NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #30 - Endings

The trail ends 1500 feet above the canyon floor of
Zion National Park.  Not for the afraid-of-heights.
What is the reward when the climb ends?

Wow!  It is the last day of NaPoWriMo 2017, and it is the last prompt!  And so it is time to pat yourself on the back for drafting so many new poems this month.  You participated with a huge community of writers all coming together to celebrate and promote poetry.  I had a great time, and even got some really good drafts this year.  It has been a tremendous amount of work to get these prompts up, but there are so many ideas in these that I think I'll be able to use these same prompts for many years to come!  I hope you will return and do the same.

Fittingly, today our theme is "Endings."  Of course in fairy tales there is always the story that ends with "happily ever after" - which of course is not an ending at all.

Providence by Catherine Barnett

The jaywalkers

walked slowly, a cigarette warmed
someone’s hand. 

Some of the best sermons
don’t have endings, he said

while the tires rotated
unceasingly beneath us.

Expectations can be shifted with endings - birth as an ending to pregnancy, the first day of school as an ending to summer, and marriage as an ending to bachelorhood.  "Leaving" can be leaving to end something, or to start something new.  The same is true of graduation, divorce, and perhaps even death.  Beginnings and endings have a complicated relationship.

Mountain Time by Kathryne Stripling Byer

While prophets discourse about endings,
don’t you think she’d tell us the world as we know it
keeps calling us back to beginnings?
This labor to make our words matter
is what any good quilter teaches.

Many words that can describe endings come to mind, like finality, closure, finishing, and conclusion.  Endings may be satisfying or frustrating, planned or unexpected, and exciting or dull.  But as with all endings, there is something or some experience that has stopped or is no longer happening.  Assuming we really reach the ending ... and do not, like really almost all writers, just keep on rewriting ... 

Lot's Wife by Dana Littlepage Smith

And so I chose this brine,
now crystals shift. The salt dissolves
and I want to speak.

Whore of all hopes, I now believe
some stories survive
in order to remake their endings.

Prompt #30:  Choose some aspect of the concept of "endings" and write a poem.  What memories do you have of endings?  Are they happy, sad, bittersweet?  Do endings always come with opportunities for new beginnings?  Are there rewards at the end, or losses - something left behind?  What changes have happened because something has ended?  Are there lasting implications or impacts?  Can the ending really be achieved?  What holds us back from endings?  Consider answers to these questions as you craft your poem.

Ok, the big extra challenge today is craft your poem in a classic form you have never used before (like a pantoum, villanelle, sestina, etc.) 

Endings will be a good theme to follow for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits:  Angels Landing CC 3.0 Wikimedia Commons

NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #29 - Life Elsewhere

Life elsewhere - our imaginations
conceive of things both very alike
and very different from life we know.

Today's prompt is about "life elsewhere."  We have a general conception of what "life" is that surrounds us on a daily basis - people, animals, plants, insects, fish, etc.  It is known and familiar to us - our standard environment.  But what would life look like "elsewhere," in an environment very different from what we deal with daily?

The first thought one might have about another place for life is other planets.  (Of course as a planetary scientist this is my first thought, anyway :)  What would life look like if it were found on a very cold world, or in a world of dunes and dust, or a world where the surface is so hot it could melt lead?  Would it resemble life as we know it (with a few modifications) or would it be completely unrecognizable?

[American Journal] by Robert Hayden

disguise myself in order to study them unobserved
adapting their varied pigmentations     white black
red brown yellow      the imprecise and strangering
distinctions by which they live     by which they
justify their cruelties to one another

The White Fires of Venus by Denis Johnson

They know all about us on Andromeda,
they peek at us, they see us
in this world illumined and pasteled
phonily like a bus station,

But there are environments on Earth that are also "elsewhere" - places that are quite different from what we normally consider.  What about the possibility of life inside of rocks, up in the clouds, deep inside of glaciers, or boiling away in natural hot springs?  We have found life in these places.  But don't limit yourself to the scientific facts, here.  What about life inside of the Sun, for example?

Take the ideas and feel free to run with them in whatever direction your mind takes you.  Elsewhere includes other dimensions, other planes of being, different realms, and even other universes.

Prompt #29:  Choose some aspect of the concept of "life elsewhere" and write a poem.  Would life in these places grow to be intelligent?  Would it evolve the same way we do?  How would society and culture come to pass?  Would those concepts have any meaning?  Would we be able to visit, even communicate?  How?  Consider answers to these questions as you craft your poem.

For something more specific, let the form of your poem in some way reflect the kind of life you have envisioned - ordered, simple, complex, free-form, wiggly, small, big or whatever.

This theme is a natural for expression in a sci-fi, horror, or fantasy context!

