Words in Mind's NaPoWriMo 2024 poems

NaPoWriMo 2024 +01 - NaPoWriMo 2025 -364

… between the islands …

Island of Aruba

Oranjestad capital

‘elegant’ Madurostraat apartment

pool swimming

West Deck

a friendly ‘hello!’

strangers no longer

Queen Beatrix

statuesque

blue horses’ sculpture

cruise liner parking

Cafe la Plaza

San Nicolas

magnificent murals

Lolita’s entrepreneurial spirit

oil refinery skeletal remains

reminder of island’s past

big red anchor

Baby Beach

catamaran launch

Palm Beach

Latin American architecture

Oroubu Plaza

California Lighthouse

aloe’s royal stamp

Arikok National Park

Alto Vista chapel

happy party buses

Natural Bridges

Casibari Rock Formations

Pos Chiquito house

Balashi Gold Mill ruin

Spanish Lagoon

National Archaeological Museum

National Library of Aruba

fofoti tree

Eagle Beach

natural sun lamp heat

Surfside Beach

setting sun treat

Caribbean happiness retreat

One Happy Island

transfers transatlantic

to Thrybergh Hall

Rotherham South Yorkshire

a family joined

one more happy celebration

one more happy day.

This is an extra for the end of NaPoWriMo 2024. A 'list poem' reflecting on thoughts, sights, experiences and feelings about our trip to Aruba and its 'transatlantic transfer' to England. I have enjoyed writing and sharing my poems and photographs of our Aruba experiences, Tom and Giandi getting married and celebrating in Aruba and Rotherham, England and meeting our extended, transatlantic family. I hope anyone reading my blog posts have enjoyed them too.   

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 30

... all good things ... 

It's been another great NaPoWriMo this year with such inspiring prompts to get the creative juices flowing. I hope my focus on my experience of the Caribbean island of Aruba has been as interesting to readers as it has been for me, a lovely way to remember all that I experienced with my wife and other family members as we celebrated my nephew Tom getting married to Aruba-born Giandi.  

This is the second year that I have been travelling when NaPoWriMo began: in 2023 we were in buenos Aires for the first time, so all month I remembered our experiences there. Where will I be next year? Probably at in in Coventry, England - if I am, then my poems will try to do justice to it as a city and, as a Yorkshireman, my adopted home of 43 years! 

Thanks to NaPoWriMo again for your diligent curating of the prompts, the website and the resources. Thanks also to all my fellow poets for your excellent contributions - it amazes me the imaginations you have and skill in interpreting your ideas into poetry - not all read, sadly but to be returned to periodically during the year.  

My next challenge is #The Sealey Challenge to read a poetry book each day during August.  

I look forward to NaPoWriMo 2025.

 Here is my effort for today: https://peterlongden.co.uk/f/napowrimo-2024-day-30-of-gods-and-dragons-%E2%80%A6    

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 30

… of gods and dragons …

How cavernous it looks and extends

high above in godly generous proportion,

extending like a splayed hand in every direction,

to be in this domain as Dushi Hende,

spiritual arrival point for carriage, 

the presence bringing good fortune

with prosperity in the encounter

with the island spirit’s deportment

(it’s form blends with the Aruba winged-horse

the unique blue hue of Aether’s realm of sky

with Poseidon-esque tinged picture 

of stamina, resilience and happiness of the island)

of message and messenger alike,

passage and passenger of flight

as they pass they clack—

the noise of thousands of insect wing beats

across the cracks of marble floors

coloured hard thorax-like shells

to classify their species

to be identified and retrieved when laid

from the belly of the silver dragons

the island attracts, at the end of flights

disgorging their charges

before settling back into their cavernous

beach-palm-sea lined homes--

welcomed home by Dushi Hende.

Today, the day when NaPoWriMo 2024 comes to an end, the challenge is to write a poem in which the speaker is identified with, or compared to, a character from myth or legend, as in  Claire Scott’s poem “Scheherazade at the Doctor’s Office.” 

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 29

... incandescent ...

There was a time when ‘Swiftean words’ would indicate the lofty writings of a certain Jonathan

swiftly putting down, in scathing satire, the politics of the day in Gullivarian prose. Now it seems,

a taylor is swiftly getting in on the act with unknown motives: whether in self-effacing, Machiavellian altruism

is still to be fathomed in touring the hidden depths of a mind torturing poets and critics alike!

transported in delightful over spilling of strong emotion

and passion felt in a love of life, shining bright 

as the incandescent light of an Aruban day 

or setting before the night takes over; or expressing a humble understanding of its beauty 

an unselfish outpouring of welcome offered

as ‘one happy island’ opens its shores

to the world? This island no island alone,

only too prepared to share its incandescence with travellers

seeking its Aruban beauty and joy, swiftly tailoring a bespoke offer,

like interpreting lyric poetry for the first time: the poets intent

not misunderstood, open-minded, open-hearted, open armed

not clandestine in greeting lovers of the islands incandescent glow.

