Monday, April 7, 2025

NaPoWriMo - April, 2025 - Poem: I Am Not The Girl With a Pearl Earring

NaPoWriMo 2025

04/07/25 - Day 7 of 30

NaPoWriMo.net Article


NaPoWriMo Prompt

Finally, here’s our prompt for the day – as always, optional. A few days ago, we looked at Frank O’Hara’s poem in which he explained why he was not a painter. Jane Yeh’s “Why I Am Not a Sculpture” has a similar sense of playfulness, as she both compares herself to a sculpture and uses a series of rather silly and elaborate similes, along with references to dubious historical “facts.” Today, we challenge you to write a similar kind of self-portrait poem, in which you explain why you are not a particular piece of art (a symphony, a figurine, a ballet, a sonnet), use at least one outlandish comparison, and a strange (and maybe not actually real) fact.


My Poem

I Am Not The Girl With a Pearl Earring



Scanning has proved

The girl with the earring

Was built by Vermeer

As a cyborg that sings.


Note how the give-away

Seam of the skullcap

Is cleverly hidden by

The blue and gold head wrap.


One clever twist

And the dome is away

Uncovering circuits

In a logic array.


Like a Wurlitzer on steroids

Her memory stores

The music and lyrics

Of a galaxy’s scores.


On stage at The Pearl

She’s poised for the start.

Scanning the crowd.

Playing the part.


If only I’d been given

The necessary chip,

I too would sing.

I’d love to be hip!


But I couldn’t abide

The withering glares,

The anti-trans-human

Supercilious stares.


No comments:

Post a Comment