Day Five: Twenty little poetry projects – not

• Manja Maksimovič

I suffered at the sight of today’s prompt. It features twenty points to be included in our poems. I made it and now can’t wait to read other people’s.

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Prompt 5: “It’s called the ‘Twenty Little Poetry Projects,’ and was originally developed by Jim Simmerman. … The challenge is to use/do all of the following in the same poem.”

  1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
  2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
  3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
  4. Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses).
  5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
  6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
  7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
  8. Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.
  9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
  10. Use a piece of talk you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand).
  11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . .”
  12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
  13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he or she could not do in “real life.”
  14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
  15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
  16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
  17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
  18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
  19. Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).
  20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem.

This had to be some kind of a test, right? In the sense: who doesn’t rebel is only half alive? And you have used it before, all of it, with fantastic results? Really?

After having written all my NaPoWriMo poems to prompts for two years and four days, today I came the closest to quitting.

Anyway, I made it through and – in my opinion – covered all twenty points. Fun is not so easy to feel and have these days, but today it’s been had. Thanks for that. But one more like this, and I’m out of here.

Comes the time

Comes the time when naked truth sets us free.
We shall smell what feels wrong
and hear what looks right
and choose and prevail.

Comes the time when nature starts celebrating
locked up humans
and takes over,
and the time has come.

Comes the time when swans swarm Venice,
a badger runs in Florence,
goats seize Llandudno,
and Jerry Lee Lewis purrrs from the quarantine.

Comes the time when women forget
they have hit menopause
and stop reading fiction
because reality beats anything ever fabricated.

Comes the time when the dog looks up
and says seriously
“Nobody is going to believe you”
and then never speaks again.

Comes the time when amore says
“Me l’hai fatto a peperini”
but he is only joking.
Actually, he adds, it’s even worse, “peperini piccoli”.

Comes the time when Mexi meanders between rebel and poet
but chooses to bear the pontifical pressure
of this Monty Python of a prompt
and obeys.

Comes the time when people heal by touch
and taste through skin
and my ikigai is finally found
as the Supreme Unifier of All Good.

Comes the time
when all fun is taken out of poetry,
but not quite yet.
Naked. True. Free. Fun.

And here is our neighbourhood bunny from three days ago but I saw him just earlier again. Bestia wanted to play with him so much that he squealed when the bunny hopped away.

For Day 5 of NaPoWriMo 2020

43 thoughts on “Day Five: Twenty little poetry projects – not”

  3. Oh, brilliant! I particularly love these two stanzas, Manja:
    “Comes the time when swans swarm Venice,
a badger runs in Florence,
goats seize Llandudno,
and Jerry Lee Lewis purrrs from the quarantine.
    Comes the time when women forget
they have hit menopause
and stop reading fiction
because reality beats anything ever fabricated.”

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  5. A cute bunny and just in time for Easter. Portentous! Nature is taking back what is hers, indeed. And I love this mantra – Who doesn’t rebel is only half alive? I subscribe wholeheartedly to that. We had a high court judge who made a landmark rulings some years back, saying, We had the fundamental to right to rebel!
    As for your poem. So many rules – you did so well. Don’t stop writing!

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  6. I didn’t get the reference to the goats until I went to my wordpress reader this morning. Hilarious.
    Are you going to add any more to my storyline on the house post? I was thinking of writing a post with a cooperative story where by the comments of everyone would form the storyline, much as we did. Wouldn’t that be fun?

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  7. Possibly one of your best poems. The repetitive opening of each stanza is fantastic and holds all the 20 pieces together. I love your use of synesthesia in the first stanza and so much more in this one. I often use the 20 little poetry projects when I’m stuck and even if I just use one or two of the suggestions I find my poetry is better for it. Great work, MMM!

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    1. Uuuu, thanks, Susanne, this is high praise! I call myself Mexcessive but this was an overkill even for me. I’m glad that you consider this poem a success. Really glad. First time I learn of these projects. Will keep in mind a trick or two.

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  9. That was masterfully done!! The repeated beginnings tied each prompt together and your imageries were superb especially the ones that involved the senses. You stepped up to the plate and hit a home run with this one!

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  14. “Pontifical pressure of this Monty Python of a prompt”! Hilarious, and too true. Love how the over-the-top alliteration works with the over-the-topness of the prompt. The p sounds are like… sputtering and frustrated. So good.

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  16. This is wonderful, Manja! I can definitely smell what feels wrong, ha ha! There are words here I don’t know, like Amore’s Italian and “ikigai” which I must now look up 🙂 Love all the surreal images, especially the dog looking up and saying no one’s going to believe you. But something really mystical going on too somehow. ❤

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    1. Thank you, Sunra Nina, I’m glad you came to read it! I swear I had to ask amore what he meant by that! 😀 He laughed and said it was rude. 😀 😀 (Something like you break my balls in little pieces = You annoy me much.) But ikigai, yes, please, google, it’s fascinating. It’s amazing how completely I forgot this poem.

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      1. Hahahahahaha!! The translation is so poetic! A sign of true love 😀 It works even moreso because his name’s Amore! Ha ha! Love it.

        I love the meaning of ikigai, by the way. Thank you for teaching me a new meaningful word. The Japanese honestly have truly mastered the art of living authentically with purity and humility.

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  18. Well we both survived that one. I need to check that date in 2020 and see what I did. Know I didn’t do it again. perhaps it was the one time I didn’t follow the prompt…Enjoyed yours. Fun looking back on poems we have forgotten having written.

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