2023 NaPM 8 April

[RiverNotch]

This prompt got the most replies for its year, 2022. I'm not gonna quote the actual post for this one, since it was by me xD

Topic: Write a poem about "a great refusal"; what this means is up to you.
Form: Tercets, but the last stanza can vary.
Line Requirements: At least 7.

[Mark A Becker]

When the Rooster Crows

You follow at a distance, terrified and cold,
and you stand by the fire warming your hands.
You worry what will happen, because you were told.

Yet you refuse to believe what transpires,
and no one really understands-
you must protect your own hopes and desires.

You have to make a choice; that's the way it goes.
No one really knows, until the rooster crows.

[TranquillityBase]

A decapitated head propped in his closed box,
how foolish is the world of his pastime!
He answers your questions, you put on his socks,

each answer he gives, another body part lives
it’s a game with which you both are familiar,
what’s curious is the pleasure it gives,

every fable you feed him comes back with a double
you count to seven and take a deep breath,
look in your gut, you’ll know if it’s trouble.

[dukealien]

You Can, But We Won’t


How many times, you YouTube lords
will you subject our watching hordes
to your dumb advertising game?

You make us watch your pointless skits
each humorously writ by wits
repeated, numbingly the same.

Well, YouTube lords, here’s useful news:
we rabble ever shall refuse
remembering your product’s name!

---

When the Rooster Crows

You follow at a distance, terrified and cold,
and you stand by the fire warming your hands.
You worry what will happen, because you were told.

Yet you refuse to believe what transpires,
and no one really understands-
you must protect your own hopes and desires.

You have to make a choice; that's the way it goes.
No one really knows, until the rooster crows.

A delightful Easter (or more specifically, Good Friday) poem.  And insightful, too.

[CRNDLSM]

Nothing
Flashes of color maybe familiar faces
A sudden rush of violence
A hot flash of light and sound
Too sudden to notice
Too abrupt to think about as the hands
Frantically fumble the right algorithm
Then
Back to nothing

[Semicircle]

In a world of my own
where I was king
this would've played out fair

upon my chair
doing the cruel things
I would make justice

and some other shmuck
who was shit out of luck
would do my bidding

[RiverNotch]

La Dolce Vita


No one can refuse
the young Swedish-American
woman full of herself

stepping out of her plane
to climb up inside the dome
of St. Peter's Basilica,

dancing to rock and roll
at the ruined Baths
of Severus and Caracalla,

or wading into the clear
waters of the Trevi
on a cold spring night,

except, of course, for the bloated
leviathan drying himself
out on a Fregene
beach in summer.

[Wjames]

A crow declined my seeds today
he cawed three caws and flew away,
preferring to eat grubs and snakes and worms.

A homeless man refused my bread
he told me jesus often said
the path to heaven runs through hunger's burn.

I bought myself the thick black book
but when I forced myself to look
I could not comprehend the ancient terms.