National Poetry Writing Month is a poetry writing challenge to write a poem a day, which takes place every year in April. Follow the link to find out more, be inspired, get daily prompts and meet other poets!
For Day 12, I’ve included a haiku and a tanka within a 100-word piece of flash fiction, inspired by Rochelle Wissoff Fields weekly flash fiction challenge photo prompt at Friday Fictioneers. Check out this inspiring and supportive writing challenge!
I’ve been contributing with an ongoing story about Alice and her family. Today, Alice is asking her parents’ opinion about a poem she’s written.
Powerful Gibberish
“Which one do you prefer, mum, the haiku or tanka?”
Sharon slides on her glasses and reads both poems aloud.
Weathered, cobbled path,
Lined with overgrown bushes.
Ancient cloister sighs.
****
Weary wanderer
Pursues answers to his prayers,
Chasing fleeting shadows,
Swaying with voiceless monsters,
Screaming in his tangled mind.
****
“The first one’s descriptive, but the second one’s powerful. What do you think Kevin?”
“Let’s have a look at the picture prompt.”
“Here dad,” says Alice.
Kevin shakes his head. ‘Neither. Cloisters don’t sigh and the second one’s gibberish.’
Sharon coughs. ‘Powerful gibberish, wouldn’t you say, darling?’
‘Of course, dear.’
****
Kevin doesn’t quite understand that writing poetry is like walking through a doorway into your mind and soul. It’s the place where conscious and subconscious images and thoughts melt into rhythmic words and suggestive lines…
So, which of Alice’s poems do you prefer?
Rereading Jane Eyre 
I prefer the first.
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Thank you, Neil. It’s an inspiring picture and Alice has a vivid imagination:)
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I prefer the first too!
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Thanks Linda!
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Nice framing with two poems and a story for the price of one. I like both poems, actually, and the story. Great job.
-David
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Thank you, David:)
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The second. Powerful and frightening.
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Both are very nice, but the Haiku is more fitting for Alice I think. How old is she now? I lost track. The second is powerful but I find it almost a bit too powerful for a child–depending on her age of course. In any case, what a good idea to incorporate these in the flash fic. I good combination.
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Yes, the second one is a bit dark. My Alice stories started off chronologically. She was about 10 when they started and she met Billy who later became her inseparable sidekick and later boyfriend, but they aren’t always chronological. In this one she’s back at High School. She had some darker moments when her grandmother died. I need to sort out timelines, but I think I’ll do that later, when I finish. At the moment I just go with the flow of where the prompt takes me.
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Ah, thanks. For a teenager though, the second one is perfect. I just saw her still as a child. 😉
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Dear Lucy,
Very creative way to write a couple of poems with Alice as the writer. 😉 Kevin is one of those who will never understand poetry. I liked both poems, myself.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle. So true, poor Kevin, he’s missing so much and he’ll never know…
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Hi Luccia, I prefer the first – the photo prompt ties into it so well! Kevin’s just not into poetry, I guess…
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Sharon changed her mind in the presence of Kevin! I found monsters screaming in fangled mind to be nice.
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I think she knows he’s a lost cause!
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I like them both, but the idea of a screaming mind in a place of silence in the second will stick with me.
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