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits: Ethereal Wikimedia Commons CC 3.0

NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #28 - Artificial

The Hoover Dam - a construct associated
with both positive and negative impacts
on people, nature, and civilization.

We've spent several days this month on prompts that focus on the natural world.  To contrast with that, today's prompt is about the concept of "artificial."  As with the word "natural," "artificial" has many meanings and implications.  Merriam Webster has several definitions for artificial that include:

- humanly contrived (artificial limb)
- caused or produced by a human and especially social or political agency (artificial price advantage)
- lacking in natural or spontaneous quality (artificial smile)
- imitation or sham (artificial flavor)

The implications for many of these definitions can be negative - like the artificial smile or a "sham."  But other definitions bring to mind positive responses.  Humans have contrived many critical advances like vaccines and built important constructs like weather satellites.  And poets have long included the artificial in their examinations of life and living.  Here are a few lines ...

Ruin and Beauty by Patricia Young

Through the open window we hear nothing--
no airplane, lawn mower, no siren
speeding its white pain through the city’s traffic.
There is no traffic. What remains is all that remains.

My Proteins by Jane Hirshfield

Yet I, they say, am they—
my bacteria and yeasts,
my father and mother,
grandparents, lovers,
my drivers talking on cell phones,
my subways and bridges,
my thieves, my police
who chase my self night and day.

Lake Havasu by Dorianne Laux

the TV on: seven dead
from Tylenol, the etched black wedge of the
Vietnam Memorial, the Commodore Computer
unveiled, the first artificial heart, just beginning
to wonder if something might be wrong.

Prompt #28:  Choose some aspect of the concept of "artificial" and write a poem.  Consider the feelings of wonder and awe that we often associate with the natural world, and apply them to our artificial world.  Think about why we look at nature and see beauty, and use those same eyes on artificial constructs.  Look at what it is that contributes to the "making" of artificial things - A bulldozer or crane?  A glass beaker in a laboratory?  A metal file in a machine shop?  What are the implications of the human ability to invent, to create, and to manipulate and change the natural world?  Consider these ideas as you craft your poem.

For something more specific, use a form like haiku that is often used to contemplate nature.

And naturally I'll be thinking of what I can do with this theme in a sci-fi, horror, or fantasy context.

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits:  Hoover Dam Wikimedia Commons GNU Free Documentation License

NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #27 - Adulthood

Young women celebrating their 15th year - Quinceañeras
A traditional entry into adulthood celebrated
in many Latino cultures.

Today's prompt focuses on the concept of "adulthood."  Some of us as children longed for the days when we would be "grown ups" while others never wanted the obvious responsibilities.  But time passes unabated, and people get older.  Consider your own transition into adulthood - is being an adult what you imagined as a child?

Many cultures have gateways, rites, or celebrations to mark the entry of a person into adulthood.  But each culture has its own ideas of what it means to be an adult.  For some cultures, it is expected that people might do any of the following: marry, have children, get jobs, make important decisions, take full care of themselves, or take care of older relatives.  Some people say they are "adulting" when they are fixing the dishwasher, making a dentist appointment, paying bills, commuting to work, and other tasks.

And here, of course, are a few lines about adulthood, and what it means to be an adult, as found in poetry:

Our Never by Benjamin S. Grossberg

Is the never of childhood, deeper
than the never of adolescence,
which has a whining, stammering
quality, which is a stamped foot
followed by huffing steps, and wholly
unlike the never of adulthood,
has none of the bright spider
cracks of reason multiplying
along its roof, threading its dark
dome with fine lines of light.

from Citizen, VI [My brothers are notorious] by Claudia Rankine

Then there are these days, each day of our adult lives. They will never forget our way through, these brothers, each brother, my brother, dear brother, my dearest brothers, dear heart—

Your hearts are broken. This is not a secret though there are secrets. And as yet I do not understand how my own sorrow has turned into my brothers’ hearts.

You Can’t Have It All by Barbara Ras

You can speak a foreign language, sometimes,
and it can mean something. You can visit the marker on the grave
where your father wept openly. You can’t bring back the dead,
but you can have the words forgive and forget hold hands
as if they meant to spend a lifetime together. And you can be grateful
for makeup, the way it kisses your face, half spice, half amnesia

Prompt #27:  Choose some aspect of the concept of "adulthood" and write a poem.  What are the characteristics of people who are acting as adults?  What happens when people are treated as children even when they are adults?  What happens to children forced to be adult-like?  What are the responsibilities and requirements of adults?  What are the implications for culture and society, as they define adulthood?  Consider these ideas as you craft your poem.

For something more specific, write about a rite of passage that signifies adulthood.

And naturally I'll be thinking of what I can do with this theme in a sci-fi, horror, or fantasy context.

