2023 NaPM 7 April

[RiverNotch]

2020's most popular prompt, rather than its opener, was for 2 April. By Quix:

Rules: Write a poem for national poetry month on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month, have written 30 poems for National Poetry Month.

Topic: Write a poem inspired by a nursery rhyme
Form: any
Line requirements: 8 lines or more

[Mark A Becker]

Goodnight

Good night sun
now the day is done
goodnight stars
and Jupiter and Mars
good night sky
shining way up high
goodnight moon
I'll see you again soon

goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
sleep tight, sleep tight, sleep tight
I'll see you again soon



(sung many, many years ago in the key of a tired parent)

[TranquillityBase]

Jack the Ripper
lost his slipper
in a pool of harlot’s blood.
It seemed a flood

so Jack did flee
as far as the sea
but the sea threw him back.
He felt the lack

but his soul did sing
his heart did ring
to know his knife was bright
and ready for the night.

His victims were five
not enough for a hive
but the crimson honey he sought
could not be bought

so Jack grew sad
until he went mad
and fell upon his shining knife
and made it his wife.

[Tiger the Lion]

Whey Too Much Whey


Little miss twitter
was sat on the shitter
scrolling through ratification

when along came a troll
with the singular goal
of inflicting a strict constipation

[CRNDLSM]

If you're happy and you know it go to sleep
Cause society anxiety runs deep
Constant need for money
Fuels the addiction for coffee
Do you sit awake all night like a creep
If you're happy and you know it just smile
Cause we haven't used those muscles in a while
I know my eyes are watery
It's just seasonal allergies
This rivers not in Egypt it's denial.

[dukealien]

Boy Blue

Sheep in the meadow,
cows in the corn–
wolves on the barn door,
rustlers’ wives mourn.
Blue boy can rest now,
warm in the sun;
tend to your livestock,
his work is done.

[RiverNotch]

Should you dare touch it, then the lark
will pluck you back,
will snip your tail
and skin your legs,
will sculpt you wings
out of your ribs,
will string your neck
with intestines,

will hold your eyes
fixed on its beak
just as it drips
foul poison in
the ears of all
your cherished ones:

tricks that it learned
from cousin goose.

[Quixilated]

If/Then 

Grandmother steps into her basket and laughs
while holding her dustpan and broom.
She’ll polish the stars and sweep the paths
then sneak little bites of the moon.
“Grandmother! Grandmother! Before you go,
there is a question I wanted to ask.”
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know,
but be quick, I must finish my task!”
“What makes the cobwebs in the sky?
Just how big is this outer space spider?”
Grandmother answered with a sigh,
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

From this one:

There was an old woman tossed up in a basket
Nineteen times as high as the moon;
Where she was going I couldn't but ask it,
For in her hand she carried a broom.
Old woman, old woman, old woman, quoth I,
O whither, O whither, O whither so high?
To brush the cobwebs off the sky!
Shall I go with thee? Aye, by-and bye.

[Semicircle]

It is time to sleep

All is quiet
not a stir
not a trill

All is still
and quiet

there is only you
and that is all

[Wjames]

Lets make a pair of pants
standing on our elbows
singing songs of scariness
at the cold wind.

I'll stitch, you sew
and none of us will itch
after sloshing through the jungle swamp
pushing a boat we can not row.