Today’s prompt. If you’ve been paying attention to pop-music news over the past couple of weeks, you may know that Taylor Swift has released a new double album titled “The Tortured Poets Department.” In recognition of this occasion, Merriam-Webster put together a list of ten words from Taylor Swift songs. We hope you don’t find this too torturous yourself, but we’d like to challenge you to select one these words, and write a poem that uses the word as its title.

Here’s the list of the 10 ‘Swiftean’ words: clandestine, Machiavellian, incandescent, altruism, self-effacing, albatross, antithetical, mercurial, elegy, cardigan. I went a little further than the prompt asks and used several of the words in the course of the poem. I make no apologies for what might be seen as a tenuous segue to more of another ode to Aruba

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 28

… transatlantic family …

It was King’s Day, it was a birthday, a joining of hearts day

three countries celebrate and welcome this happy union 

across an ocean, this transatlantic family is formed

My nephew Tom married Giandi in Baltimore, were blessed in Aruba, where Giandi was born, and celebrated, yesterday in Rotherham, England where Tom was born. Yesterday, was the first time the whole of this new ‘transatlantic’ family came together. 

The prompt for the day is to try writing a sijo. This is a traditional Korean verse form. A sijo has three lines of 14-16 syllables. The first line introduces the poem’s theme, the second discusses it, and the third line, which is divided into two sentences or clauses, ends the poem – usually with some kind of twist or surprise.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 27

… sonnet for a fallen friend …

Did friendship cause a national disaster?

Everybody wants/every family has a photograph

standing on Aruba’s Natural Bridge:

ancient remnant sea cave in Arikok—

coral construction collapse-creation

high-spot family photogenic place

low-point, not slow-point, ‘consolation’ bridge

as described by driver for island tour;

put up with the dust from lines of UTVs

making-believe they’re ‘solo’ explorers on a moon-scape

buzzing around like so many mosquito mechanica;

friendship still forms for this still spectacular

north shore, surf-pounding chaotic volcanic rock of age,

‘Baby Bridge’ phenomena— left behind by Katrina’s stormy passage.

On our island tour our driver, when talking about the fate of Aruba’s Natural Bridge, speculated that it’s collapse was due to too many people gathering on its arch to have ‘friendly’ photographs taken to celebrate birthdays, weddings, engagements, even that some would drive onto the bridge for the purpose. It seems the bridge collapsed on 2 September 2005 due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Today the prompt challenge is to write an “American sonnet.” What’s that? Well, it’s like a regular sonnet but . . . fewer rules? Like a traditional Spencerian or Shakespearean sonnet, an American sonnet is shortish (generally 14 lines, but not necessarily!), discursive, and tends to end with a bang, but there’s no need to have a rhyme scheme or even a specific meter.I have ended mine though, with the conventional rhyming couplet.

With only 4 More NaPoWriMo 2024 days to go, the sun is beginning to set over West Deck, Oranjestad, Aruba as well as over this years poetry writing month! 

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 26

… turtles won’t hurtle …

Perhaps, with assurance, I can ruin
a good assonance poem
with a line like ‘scuba in Aruba’,
but that is what is doing where
wrecks of old survive
in coral seas, the dive
keeping the teaming
fish alive in moving waves
where it’s certain that turtles
won’t hurtle to the beaches
at their most fertile as they
complete a circle of life:
back to their birth beach—
a final hurdle in survival
of the species in their vernal
prime for laying and it is
their babies that hurtle
in instinct for survival in
revival of the species
across the spacious oceans,
and specifically this glorious Caribbean Sea!

Today’s challenging prompt is to write a poem that involves alliteration, consonance, and assonance. Alliteration is the repetition of a particular consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds elsewhere in multiple words, and assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. Traci Brimhall’s poem “A Group of Moths” provides a great example of these poetic devices at work, with each line playing with different sounds that seem to move the poem along on a sonorous wave.
The poem doesn’t have to be as complex as all that, though. Just pick a consonant or two and a vowel and dive right into the wonderful world (hey, there’s some alliteration/consonance/assonance right there) of sound.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 25

… being Aruba …

Being that island is my idea of perfect happiness, 

not being that island is the greater fear,

of course, Betico, the island’s independence engineer, is most admired,

the beach, the sea and sunshine are the extravangances to enjoy

when in that Aruba state of mind!