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits:  The Garden  Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0

NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #26 - Coming Home

"Coming Home"
Artwork depicting a lighthouse stretching into the distance
to guide a lost sailing ship home.

Building on yesterday's theme of "Travel," today we look at "Coming Home."  It is a unique aspect of the travel experience that requires having gone away, and then defining a home to which to return.  Some journeys end with home as the destination every day, while other trips never return home at all.  All trips are different, all homes are unique.  Read through yesterday's prompt on travel, and consider how different kinds of voyages would "come home."  And here, of course, are a few lines about "coming home" found in poetry:

We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born by Oscar Gonzales

Then, crickets would forge in the wind
their deep music of centuries
and the purple fragrances of Grandmother
always would receive without questions
our return home.

Our House by Sophie Cabot Black

As we enter our home, the way we enter love
Returning from elsewhere to call out
Each other’s names, pulling the door closed behind us.

Where You Live by Jonathan Wells

Imagine you are coming home. Your front
steps are scattered with fresh petals or no
they are not there and you return in your
regular shoes from your regular leather chair.
The feeling is the same.

Prompt #26:  Choose some aspect of the concept of "coming home" and write a poem.  What or who awaits you there?  What is different upon your return?  How has home changed?  How have you changed?  What aspects of home are longed for, and which are undesired?  What do you bring with you or what have you lost since your last visit?  Coming home can also be something that occurs entirely in the mind - a coming home to ourselves.  Consider these ideas as you craft your poem.

For something more specific, write your poem in a standard form, using both meter and rhyme.

And naturally I'll be thinking of what I can do with this theme in a sci-fi, horror, or fantasy context.

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits: Coming Home Wikimedia Commons CC 3.0

NoPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #25 - Travel

Traveling in the ultimate vehicle - the Lunar Rover.
Used by astronauts to traverse the surface of the Moon.

Travel and poetry are classic partners.  There is so much great travel poetry out there I had a hard time deciding which I would include in this post!  You can take a look at this link for a full selection to browse.  But for now, consider these few lines, each of which shows a different aspect of the nature of travel:

Flying by Sarah Arvio

“In the face of technological fact,
even the most seasoned traveler feels
the baffled sense that nowhere else exists.”

Travel by Edna St. Vincent Millay

My heart is warm with the friends I make,
    And better friends I’ll not be knowing;
Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,
    No matter where it’s going.

The Burn by Naomi Shihab Nye

Such a swift lump rises in the throat when
a uniformed woman spits Throw it away!
and you tremble to comply wondering why
rules of one airport don’t match another’s,
used to carrying two Ziploc bags not just one
but your pause causes a uniformed man to approach
barking, Is there something you don’t understand?
and you stare at him thinking
So many things

Travel brings to mind so many experiences and images.  Travel can be as simple as stepping a few paces down the road, or as complicated as a rocket launching to the Moon.  Modes of travel include using feet, bicycles, buses, motor boats, rickshaws, carriages, horses, balloons, motorcycles, planes, wheelchairs, elephants, trucks, trains, camels, race cars, canoes, and much more.  The experience may be brief or long, exciting or dull, and well-trod or unknown.  It may have a goal or purpose, or may be done simply for the act of the travel itself.  There may be one destination, many, or none.  It can be done solo or with many people, and be done in haste or well thought out. 

Prompt #25:  Choose some aspect of travel and write a poem about it.  Consider the reasons why one might choose or need to travel, and the modes of transportation one might use.  Think about what might be seen on a trip.  Consider what it is like to deal with new experiences, like new languages, food, accommodations, manners, and more.  Both positive and negative feelings may be associated with any aspect of travel - why were these associations made?  Consider these questions as you craft your poem.  

For something more specific, use a memento from a past trip, a photo you took, or a particularly clear memory, as the inspiration for your poem.

I think I'll have an easy time working this prompt into one of my themes of sci-fi, horror, or fantasy.  Maybe a good, old fashioned broomstick ride :)

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits:  Lunar Rover, NASA

NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #24 - Music

Since yesterday's prompt focused on "silence," today we are looking at "music."  Of course, for some people silence may seem like "music to the ears," so you can consider words like: quiet, noise, ruckus, cacophony, and harmony as you think of music and poetry.  The two have long been in close association, with the natural rhythms of poetry playing like music, and so much of lyrical music being its own form of poetry.

