NaPoWriMo - April, 2025 - Poem: Are You My Aria

NaPoWriMo 2025

04/05/25 - Day 5 of 30

NaPoWriMo.net Article


NaPoWriMo Prompt

Finally, today’s (optional) prompt is inspired by musical notation, and particularly those little italicized –and often Italian – instructions you’ll find over the staves in sheet music, like con allegro or andante. First, pick a notation from the first column below. Then, pick a musical genre from the second column. Finally, pick at least one word from the third column. Now write a poem that takes inspiration from your musical genre and notation, and uses the word or words you picked from the third column.

“with a hint of frenzy”	power ballad	sharks
“the joy is gone”	jazz fantasia	nonsense
“smugly saying ‘yeah, I’m better than you’”	folk song	roses
“literally go nuts”	march	departures
“play terribly”	chamber music	bones
“deliciously”	symphony	infield
“about to burst”	aria	concrete
“crazy eyes here”	overture	butterflies
“fade out like my hairline”	interstitial	wool
“like you’ve been hit by an arrow”	muzak	vanilla
“louder than possible”	breakup anthem	vampire
“with contempt for imported convertible sports cars”	rumba	shadow
“like a naughty, naughty boy “	waltz	monument
“lord have mercy”	outlaw country classic	clock
“improvisatory screaming”	death metal	moonlight
“tempo di murder”	novelty song	centaur
“as roughly as possible”	fugue	pool
“gradually becoming a disaster”	yacht rock	hollyhocks
“play like you are about to start crying”	tango	chain
“obliterate the choir”	hymn	banquet
“like 100 tin cans falling out of a Volvo”	dubstep	snow

My Poem

Notation: gradually becoming a disaster

Genre: Aria

Words: Shadow, Departure

Are You My Aria

Slumped in the shadow

Of your departure

I pout in wonderment.

Soaked in the gravity

Of too-often tears

Sputtering lips decry

Are there to be

No further murders?

No heel-crushed hearts?

Have I now sung

My fortune’s finale?

Is this my soul’s denouement?

Are you my aria?