Yayy! We’ve finally reached the end of this year’s NaPoWriMo. I’d like to thank everybody who read my poems, liked, commented and helped me through another month but that’ll be a separate post, once my blog’s fixed. For all those who’ve been reading my blog and have a fair idea of how it looked, you know that it does not look the same. Well, my theme ‘retired’- that’s what the system showed and I tried and tested a few themes and now I can’t go back. Given the fact that my techical capabilities are not the best, it might take a time to get my blog back to the way it looked. I have asked the WordPress Helpdesk to help me restore it. I only hope they’re able to do it soon. Anyway, the prompt for today is to write a poem made of lines from other poems. I decided to simply pick up my diary and pull out lines from poems that touched me in the last one year.
“Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a cento. This is a poem that is made up of lines taken from other poems. If you’d like to dig into an in-depth example, here’s John Ashbery’s cento “The Dong with the Luminous Nose,” and here it is again, fully annotated to show where every line originated. A cento might seem like a complex undertaking – and one that requires you to have umpteen poetry books at your fingertips for reference – but you don’t have to write a long one. And a good way to jump-start the process is to find an online curation of poems about a particular topic (or in a particular style), and then mine the poems for good lines to string together. You might look at the Poetry Foundation’s collection of love poems, or its collection of poems by British romantic poets, or even its surprisingly expansive collection of poems about (American) football“
Here’s my poem- ‘Hope’ the little birdie, that’s yours
If it is your nature to be happy* You will swim away along the soft trails You do not have to walk on your knees** For a hundred miles through the desert repenting When grief sits with you, it's tropical heat thickening the air*** Heavy as water Know that you aren't alone**** The whole world shares your tears What happens to a dream deferred?***** Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? There's something ****** Makes us more than blood and bone That perches in the soul ******* And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all. Copyright@smithavishwanathsblog.com. All Rights Reserved. P.S. I wrote the poem in couplets- each couplet from a different poem. Below are the poets and poems from which I took the lines. *Morning Poem by Mary Oliver ** Wild Geese by Mary Oliver *** The Thing is by Ellen Bass ****All you who sleep tonight- Vikram Seth *****Harlem by Langston Hughes ******Dark Sonnet by Neil Gaiman ******* "Hope" is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson
Some of us, hopefully, will keep in touch, some of us will not. But, before I end, I want to thank each one of you whose acquaintance I made- you made the journey sweeter. Wishing all of you a blessed rest of the year.
Until we meet again,
Farewell
25 responses to “NaPoWriMo- Day 30 – ‘Hope’, the little birdie that’s yours”
Wonderful choices… congratulations on completing the 30 days…
Thanks Sangbad! Congratulations to you too!
Smitha, this is beautiful. It’s been a pleasure readings your words. Wishing all the very best, my friend. Hugs 💕🙂
Thank you, dear Harmony💕. I’ve enjoyed reading you too. I intend to read what I missed in May 🙂 Hugs to you too!
Congratulations, Smitha, on managing 30 poems over the course of April. That is impressive.
Thank you so much,Robbie. I did 58 actually🙂…since I was doing it with the intl group and the one in India. And it’s been a crazy ride. Thank you so much for reading me and cheering me on. It helped very much. I will be sharing the poems I wrote on the other group over the coming month.
Wow, you are amazing, Smitha.
🤗thank you, Robbie. If not for readers like you, I would not have enjoyed the challenge.
Beautifully stringed and what an ethereal choice of lines. No wonder I couldn’t read your concrete poem yesterday. Maybe because of the glitch. Best wishes Smitha. Hope to read more of you.
Thank you, dear Sonia for reading me. Your comments helped me reach the finish line. I’m so glad we met. I hope to read more from you too. And do read my concrete poem. I kind of think you’ll like it :). Best wishes to you too!
Thank you, Smitha, for all the kindness and poems. A good one to finish with.
🥂to a year of friendship. Thank you for everything. Much love to you, Manja.
Thank you,Manja for your lovely poem on day 30. It was the perfect way to end the season. It’s for keeps❤️
Thank you so much for loving and sharing my last poem, Smitha. Hugs!
Ah, so I found you on the last day of NaPoWriMo, thanks to Manja. This Cento is perfectly put together and I recognized most of the lines. Good job!
Wow! Its amazing that you could recognize the lines. Its a perfect ending to a lovely month of poetry and thanks to Manja, we get connected🙂. Thank you, dear Charlotte for visiting. Happy to meet you.
I am better for having read your words today. And most (not all, you know how it is) of your contribution this month. Enamored with your choiced lines. So lovely. Thanks for sharing and for the lovely words of encouragement you exchanged with me. You are a kind soul. So glad to have shared this space with you. Keep shining. I wish you miracles. xoxo
Thank you so much, Selma, for your warm words. You know how to make a person feel appreciated. And yes, I know how it is :). You are a generous soul and I feel the same- grateful to have met you. Thank you always for sprinkling fairy dust with your blessings and kind words. I wish the same for you and more. Hugs.
Did my longish comment disappear? sigh! Anyway, congrats on completing this wonderful challenge. Yay! xoxo
Hi Selma, I hope not. I love reading your comments on my post. So, if it disappeared it would be a shame. I do have an issue with my replies though and I’ve raised it with WordPress. They’re looking into it currently.
Yayy, I know, thank God it’s over 🙂 Congrats to you too on completing this challenge. It’s a year since we met 🙂 XOXO
Excellent……..
Thank you!
A beautiful end to the month Smitha, well done and congratulations on all the poems you’ve created!
Thank you, dear Andrea for reading them all and for commenting and liking my comments. It helped me test my blog too :)- since my comments were not going through and basically there was a glitch. Now, I’m relieved.
I’m so glad you enjoyed reading the poems. I loved reading your comments on them.
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