03/31/25 - Warm-up day before Day 1
NaPoWriMo.net Article
NaPoWriMo Prompt
And now, here’s an early-bird prompt for those of you who want to write a poem, whether it’s April or not – and for those of you for whom it’s April already, even as poets in other places around the world are still in March.
Maybe one of the most common subjects in art is a portrait – a painting of one, singular person. Portrait poems are also very common. To get a sense of the breadth of style and form that these poems can take, take a look at Anni Liu’s prose poem, “Portrait Of,” John Yau’s, “Portrait,” and Karl Kirchwey’s “The Red Portrait.” Now try penning a portrait poem of your own. It can be a self-portrait, a portrait of someone well known to you, or even a poem inspired by an actual painted portrait. (If you’re looking for one to inspire you, why not check out the online collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery?)
My Poem
The Hunger Triangle
Rebel war in Sudan is
A hooded vulture
Stalking, hissing, waiting,
Anticipating the death
Of its intended meal.
Predation instinct in an ebon cape,
Tearing beak and slashing claws.
Carrion comfort to sate its empty maw.
Famine across the desert is
A skeleton once a boy
Crawling, teetering, falling,
Dragging a bag of bones
Across the arid scrubland.
A bloated belly full of starving pain.
Stick-thin limbs, a head too heavy for his neck.
The UN relief center is less than a mile away.
Governmental apathy is
A photo journo clicking away,
A Nikon shield for his guilt,
Witness to a dying flame,
Journalistic neutrality intact.
Should he tarry to carry the boy to the tent?
He shoos away the bird instead.
He is already late for his flight.
The hunger triangle is
Kongor, Waat, Ayod,
War, famine, apathy,
A vulture, a boy, a Pulitzer.