Many people have strong associations with music, as some do with particular smells.  Here are a few lines from Katrina Vandenberg's poem, Record:

I regret giving up
your two boxes of vinyl,
which I loved. Surely

they were too awkward,
too easily broken
for people who loved music

the way we did. But tonight
I’m in the mood for ghosts,

Music is made by people across all cultures and has been made down through all of recorded history (and no doubt a lot longer than that.)  The variety is limitless.  Some music is made with instruments, and these can be created from material on hand like wood, or manufactured material like metal.  The human body is also an instrument, used for percussion sounds and also of course for singing.  Music can be composed ahead of time and preserved for generations, or it can be spontaneous, lasting just for that moment.  It can be performed solo or in groups.  Some music has strict rules, rhythm, and tune, while other music is more free form.  In many societies, the ability to perform music is a valued skill.  And of course some music never seems to get out of your head (ear-worm).  Music can make a strong cultural and generational statement.

Prompt #24:  Choose some aspect of the concept of music and write a poem.  What forms of music do you enjoy?  What instrument do you wish you could play?  What are your memories of music from major life events such as weddings?  What place does music have in your life?  What about the concepts of dissonance or being out of tune?  What are the implications for someone who does not hear music, or does not enjoy music?  In what ways is music viewed positively or negatively?  Consider these questions as you craft your poem.

For something more specific, write a poem that is inspired by the lyrics of a song, or a particular piece of instrumental music.

My mind is already bubbling with ideas to explore this theme in sci-fi, horror, or fantasy!

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits: Cello Player Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #23 - Silence

Poster encouraging people to refrain
from talking about war specifics.
Silence here is equated with security.

Silence is a multi-dimensional and powerful concept.  It brings forth impressions both positive and negative.  Silence is something often desired when someone is trying to sleep, but at other times people want noise and music.  It is canonical in genre fiction that when someplace is "quiet ... too quiet" that something bad is about to happen.  In silence, one's internal voice is easier to hear.  For some this is a blessing and for others it is a trial.  In meditation, people sit with those voices and try to "quiet the mind."  Libraries are places in which silence is enforced, like the "quiet car" in a train.  Here is a stanza from the poem "Silence" by Billy Collins:

The silence of the falling vase

before it strikes the floor,

the silence of the belt when it is not striking the child.

Prompt #22:  Write a poem that includes some aspect of the concept of silence.  Consider how it is that people "confront" or "deal" with silence.  Think about silence as signs of both power and of weakness.  In what cases is complete silence an achievable ideal?  What are the implications of "being silenced" or as a child, not permitted to make noise?

Image from the Women's March
2017.  Personal sign equating
silence with violence.

For something more specific, can you write a poem that feels quiet, or gives the impression of silence?

As usual, I'll be exploring this topic through sci-fi, horror, or fantasy.

Did you use this or one of our other prompts?  You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits:  Women's March, Wikimedia Commons, CC 2.0; WAAC Securiity, Wikimedia Commons, National Archives Cooperation Project

NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #22 - The Sun-Earth Connection

View of the sunrise from the International Space Station.

Today's prompt celebrates both Earth Day and the day of the Science March.  The prompt centers around the connection between our Sun and our Earth.  This is not as clinical a prompt as it might seem at first - for example, poets have long been writing about sunrises, sunsets, and seasons.  All are phenomena that stem from the Earth's relationship with a nice, bright star. 

In the early 1600's, Galileo found himself at odds with the Roman Catholic church when he said his telescopic observations (like the phases of Venus) were inconsistent with the Earth being at the center of the solar system.  This was critical evidence for the change from the paradigm of the Ptolemaic system (with the Earth at the center of the solar system) to the Copernican system (which is centered on the Sun.) 

The energy from the Sun drives many cycles on our Earth, such as the water cycle.  So you can blame the Sun-Earth connection for rainy days, as well as other weather phenomena such as storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes.  Without the charged particles streaming off of the Sun, which subsequently hit our Earth's magnetic field, there would be no aurora.  The geometry of the Earth, Moon, and Sun are also responsible for solar and lunar eclipses.  And of course life as we know it requires what the Earth has to offer, such as liquid water, as well as the abundant energy of the Sun.

Here is an excerpt from the poem "Ah! Sun-flower" by William Blake

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.

Prompt #22:  Choose some aspect of the Sun-Earth connection and write a poem.  Consider which of the societal, cultural, historic, or spiritual, or scientific aspects of the Sun-Earth connection resonate with you.  What if the Earth had been paired with a much different star?  What would happen if there was too much sunlight?  What if the Sun became dim or disappeared?  Consider topics as varied as: using solar power, getting skin cancer from overexposure to the sun, the worship of Sun deities, the the fear of the nighttime absence of the Sun, telling time with a sundial, and the eventual fate of the Sun and the Earth.

For something more specific, try writing about the Sun-Earth connection without mentioning the name of Sun or Earth directly.

As usual, I'll be exploring this topic through sci-fi, horror, or fantasy.

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits:  Sunrise.  ISS.  NASA.