2026 NaPM 9 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 Central Europe.

[Mark A Becker]

The Name of the Game

Some fans take umbrage if you call football soccer,
but in more than one language, I don't think it matters.

From famed superstars to the guys on the bench,
many speak Spanish, English, German, and French.

In the heat of a match, down on the pitch,
I wonder how often languages switch.

[dukealien]

Euro Keg


Central Europe, mystery to outsiders
(which include inhabitants of next valley,
town or village with their strange customs, language
or religion) calling it “powder keg” – but
Austria lost her

role as local hegemon and divider
which, replaced by Soviet goons and Tito,
died with them.  Predictable anarchy came
next for some but, in the end, peace broke out for
nobody wanted

Russians back or Nazis or Tito; for that
matter, even Austria-Hungary of
old Franz-Josef couldn’t compare with tranquil
Brussels and Euros.

[RiverNotch]

The Song of the Nibelungs


The gods gained all their powers through pacts and treaties
that, in exchange, prevented them from acting
directly in the lands of lesser men

sans offering a holocaust of flesh
and blood at best, at worst of bows and breaths,
to draw them in: their will was no longer their own

but ours, we thought, reducing to figureheads
these forms we once considered paragons
of wisdom, strength, and fullness of the flesh.

So what were demigods? A sort of theft
fashioned to try and circumvent this fate
only to leave destruction in their wake,

such names as Siegfried, Brunnhild, Kriemhild, Gunther,
Gernot, Giselher, Hagen, Dankwart, and Ruediger
stirred by revenge to immerse all the peoples they served
in one colossal holocaust of flesh.

[ilovewomenandbeer]

Neanderthal Lost

mammoth-footed man—
hunter, gatherer—
lost in caveways
of old Europe

entranced by
modern hums—
false suns

blinding—
he follows into
a fogged night

obsidian bison
rush past—

glowing eyes—

industrial signals
burn—
smog

led
to a brother

barrels
burning

hairless—
hollow
eyes meet
their own

[wasellajam]

Survivor

Cousin Yetty's family lived in Poland;
brothers, sisters, parents together watched her
leave for nursing school, an adventure dreamed of,
Holland so foreign.

Hitler's armies, seizing all power, rolled in
decimating Polish communities. In
Amsterdam, enveloped by hosts who hung a
cross on her neck, young

Yetty safely walked through the war, the only
one of eight surviving the genocide, one
woman, young and suddenly solo, lost in
mourning forever.

Immigrating, sponsored by cousins, life was
torture; never conquering grief, she cried out
What am I? A stone? That my God took them all,
leaving only me.

[dukealien]

Survivor

Cousin Yetty's  family lived in Poland;
brothers, sisters, parents together watched her
leave for nursing school, an adventure dreamed of,
Holland so foreign.

Hitler's armies, seizing all power, rolled in
decimating Polish communities. In
Amsterdam, enveloped by hosts who hung a
cross on her neck, young

Yetty safely walked through the war, the only
one of eight surviving the genocide, one
woman, young and suddenly solo, lost in
mourning forever.

Immigrating, sponsored by cousins, life was
torture; never conquering grief, she cried out
What am I? A stone? That my God took them all,
leaving only me.

Nice.  I hear an echo of Job here - including when "all was restored" after the testing.  But not really.

[Magpie]

Katka

I once loved a girl from Slovakia
as rugged as the tatras 
she swirled with Slavic snow.

She called me miláčik 
"let's fly to Praha and twirl
 beneath gothic spires"

So past the saints
Baroque on the bridge
we bumbled around 
cobbled Bohemian streets
until we found ourselves
next to the astronomical clock.

"They blinded the maker" you told me
as skeleton death struck the hour,
"cities make me tired, I'm going home."

In Slovak mountains
we walked onto frozen lakes
and you taught me the words
for icicle and rainbow.

One day we found
a blind dog
in a snow storm 
walking in circles.
We took him back
to help him get warm
but he died and you said,

"Life makes me tired, I'm going home."

[wasellajam]

Katka

I once loved a girl from Slovakia
as rugged as the tatras 
she swirled with Slavic snow.

She called me miláčik 
"let's fly to Praha and twirl
 beneath gothic spires"

So past the saints
Baroque on the bridge
we bumbled around 
cobbled Bohemian streets
until we found ourselves
next to the astronomical clock.

"They blinded the maker" you told me
as skeleton death struck the hour,
"cities make me tired, I'm going home."

In Slovak mountains
we walked onto frozen lakes
and you taught me the words
for icicle and rainbow.

One day we found
a blind dog
in a snow storm 
walking in circles.
We took him back
to help him get warm
but he died and you said,

"Life makes me tired, I'm going home."

Love this one.