On what occasion do i lie? 

When the beach is reached, truly,

there to contemplate what’s to dislake about the island: 

dislike? Despise? 

Other words are overused:   

‘one’ is first, ‘happy’ the second, and finally, ‘island’

of the greatest love, no need to ask!

Where is the greatest love, no need to ask?

Where and when in the world is thought the happiest? Why, here on Aruba and now!

So many abilities to choose from, the one to shout out is humility!

What’s to change in such an idyll,

would Da Vinci want to change the Mona Lisa— 

to change anything would ruin the whole effect;

celebrate the greatest achievement, 

that of being Aruba,

being the motto on the signs 

(even on car licence plates!)

that everyone lives up to 

with each ‘good morning’ said to a stranger,

welcome to “One Happy Island”!

This portrait of Alice van Romondt is my chosen image for this poem as it represents all that is good about the island, One admirer describes  “Alice” as a larger than life Aruban matriarch of the arts and artists.  A librarian by trade, Alice's  career has been motivated by the desire to serve her community and that she has, with great dignity and influence.    

Today's challenge is to write a poem based on the “Proust Questionnaire,” a set of questions drawn from Victorian-era parlor games, and adapted by modern interviewers. You could choose to answer the whole questionnaire, and then write a poem based on your answers, answer just a few, or just write a poem that’s based on the questions. You could even write a poem in the form of an entirely new Proust Questionnaire.I used some of the questionnaire which can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proust_Questionnaire

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 24

… sea turtles and land turtles …

Spontaneity is lost in the act of browsing, 

sometimes the ‘not knowing’ adds to the frisson

of the occasion; like watching turtles swimming

where they are supposed to, the vastness not lessened

where a leatherback is small flotsam on the tide—

will one appear to be seen? There's the surprise! 

Yet it happens for watchers at Tres Trapi beach

though, being turtles, they persevere in swimming where they like, 

as locals know, to their delight, no beach is off-limits:

not Roger’s nor Baby nor Druif Beaches

access an open door to the white sand on land and by sea;

one land-locked by Eagle Beach faces the ocean

heavy bronze afloat from Bogata shows pride

of the island for its frequent nesting visitors

at the gateway to High Hotel’s Strip

where the wealthy nest with their waiter service

to swimming pools spending their time 

and money there during their infrequent visits,

juxtaposing the unspoiled wildness of the island

with the less-welcome high-rise concrete condition.

Today’s challenge is to write a poem that begins with a line from another poem (not necessarily the first one) but then goes elsewhere with it. The idea is for the original to furnish the backdrop for your work, but without influencing you so much that you feel as if you are just rewriting the original!  

I’ve chosen the line: “they persevere in swimming where they like” from the poem ‘Sea Unicorns and Land Unicorns” by Marianne Moore. Here it is with a couple of other lines: 

they persevere in swimming where they like,
finding the place where lions live in herds,
strewn on the beach like stones with lesser stones—

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 23

… Super-Aloe …

I am Aruba’s superhero: Royal Aloe!

don’t think me shallow when I boast

of my super-healing powers: 

when I transform into Aloe-Vera,

that’s when I really become Aloe-Hero!

I am a super-soother on the skin,

especially, after it’s been under the Aruban sun, 

I maybe my own kryptonite—

in one of my alter egos, 

I am a genius with the digestive system!

(I rush in without dread,

where others fear to tread, 

arch enemy: Laxative of crime,

I guarantee a clear out every time!)

Feet on the ground, I know my roots,

no interplanetary travel needed 

for my super-strength: just golden sunshine 

and watch me grow though no cape needed

for this super-regenerative super-inanimate succulent 

with super-sensitive healing that’s naturally sublime! 

Today, the challenge is to write a poem about, or involving, a superhero. 

I have invented my own superhero, so I’m not sure if this is strictly on point (whether it should have been about an existing hero from the DC or Marvel universes; but in the spirit of all poems Aruba, aloe is the islands superhero!

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 22

  … chapel versus cactus …

“We were here first!” said the cactus to the chapel,

“I think you could call us indigenous!”

The chapel, remained aloof,

it’s steeple standing proud,

not wanting to demean itself

the base level of debate out loud.

