompt - The boy wears cool sunglasses, tinted fluorescent yellow (Donner)
Description - Melanie
Small Town Transit - Donner

April 2 Prompt - An old woman once told me that morels always grow / where mayapples bloom (Melanie)
Where Fairies Live - Melanie
Wild Harvest - Donner

April 3 - Prompt - What I was saying with that last kiss (Donner)
What I was saying with that last kiss - Donner
After His Retirement - Melanie

April 4 Prompt - I noticed an eyeball spying / through a knothole in the fence (Melanie)
Glory Days - Donner
Freedoms - Melanie

April 5 Prompt - It was fortunate she knew the words by heart (Donner)
Memorial Service - Donner
Unstalked - Melanie

April 6 Prompt - There aren’t enough people on earth / for me to love anyone else but you (Melanie)
Way Out There - Melanie
You're the one I should have met 30 years ago - Donner

April 7 Prompt - I don't want old feet (Donner)
Prayer of an Older Woman - Donner
Real Housewife of Common County - Melanie

April 8 Prompt - I’ve never counted how many times I’ve pulled petals from daisies (Melanie)
Let Me Count the Ways - Melanie
She's never counted how many times - Donner

April 9 Prompt - Everyone loves my purse (Donner)
Purse Snatchers - Donner (Photo of the infamous purse edited in post-NaPo)
All Stitched Up - Melanie

April 10 Prompt - Her wishes are the same as her prayers (Melanie)
One More - Donner
Terminal - Melanie

April 11 Prompt - She was already wearing enough makeup (Donner)
Comfort Zone - Donner
Life After Leaving Lake Wobegon - Melanie

April 12 Prompt - When you see something you’ve never seen before (Melanie)
Images - Melanie
Do Over - Donner

April 13 Prompt - Stopping her mouth with her hand (Donner)
My Mother's Antagonist - Melanie
Damburst - Donner

April 14 Prompt - I lied to a nun today (Melanie)
Sometimes Omnipresence Wears Black - Donner
I Lied to a Nun Today - Melanie

April 15 Prompt - I'd rather spend any extra cash in my pocket (Donner)
Thrift, Stored - Donner
Women and Shoes - Melanie

April 16 Prompt - Digging to China (Melanie)
Imagine - Melanie
How War Is Waged - Donner

April 17 Prompt - People younger than me (Donner)
Perspective - Donner
Brother - Melanie

April 18 Prompt - After the mud dries (Melanie)
Old Man - Melanie
Inheritance - Donner

April 19 Prompt - It's not spring until I see (the) ____________ (in) bloom (Donner)
Exercise on Land - Melanie
Reading the Signs - Donner

April 20 Prompt - smoke and webs (Melanie)
Fumiphobia - Donner
Loneliness - Melanie

April 21 Prompt - I did everything backwards (Donner)
We Did Everything Backward - Melanie
Moving Forward - Donner

April 22 Prompt - because it's true (Melanie)
Synonyms - Donner
Definition: Truth - Melanie

April 23 Prompt - The TV and the clock radio (Donner)
Landfill - Melanie
American Sentence - Donner

April 24 Prompt - the season to mow (Donner)
Audio-Visual - Donner
Let's Get Mowing! - Donner
Not a Haiku - Melanie (Edited in post-NaPo)
Ok, you got me, I wrote two poems because Melanie was out of town. HA! Melanie felt guilty,
so she wrote one while she was out of town, which I've edited in after the others.

April 25 Prompt - found at the dump (Melanie)
Symbiosis - Donner
Visionary - Melanie

April 26 Prompt - Happy endings are annoying (Donner)
How It Ends - Melanie
They deserve what they get - Donner

April 27 Prompt - buying a lizard (Melanie)
On Buying a Lizard - Melanie
Everything Can Be Replaced - Donner

April 28 Prompt - To live life as an Elvis impersonator (Donner)
Clothes Make the Man - Melanie
Visions - Donner (Photo edited in post-NaPo)

April 29 Prompt - Where the needle goes (Melanie)
Like My Mother Taught Me - Donner
Betrayal - Melanie

April 30 Simultaneous One-Word Text Prompts -pillow (Melanie)/Cheetos (Donner)
Selfless - Melanie
Wild Flower - Donner