The Versesmith

www.napowrimo.net/day-five-12  “...today’s (optional) prompt is inspired by musical notation… First, pick a notation from the first column below. Then, pick a musical genre from the second column. Finally, pick at least one word from the third column. Now write a poem that takes inspiration from your musical genre and notation, and uses the word or words you picked from the third column.”  ( See list at bottom of post. My choices in red.) The Butterflies Have Flown White roses by moonlight. Butterflies in the hollyhocks. Scent of vanilla rising from my coffee. Roses dry as bone. Butterflies have flown. My coffee cold and bitter. Love-lost, I live in shadow. ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved   “with a hint of frenzy” power ballad sharks “the joy is gone” jazz fantasia nonsense “smugly saying ‘yeah, I’m better than you’” folk song roses “literally go nuts” march departures “play terribly” chamber music bones “deliciously” symphony infield “about to burst” ...

www.napowrimo.net/day-four-13 "...write your own poem about living with a piece of art." A Bañarse, by   Juan Santiago Corbacho in author's collection A Bañarse I sit at the kitchen table, my computer sits with me. I raise my head and there you are, hanging out in the living room. Although surrounded by other places, other faces, you are my favorite. Who brought you here, so far from your native Argentina, to end up on a wall in Oregon? ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  

www.napowrimo.net/day-three-11  “optional prompt...write a poem that obliquely explains why you are a poet and not some other kind of artist...”   I opted for not going with the prompt today, although still writing about a poet with a tanka. the poet fails, sobs words have left him, blank paper laying on his desk mock the once great man of verse his muse no longer whispers ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved 

www.napowrimo.net/day-two-12/  "Today’s daily resource is the online collection of the Georgia O’Keeffe museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. ...write a poem that directly addresses someone, and that includes a made-up word, an odd/unusual simile, a statement of “fact,” and something that seems out of place in time..."    Letter to a Dear Friend  Georgia, my dearest friend Georgia, Does it disappoint to know the public sees you  as “ that woman ” who paints those macabre skulls? Or their obsession with seeing genitalia in your flowers, despite your adamant denials? How maddening.  Shall we play along with their sensual views, call them “ senscapes ,” or perhaps “ sinscapes ” fits better? Though I fear your masterpieces will end up memes of bawdy nature, spreading like misinformation spewed by the President.  “ Her Grey Lines with Black,  Blue and Yellow , delicately open as genitalia in full bloom,”  to quote one odious critic. Can you sue?  L...

www.napowrimo.net/april-1-it-begins "... here’s our optional prompt! As with pretty much any discipline, music and art have their own vocabulary. Today, we challenge you to take inspiration from this glossary of musical terms, or this glossary of art terminology, and write a poem that uses a new-to-you word ." Sigh... Day 1 and I already messed up, prompt-wise... I chose the word that is not new-to-me. Note to self, " Read the prompt carefully from start to finish, then read it again ."  A Life in Abstraction She said she lived her life in abstraction, drew pleasure in exaggeration, in the distorted way she viewed us, squinting her eyes in appraisal. She thought herself another Miro, speaking Spanish to her friends. Once at a party she tossed me out, I'd told her Joan was a man. That was so long ago. A faded photo is all that's left to remind me of her. So warped it's hard to make her out.  ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Rese...