“We have exotic names like dagger,

and Peruvian apple and melon;

not to mention, the pear,

which is why I’m so prickly!”

“Prickly pear!” chortled the chapel,

“have you ever heard the like!”

“I told you not to mention it!”

said the prickly pear,

to the chapel’s obvious delight.

“Well, I was designed and built here,”

the chapel finally found its voice,

“perhaps not the best place,

certainly not my first choice;

but it has a certain vista,

it has the required height,

if it wasn’t for you cactus,

the sea would be well within our sight!”

“You’ve only been here fifty years,

we’ve grown here since the beginning,

now like your visitors, it’s time

for you to leave! You bring

all these buses here, along

the dust trail they weave, not covering

us with glory, that’s another story to tell,

they don’t stay longer than a photograph,

I’m afraid your worship has sailed!

You haven’t a prayer to be winning

against the forest we are growing,

in other words, in contrast

to our Royal cousin, Aloe,

your lofty presence here has failed!”

“I’ll forgive you your encroachment,

our striking yellow walls are stand out

the best feature out here,

in contrast to your dull, dusty green,

that’s why so many visitors have been;

our popularity has nothing to fear

from an apple, a dagger, a melon,

you prickly pears don’t make us nervous,

can’t we just coexist in harmony

in this happy place?” If the cactus

could have nodded, it would,

“some peaceful coexistence,

is just what this world needs!”

Today’s prompt comes from the poet and fiction writer Todd Dillard, who provided the idea to write a poem in which two things have a fight. Two very unlikely things, if you can manage it. Like, maybe a comb and a spatula.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 21

… the female of the species are Lagadishi while the males are Blóbló …

As sure as the flag is blue

it’s a sure thing to see

its azure sky

mirrored in its azure sea

once swum by its horses

(not sea horses though technically, 

for a few minutes, I’m sure …)

now blue horses grazing

Commemorating, lazily near its city shore

and Aruba is not ‘blue’

(though its flag is)

it’s sure of itself

this ‘One Happy Isle’

San Nicolas muralists too

place their faith in the colour blue

the lizard with a wall to climb

the turtle swimming to survive;

a clear blue paradise

a clear sure promise 

its assertive premise

its pleasure paradigm

the startlingly blue sea 

seen even from thousands 

of feet above

blue flagged beaches

to hearts the island reaches

in Papiamento ‘blou’

or ‘blauw’ of Dutch Antilles 

in any language true

the island’s happiest with blue

Baby Beach where shallows are light blue

blou claro in Papiamento 

blou skur as day becomes night

where blue whiptail lizard scurries 

endemic to the island

the female of the species 

are Lagadishi while the males 

are Blóbló or blue-blue

so blue they named it twice

blue painted cruise liners bedecked 

hotels afloat anchored 

in ‘Horses Bay’ for all-inclusive 

luxury shops— no blue-cross 

before, sadly, whisked away

Today, the is challenge to write a poem that repeats or focuses on a single colour.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 20

… Paarden Baai …

or ... where are the Blue Horses?

Now there’s Rosalinda, Saturnina,

Escapia and Sinforosa; find Eufrosina,

Ambrosio, Bonifacia and Celestina

they’re scattered around the city

but to find them here’s a clue:

they’re not the usual horsy colours,

they swam the clearest sea

so they’re all coloured blue;

they’re the Blue Horses of Aruba,

marking the way the horses came to stay,

at the time of the island's first horse trade

there was no jetty to unload them in place.

The bravest of the horses would go first,

plunging into the Caribbean waves,

followed by the rest, they’d swim ashore,

not the most expected way for horses to behave!

But so important to Aruba was this trade,

this sculpture installation is there to commemorate

how Aruban artist Osaira Muyale represents

"Strength, Nobility, Beauty, Freedom and Grace"

of the horses and the island's heritage.

Paarden Baai translates to “Horses Bay”, the name still in use for the bay in front of the capital city of Oranjestad, near the cruise terminal.

 The prompt for the day is to write a poem that recounts a historical event. 

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 19

… stranger things …

Strange things happen in time
as the silver bird makes its mile-high climb
slip back hours: will that make us late?
last to arrive or not find the place our fate?
 

