The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes (Animated)

NaPoWriMo 2015: Day 28: Bridge the Gap

Bridge the Gap

No matter their color

No matter their race

No matter their nationality

No matter their religion

No matter their sex

No matter their gender

No matter their sexual orientation

No matter their size

No matter if you don't think they're attractive

Nobody deserves to be bullied

We are all sisters and brothers

Let us close the chasm between one another

Let us build a bridge

The materials we need in abundance

Are love and tolerance

Kindness and understanding

Peace and harmony

Be a builder

Not a destroyer

Lift others up

Don't tear them down

Together we can build a bridge to a better tomorrow

A bridge to a world with acceptance for all

~Naila~

Notes:

This sort of thing always brings tears to my eyes. It's a very important message. Maybe someday we won't need such messages any more, but today we still do.

No matter a person's color, nationality, race, size, physical appearance, sexual orientation, or religion, nobody deserves to be picked on.

Nobody.

Don't be a bully.

The Prompt:

And now for today’s prompt (optional, as always). Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about bridges. A bridge is a powerful metaphor, and when you start looking for bridges in poems, you find them everywhere. Your poem could be about a real bridge or an imaginary or ideal bridge. It could be one you cross every day, or one that simply seems to stand for something larger – for the idea of connection or distance, for the idea of movement and travel and new horizons.

NaPoWriMo Day 8: Changing My Mind About Nukes: A Palinode

Changing My Mind About Nukes:

A Palinode

I used to be all about pacifism

Sunshine and flowers and love and peace

And no nukes

Definitely no nukes

When I got on the Internet

My goal was to spread the love

The message of peace

And my belief that no nukes is good nukes

But then I met the bullies

And the haters

And the thought police

And more than plenty

Of this type

Saying mean things about the way people look

Making deliberate rude comments on people's posts

And worst of all, telling people they should kill themselves

It really bothered me how few people seemed to care

That the words of these ill-doers had the potential to do so much harm

I became disillusioned, jaded, my heart turned black

And I started to reconsider my position on nukes

At this point, if we could take all the trolls to an asteroid

And nuke them straight to hell

I'd say give 'em as many megatons as we've got stockpiled

Hell, I'll even push the button

Because these really are terrible people

And I don't see any chance for redemption

You don't deliberately seek to make others feel bad

Or try to push them to kill themselves

Unless you are a really, really shitty excuse for a human being

Thanks for making me change my mind about nukes

I now see that even things that could destroy the planet have redeeming value

As opposed to those of you who tear others down to build yourselves up

Fuck you.

~Naila~

The Prompt:

And now, without further ado, our prompt (optional as always) for Day Eight: today I challenge you to write a palinode. And what’s that? It’s a poem in which the poet retracts a statement made in an earlier poem. You could take that route or, if you don’t have an actual poetically-expressed statement you want to retract, maybe you could write a poem in which you explain your reasons for changing your mind about something. 

Notes:

I'm pulling no punches tonight. These bullies and trolls really have my goat, and my goat is extremely angry at being had. I have posted two images below. The first image is glorious, the second is gruesome--and yet darkly, disgustingly humorous. Proceed past the glorious one at your own risk.

Know why we agreed to give this guy the questionable honor of dedicating our site featuring poetry of perhaps highly dubious quality to him?

Because he's always been the total antithesis of the kind of crappy people I wrote the poem about.

Even though his brain's being destroyed by a horrible disease, he's still superior to them in every way, shape and form to their ilk

Anyone who doesn't like the fact that we've done this can...

Seriously. Nobody involved with this project should ever have to be ashamed of their feelings. It seems like so many people are afraid of feeling anything genuine or deep, and it's destroying the world, turning us into a bunch of apathetic or downright hateful monsters.

Do not be ashamed to feel love and to try to do right, even though love sometimes hurts like hell and right is sometimes harder to do than wrong.

Supernova

Do the Cosmos weep

When a stellar explosion

Leaves all dead and calm

~Naila~

As the challenge goes, this poem is an epic fail. I succeeded with the first rule. I biffed the second and third. Whether I succeeded with the fourth is open to interpretation. I did not succeed at the fifth. The poem does have a deeper meaning, but I doubt anyone will be able to determine what it is.

+ 5-7-5 syllables

+ a seasonword (kigo)

+ a cuttingword (kireji, in western mostly interpunction)

+ a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown in water

+ interchangable first and third line

+ a deeper meaning

Poetry Through Movement

A beautiful bit of performance art. I put it here because it is a short piece, almost like a poem being performed through gesture.

What I love about both poetry and theatre is the fact that they are not solely for the wealthy, the beautiful, the powerful. They are, and always will be, the domain of anybody who wishes, even if only in a small way, to share what is in their heart, mind, and soul.

~Naila~

N is for Naila's Nove Otto

Nighttime Memories

I try never to sleep at night

For that is when my thoughts take flight

And I remember how we were

To you it may be just a blur

But for me it was my whole world

Back when I was your dream-time girl

I won't let the memories stir

~Naila~

Nove Otto

The Nove Otto poetry form was created by Scott J. Alcorn. It is a nine-lined poem with 8 syllables per line (isosyllabic). The rhyme scheme is as follows: aacbbcddc.


Example #1:
Canebrake Whispers

Three a.m. and yet still awake.
Mournful call sounds from the canebrake—
South Lou'siana’s black night steams.
The rocking chair creaks hollowly,
on the slat porch- it drums dully.
Chemical plants glowing lights gleam,
creating soft worlds all their own.
The cane whispers its eerie drone,
as night waits her impending dream.

Copyright © 2006 Scott J. Alcorn

My poem was inspired by this great classic tune: