2026 NaPM 2 April

[RiverNotch]

Write a poem for National Poetry Month based on the topic described....rather, write a poem set in, pertaining to, or inspired by the given region, whether its entirety or just some part of it, as this year's prompts are going to be unified by the theme "Around the World" like last year's prompts were unified by the theme "Esoterica". Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. There are three levels of participation:

Bronze. Participated at least once.

Silver. Participated every day.

Gold. Participated every day, with all entries either being the same form (e.g., every one a sonnet) or being distinct forms (e.g., no two haiku).

Today's region is Brazil.

[wasellajam]

Brazilian Wax

Hair and all its sexual connotations
runs its strands through chemical fascination;
growth that signals childbearing age is meant to
trumpet hormones’

raging trance. So when did the errant curly
lock escaping bathing suit bottoms become
something other than a subtle wink and nod?
Sappho’s weeping.

[ilovewomenandbeer]

Rio Dreams

Kicking—
my hero’s mural.

Deflated booms—
fill the favela.

Calloused boots—
swell under
a setting sun.

Staring back—
painted eyes—
Rio dreams.

[rowens]

Schoolage Magazines and Dim Interest on tv

Rainbow Brite,
I've never been there.

Duran Duran.

Brazil, and all of South America, takes place in the 1980s.

[CRNDLSM]

My own imagination's dull,
all information from the news,
or twenty years ago in school.

Brazils a jungle with a cruise
through Amazonian refuse
they cleaned up for Olympic games,
and jailed the thieves in baggage claims,

exotic birds and passion plays,
and yuppie tourists without shames
blissed ignorance on full display.

[dukealien]

inter caetera


When the pope gave Portugal lands to east of
his declared meridian they just grazed the
tip of South America’s ample bosom–
surely an error

which the wily Portuguese king corrected
in a treaty shifting the demarcation
westward to encompass the yet-undreamed-of
city of Rio

de Janeiro. So like a sun-browned smiling
Carioca sliding her sling down slightly
at bright Ipanema the Portuguese got
just what they wanted.

[fastmarshmallow]

On the Other Side of the Favela

The boy with bronzed skin
sits quietly on a hot slab.
His arms bear marks of fruit-filled crates 
with fair trade stickers.
His calloused palms crackle 
like rosary beads.

When he looks up, through
the concrete tunnel where
his aunty's bra flaps
like cartel flags in the wind,
a boy his age looks back
with promises and shoes that shine.

Hurtling down the winding paths,
he stubs his toe on stone.
Loose bricks he grips and climbs until
the slumdogs swear they’ll shoot.

He reaches out his fingertips,
but down he falls, back to the pits.

[Wjames]

Andorinha

Nylon fingers trombone lips
yellow t-shirt samba hips
with Sinatra smoke in hand
crooning violet perfect tan.

[RiverNotch]

The Amazon


Seasoned with potsherds, charcoal, dung, and bone,
this earth was clearly mixed by mortal hands:
if not those of a man, then of a giant.

Otrera was her name. To call this place
a jungle or even a forest is to debase
her grasp of culture, her careful interplanting

of kapoks and mahoganies between
little fields of manioc, little bursts
of pepper and pineapple, little sprays

of achiote and cacao, little spires
of pupunha and papaia, little hills
of the towering brazil-nut: call it a garden.

Call it a sprawling country-wide city established
along a sea-broad river. Call it the crown
of a queen who mothers as well as she marshals ranks
of animal and vegetable alike.

[Mark A Becker]

Pele

rushing up out of clock
lashing a lastsecond shot
roaring crowd leaping up
flash of white then curling net

goal keeper

clutching at air

[Mark A Becker]

Andorinha

Nylon fingers trombone lips
yellow t-shirt samba hips
with Sinatra smoke in hand
crooning violet perfect tan.

Very interesting imagery in this one, especially that first line.

[Wjames]

Andorinha

Nylon fingers trombone lips
yellow t-shirt samba hips
with Sinatra smoke in hand
crooning violet perfect tan.

Very interesting imagery in this one, especially that first line.

Thanks, Mark!

[Magpie]

Baden Powell de Aquino

When Baden played,
Brazil smiled
and favelas danced in unison—
Samba or Bossa Nova, it mattered
not to swaying hips.

When Baden played,
waves on Copacabana beach
synchronized their syncopation
and offered percussive accompaniment.

Baden, melodic fingers dancing around the fretboard—
Baden, meld with your guitar
and pour the Ipanema sunshine into our souls.

[milo]

O que você quer - she says in perfect Portuguese
and I'm the fool that thought to take the weekend in Brazil.
A quiet beach, an open bar, a pleasant summer breeze.
I'd like to look upon a man somewhere above the knees,
ok? Você quer, she says. In perfect Portuguese
while pointing at her chest - would you like some of these?
Selling beads, a nude beach in Sao Paolo - still
o que você quer she says in Perfect Portuguese
and i'm the fool that thought to take the weekend in Brazil.