Strange things happen at the Balashi Gold Mills
near the ancient place of Spanish Lagoon
where the indigenous people of the island
once defended their place against collectors of gold and doubloons
 

the haunting location now a ruin set in time
reclaimed by nature where goats roam the quiet
even bird call seems subdued
only the burrowing owl, the shoco, disturbs the peace
 

We find a place which we think might be right:
a beautiful location, a desert-deserted scape
cacti growing to fantastic heights
wedding planners confirm our hunt has been precise
 

strange thing that their timing should coincide
perhaps the spirit of the place is aligned
to help the hunt not haunt us
and to reassure us in our find
 

the legendary woman in white
made her appearance the following day
meeting her loved one yet not clandestine
friends and family there to share the time

steel pans call the congregation to gather

the aisle stone-clad steps climbing high

gypsophila-marked arch under which rings exchanged

under the clear, Aruban blue sky

the haunting of time is behind
the hunt led to a carnival night
the spirit of the island passes on its happiness
lives together not so strange a thing.

Today’s prompt comes from Moist Poetry Journal, which posted this prompt by K-Ming Chang a while back:
What are you haunted by, or what haunts you? Write a poem responding to this question. Then change the word haunt to hunt.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 18

... Gulliver's later travels ... 

He is the traveller I would be,

already lived a long life

near 300 years and by no means old as the story of his travels

are told and retold as he gains fame

landing on islands to dominate yet be diminished

yet on one island I would be Gulliver-

the giant Gulliver-- 

forever immuralised in San Nicolas

on the public library wall

surrounded by the books I love

pressing in on me to read displaying

the key to knowledge acquired from so doing

offering this to anyone who cares to take it up

to open their own passage to happiness

unaware that a hundred years of solitude

might need to be endured

safe from the offense

to Lilliput or Brobdingnag

safe harbour bagged alongside luxury

lined up to display ‘One Happy Island’.

tattooed upon a forearm

safe to read the books pressing in on me.

 Today’s challenge is to write a poem in which the speaker expresses the desire to be someone or something else, and explains why. 

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 17

... Eight Line Poem ... or ... ode to lines of aloe ...

No lack of cactus in the fields on show

for the purveyors of the royal gel: aloe

the nobel plant grows to its own conclusion

harvest made of its component parts

its factory shop open near Oranjestad

the aloe gets its royal approval

a place on the island’s coat of arms

and it’s the sun that makes the plant the star! 

Today’s prompt is to write a poem that is inspired by a piece of music, and that shares its title with that piece of music. I’ve chosen Eight Line Poem by David Bowie.

Here is the great David Bowie with Eight Line Poem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcWIoihuatE 

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 16

… California high …

It’s dominant in its prominence

positioned for the effect

of light that was to shine

out across the night in lazy circles

to protect mariners approaches

from east or west

cool concrete looms in

precipitous window-pocked climb

from doorway base in symmetrical rise

to delight yet white glare

requires shaded the eye to see

out towards the Caribbean breakers

where the namesake wreck lies

its wooden hull amidst the coral

of this island paradise

‘hotel’ to a colourful natural array

of aquatic residents and visitors

out of their all-inclusive depths

the heat clings outside

from an arid moonscape

this concrete finger points

a cooler route to climb

circling inside on 98 tired feet

counting the steps from beginning

to end at the netted balcony

feeling the cooling buffeting beastly

easterly wrapping itself around

the round and any figures to have

braved the climb to look down

upon Arashi beach and beyond

to ‘high hotels’ signed at Palm Beach

resorting to drawing in vacationers wealth

with stealth to spoil more the prospect

from California Lighthouse

clinging renewed to its island prominence

a view of the world born out of disaster

Today’s prompt is from NaPoWriMo’s 2016 archives, the challenge to write a poem in which an object or place is closely described and then ended with a much more abstract line that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do with that object or place, but which, of course, really does. The “surprise” ending to this James Wright poem is a good illustration of the effect hoped to be achieved. An abstract, philosophical kind of statement closing out a poem that is otherwise intensely focused on physical, sensory details.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 15

... making its marque ...

 In international philately terms,

Aruba is probably ‘small fry’,

only postage stamp-sized

in its world profile,

geographical position

in the ABC isles—

the isles first stamps commemorate

its independence as a state

as late as 1986— before that

a Dutch colony exists,

and what else from its stempel creators flow

what to impress

but it’s lighthouse and sunset glow

or its flora and fauna

it’s royal renowned aloe;

it’s Papiamento lexicon:

danki for thanks and bon bini

the welcome to one happy island

it’s beauty stamped indelibly on memories.

 Today, we’re encouraged to take a look at @StampsBot, or the online “International Philately” and become inspired by the wide, wonderful, and sometimes wacky world of postage stamps.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 14

… what if there was an island …

What if there was a desert island that had ten hours of sunshine everyday, would that be a place to stay. 

