February 2015
- Details
- Written by Hansha Teki
in this bar too
ancient gods brood over
wine-dark seas
- Details
- Written by Hansha Teki
"The prompts for this month will all start with the letter N, and each week will have a parts-of-speech theme. Prompts for the first week will all be adverbs, followed by a week of adjectives, then nouns, and then verbs, all starting with the letter N. Please consider each word in terms of the category it’s offered in, even if an adjective might also be a noun, or a noun might also be a verb. You can include the word (or a form of it) in your poem, or let the prompt word take you in whatever direction you wish."
ADVERBS
#1 now
now and then . . .
the lapping sound
of the moon
#2 noisily
dawn chorus . . .
light mimes its coming
noisily
#3 nervously
side to side
the coop intruder's
darting eyes
#4 nakedly
without guile
a prima donna's
death scene
#5 nonstop
ebb-tide moon
the ouroboros
trailing me
#6 nonchalantly
late summer . . .
cicadas shuffle sound
nonchalantly
#7 nearest
out of sight
a red dwarf hides
nearest
ADJECTIVES
#8 native
the sound
my native tongue makes
reading haiku
#9 nuclear
mushroom cloud—
the nucleus of reason
grows unclear
#10 novel
time returns a novel way
#11 northwest
down under
the prevailing wind
wins over
#12 numeric
one - no two
stars unable to
count on
#13 newfangled
haiku
mangled into
English stew
#14 neuter
worker bees
neither here
nor there
NOUNS
#15 nest
cloud wisps
a bird's flight
from the nest
#16 nickel
fallen star
the value of nickel
in loose change
#17 nosebleed
autumn dusk
the darkening rose
of her sneeze
#18 neon
migrant smile
another buddha
goes neon
#19 nuance
shifting light . . .
every nuance
of the rock
#20 notebook
ancient quill
secreting life
in a notebook
#21 newlywed
newlyweds
a glowering sky
and her brow
VERBS
#22 nudge
rolling sky—
a hedgehog nudges
past its past
#23 name
earthbound voice
naming the one fall
that sticks
#24 nag
big bang—
the past that nags
at my heels
#25 navigate
alone at last
a spider navigates
a wider web
#26 narrow
haiku—
my field of vision
narrows
#27 nominate
awake at dawn
tree bird and mountain
called by name
#28 neglect
half moon
making light of
drone targets