04/24/25 - Day 24 of 30
NaPoWriMo.net Article
NaPoWriMo Prompt
And now for today’s (optional) prompt. One fundamental aspect of music is its communal nature. While music can be made by a single person, of course, it’s often made in groups. Rock bands, orchestras, church choirs – they all involve making music together. And often, we’re playing or performing music that was written by, or inspired by, other people.
In her poem, Duet, Lisa Russ Spaar tells the story of two sisters making music together, based on two pre-existing songs by different artists. Today, we challenge you to write a poem that involves people making music together, and that references – with a lyric or line – a song or poem that is important to you.
My Poem
Inspirational poem: “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” - Angelou, Maya
Music Crept In
Music would suffocate in a squalid, rank, open-air dorm,
A deep South summer, prison sweat, festering stew.
The sour-spore, shameful, heat-stench solitude of men,
Pooled in night-sweat damp bunks, hating themselves,
Music would tremble among
No-eye-contact men forever on guard,
Stone-jawed men keeping silent counsel,
Always alert to rise up and kill first.
Unless,
Unless,
Music crept in on
The squeaking drum clicking of guard shoe shuffles,
Music added the staccato snare rhythm of
A heat-sapped insomniac tapping a bunk rail.
Unless
Another inmate hummed along in quiet surrender,
Another infused weary whistling rhythm,
And another sung lyrics in low alto crows,
A fluttering brief flight of caged bird freedom.
Unless
Music crooned to simmering brutality perched on a knife edge
And brutal men were soothed for a soaring moment.
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