What if the first inhabitants, the Caquetios Indians from the Arawak tribe, came forward in time, what would they think of it: the preservation of the National park.

What if that were to become theirs again, making Casibari their home again.

What if they found the High Hotels of Palm Beach, would they be impressed by the architectural presence, the casino, resorting to capitalism beyond the capital.

What if no more condominiums were built around the southern beaches of Rogers and Baby.

What if it remained as unspoilt as if the Arawak had always been there.

What if Spanish and Dutch explorers hadn’t discovered and occupied the island.

What if Savaneta was still its capital, still a tiny village with its 150 year old mud hut still preserved in perpetuity.

What if it was surrounded by clear seas on which to sail, in which to swim, about which to write.

What if it is this sea from which turtles emerge to lay their eggs in white sands, from which the new born scurry on rushing flippers back to the sea in a journey of survival.

What if it called itself one happy island and it happened to be true?

The prompt today is to write a poem of at least ten lines in which each line begins with the same word (e.g., “Because,” “Forget,” “Not,” “If”). This technique of beginning multiple lines with the same word or phrase is called anaphora, and has long been used to give poems a driving rhythm and/or a sense of puzzlebox mystery.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 13

… the turtle decided not to show …

the turtle decided not to show 

preferring its world of silence

where it’s resilience can prevail

as far away as possible 

from a party boat under sail!

the sea cat moved silently

until the dj began to play

the sail run up the mast 

with some distance still to go

the turtle decided not to show!

anchored to a makeshift bouy

a calm dwelling above an Aruban reef

snorkelling among its inhabitants

who can blame the turtle not to show!

diving and returning to exhale 

salty water in the mouth

the first sortie amongst the crowds

at the sight of the monsters take flight

no wonder the turtle didn’t show!

the sea cat reached across snow-white Palm Beach

refreshed by fruity tastes enroute 

watching for the slow moving silhouette 

until darkness endured its privacy

some other time for the turtle to decide to show!

The prompt for the day asks you to play with rhyme. Start by creating a “word bank” of ten simple words. They should only have one or two syllables apiece. Five should correspond to each of the five senses (i.e., one word that is a thing you can see, one word that is a type of sound, one word that is a thing you can taste, etc). Three more should be concrete nouns of whatever character you choose (i.e., “bridge,” “sun,” “airplane,” “cat”), and the last two should be verbs. Now, come up with rhymes for each of your ten words. (If you’re having trouble coming up with rhymes, the wonderful Rhymezone is at your service). Use your expanded word-bank, with rhymes, as the seeds for your poem. Your effort doesn’t actually have to rhyme in the sense of having each line end with a rhymed word, but try to use as much soundplay in your poem as possible.

Word bank: silence resilience, reach beach, salty sortie, sight take flight, fruit enroute, snorkelling dwelling, sailing exhale, sea cat mast, party darkness

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 11

… Tito has a street art Phoenix … 

No one has ideas like Tito Bolivar: 

his strength hewn from Casibari itself, 

brought from the streets of Bogotá 

back to his home town San Nicolas

bringing back sunrise to the city

on shoulders wider than Aruba

taller than Gulliver as he walks between 

Columbia and his island home

trailing behind him the ships of delight

to ignite the passion of a new nation;

his phoenix rises from a refinery’s ashes 

by the brushes and spray  cans 

of great muralists like Armando Goedgedrag

another of Aruba’s children 

brought on phoenix’ wings 

the world over who fill walls with images

of striking beasts and larger than life 

characters to match that of Tito and Diana—

co-conspirator in the art— strong woman

behind the great and good— mother 

of all— as their huge hands 

that match their ideas and ideals 

support and celebrate birth in creativity 

and rebirth in limitless imagination:

a new world order for this One Happy Isle.

Today, the challenge is to write a poem that plays with the idea of a “tall tale.” American tall tales feature larger-than-life characters like Paul Bunyan (who is literally larger than life): a modern poetic take on the tall tale is Jennifer L. Knox’s hilarious poem, “Burt Reynolds FAQ.” The poem can revolve around a mythical character, one made up entirely, or add fantastical elements into a real person’s biography.

NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 11

… one happy island …

The Aruban way is to be happiest making sure others are happy about Aruba being the one happy island it is!

The prompt for the day honors the “ones” in the number 11. The challenge is to write either a monostich, which is a one-line poem, or a poem made up of one-liner style jokes/sentiments. A mono stitch is a one line stanza poem; monostich poems will use the juxtaposition of a title with the one-liner to create a poem in the space between.