NaPoWriMo 2026 [4th April]
Day Four
Hello, all, and welcome back for Day Four of Na/GloPoWriMo.
Our featured participant for today is W.B.J. Williams, whose response to Day Three’s prompt is a good reminder that jobs aren’t always like they’re made out to be on tv.
Today’s resource is an oldie-but-a-goodie, the Poem-a-Day from the Academy of American Poets. Check back each day for a new poem, or subscribe and the poem will show up in your inbox each morning!
Finally, here’s today’s optional prompt. In his poem, “Spring Thunder,” Mark van Doren brings us a short, haunting evocation of weather and the change in seasons. Today, we’d like to challenge you to craft your own short poem that involves a weather phenomenon and some aspect of the season. Try using rhyme and keeping your lines of roughly even length.
Happy writing!
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What the Wind Keeps
The days arrive in sheets of white,
a fixed, unblinking kind of light.
The air stands still, as if it keeps
a record no one ever reads.
By evening, wind begins to move,
not kind, just careful in its proof.
It cools the skin, but leaves a trace
of heat that does not leave its place.
The gusts bring dust, and something burned,
fine ash from what was never learned.
It stings the throat, it clouds the sky,
it settles where the questions lie.
I face the wind. It does not pass.
It finds the mouth, it fills the lungs.
What travels far does not arrive—
it stays, and names what we survive.
Not all of it belongs to me,
but still, it will not let me be.
~ Oizys.
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A slowpaced, introspective poem that makes one pause and ponder. I especially liked these lines, 'The gusts bring dust, and something burned,/fine ash from what was never learned./It stings the throat, it clouds the sky,/it settles where the questions lie.' for the words and the rhythm in them. And that last stanza resonated with me - 'Not all of it belongs to me,/but still, it will not let me be.' This is how I feel these days when I watch the news.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Smitha. I am so glad those lines spoke to you. That feeling of carrying what isn’t fully ours, yet not being able to escape it, was very much at the heart of the poem.
DeleteWow! This is so powerful. The first line gripped me and didn't let me go till I had read the last and before I could turn to the next poet, it pulled me back to re-read this poem. I see 'the day's unblinking light' as a record keeper, keeping tabs on our actions.
ReplyDelete'...fine ash from what was never learned.' and the last couplet is haunting -- demanding answers of generations who didn't even bother with the questions.
Thank you so much, Arti. I really love your reading of “the day’s unblinking light” as a record keeper because that feels very true to what I was reaching for. And, I am especially glad the ending stayed with you that way.
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