“Today I challenge you to write a self-portrait poem in which make a specific action a metaphor for your life – one that typically isn’t done all that often, or only in specific circumstances. For example, bowling, or shopping for socks, or shoveling snow, or teaching a child to tie its shoes.”
My self-portrait poem is ‘Searching for a shell”
I’m searching for a shell
That’s so smooth -it feels like silk
Amidst the many that lie-
strewn on my path – scattered
Left behind by hurtling waves
toughened by hardened rocks
glistening in the sand
edges smoothed with time
I’m searching for a shell
With colors – of the sunset
On leveled sheets and billowing piles
I tread tirelessly- searching
Delicate arches -hues of glowing embers
A blush – rising
A warm tan to a deep red
over the horizon – across the blue
I’m searching for a shell
That resonates – the sound of the ocean
I trudge along -searching
Across miles and miles of brown
A deep baritone – music of the ages past
A lull – swirling, whooshing
Flowing and ebbing notes
Of waves- of foreign shores
I’m searching for a shell
That holds the secret – a mystery
Of the universe
In the ‘sands of time’, I traverse
In search of a shell
That’ll hum me to rest
I’m searching, searching
For me
Today, we bring you what might seem like a rather silly resource, but one thing that poetry has taught me is that silly tricks are sometimes the best, at least for getting one’s creativity going. It’s an online metaphor generator! Plug in some parameters, and get a phrase that may strike you as interesting, arresting, or . . . just ridiculous. At any rate, I hope this generator is something you can return to when you find yourself staring at the page and thinking “ummmmmmmmm.” Forrest Gump famously said that “life is like a box of chocolates.” Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt deals with metaphors! There are any number of poems out there that compare or equate the speaker’s life with a specific object. (For example, this poem of Emily Dickinson’s).
6 responses to “NaPoWriMo 2020 – Day 1 – Searching for a shell”
Always searching for our true home. The shoreline us a good place to look. (K)
Beautiful. Happy searching.
Smitha, this is a very lovely poem, extremely deep, insightful and very relatable for us all, as we search the mystery of life for what drives and defines us! I have an inspirational poetry journal called “Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal” that has just published its third issue and we are running a special NaPoWriMo Anthology issue for inspirational poems written in NaPoWriMo 2020. If you are interested in submitting ‘Searching for a shell’ into our NaPoWriMo Anthology for publication then you can find more details below. We are also open to regular submissions all year round as well for inspirational poetry submissions.
https://abpoetryjournal.com/submit/
Hope you take the time to check us out, I’m sure our readers would love to get a chance to enjoy reading your poetry 🙂
David Ellis
Thank you David for visiting my blog. Am delighted that you like the poem. I will check the journal and submit the poem. Thank you so much again for the opportunity. 🙂🙏
Hi David,
I missed the last date 15/5/20. I believe the submissions are full now. Please let me know if there is space for me to submit this poem in the NaPoWriMo anthology.
Hi there Smitha, thank you for replying to me. We had a huge response for the Anthology and it filled up very quickly at the last minute!
We will be working on a new Anthology soon for our Positive Art Month event in June (https://abpoetryjournal.com/poartmo-intro/), so you are more than welcome to submit your poem to us for that particular Anthology (the deadline for submissions for that Anthology will be 15th July) or alternatively you can submit your poem for our regular magazine issues, which are open to submissions all year round.
Here are the relevant links to do so:-
PoArtMo Anthology – https://abpoetryjournal.com/poartmo-anthology/
General poetry submissions for Auroras & Blossoms Quarterly Magazine – https://abpoetryjournal.com/submissions/
I do hope you consider submitting via either of these options, as we would love to get the chance to feature your work!