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Poetry Prompts

May Visual Poetry Prompt

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Hope everyone had a frank and productive April. Here’s your visual poetry prompt for the merry month of May. Post your poetic response in the comments below.

About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.

Discussion

42 thoughts on “May Visual Poetry Prompt”

  1. This picture holds so much, hard to narrow it down to one thought, but here goes! 😊
    https://gypsieswritingmusingsquotesgripes.com/2022/05/02/the-painting/

    Liked by 3 people

    Posted by Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris | May 2, 2022, 3:21 PM
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  2. This looks like a tough one to write. I need to pick an angle…

    Liked by 2 people

    Posted by Cassa Bassa | May 2, 2022, 5:01 PM
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  3. In reply to Bartholomew’s comment about his ‘Frank’ April:

    The Frank April

    April lacks all certainty,
    is not forthright, but undependable,
    a sheer prankster of a gal.
    full of guile and artfulness

    Rain and sun alternate recklessly
    enough to make one ready
    to go on pilgrimages
    with monks and butcher’s wives.

    Dissemblance is April’s
    strongest suit, the cruelest month,
    some warmth, some cold,
    some wind some rain.

    The chicanery of April
    that comes again on little cat feet,
    some foggy morning,
    or mud-luscious with balloons,

    Can no longer comfort me
    with the redness of little buds
    opening stickily,
    we know what we know.

    April is at best a sticky mess,
    sap rises, mud clings,
    and the robin song goes over and over,
    a broken record.

    The trickiness of April,
    the sheer vagrancy,
    makes blossomy May a frilly respite,
    apple blossoms drift silent down,

    We rest, and sigh, April’s damp lap
    spare and cold, is rousted by May,
    and leaves us dream of June’s
    ample, rose filled, afternoons.

    Liked by 3 people

    Posted by ts19page | May 2, 2022, 5:12 PM
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    • Great work! Love all the references to the other Spring poems, Eliot, Sandburg, Cummings, Millay at least. I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed some.

      All from my throw-away comment designed not to distract from the picture.

      Liked by 1 person

      Posted by Bartholomew Barker | May 2, 2022, 7:52 PM
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      • So cool that you recognized all these, I think you got them all.. nice to know someone knows about the literature of the past rapidly becoming more distant.

        Liked by 2 people

        Posted by ts19page | May 2, 2022, 8:22 PM

  4. Thank you, Gypsy! Much appreciated feedback.

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by ts19page | May 2, 2022, 5:55 PM
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  5. Oh, I like that one too and it’s so true! About April making you blue I mean!! (Laughing at my Silliness) Thank you, I needed a major pick me up today. 🙃

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris | May 2, 2022, 6:04 PM
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  6. Maybe we should all try writing poetry wearing a beret, Qu’est-ce que vous pensez?

    Liked by 2 people

    Posted by ts19page | May 2, 2022, 8:25 PM
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  7. It is a beautiful picture! Here is my response attempt.
    Pictured Frame: posted on: yourplateormine967244485.Wordpress.com

    Liked by 2 people

    Posted by yourplateormine967244485 | May 2, 2022, 8:33 PM
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  8. Wish I could linger
    In a field of wildflowers
    Thinking about nothing

    Liked by 3 people

    Posted by Second Act Blogger | May 2, 2022, 8:42 PM
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  9. Hiding in plain site
    The police will never know
    I stole a Van Go

    Liked by 3 people

    Posted by JeanMarie | May 3, 2022, 2:45 AM
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  10. Doll

    She is that girl
    confined in the mold
    they carved out for her

    Every bit of her is labelled
    categorised and put aside
    for the common view of this world

    All is in order
    But all is out of place
    in the creator’s eye

    She can’t survive
    She can’t shine
    She is miserable in nature’s sight

    Liked by 2 people

    Posted by Cassa Bassa | May 3, 2022, 6:34 AM
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  11. The lies we hold
    so dear to our hearts
    bind us in chains of our imagination
    beautiful
    imagined aubergine and lavender
    a tawny view of our dreams below

    look instead at the paint under your fingernails
    and wipe the ink from your hands
    the words you have written
    tells a truth more vivid
    than the pastel stupor
    of a far-off apparition holds

    Liked by 1 person

    Posted by Chris Clarke | May 4, 2022, 10:08 AM
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  12. Reply to this comment

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