04-23-2025, 08:12 PM
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.
This year, there are no form requirements, only "tiers" or "rankings" given informally to all participants:
Bronze Tier: Participate at least once.
Silver Tier: Participate all days.
Gold Tier: Participate all days, and have all entries be the same form or have all entries be different forms.
Write a poem involving a star, some stars, or the whole host of stars in the heavens. Fun fact: each of the three canticles of Dante's Commedia end with the word "stelle", or stars:
From Inferno:
salimmo su', el primo e io secondo,
tanto ch'i' vidi de le cose belle
che porta 'l ciel, per un pertugio tondo.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
we climbed up, he first and I behind him,
far enough to see, through a round opening,
a few of those fair things the heavens bear.
Then we came forth, to see again the stars.
From Purgatorio:
Io ritornai da la santissima onda
rifatto si' come piante novelle
rinovellate di novella fronda,
puro e disposto a salire a le stelle.
From those most holy waters
I came away remade, as are new plants
renewed with new-sprung leaves,
pure and prepared to rise up to the stars.
From Paradiso:
A l'alta fantasia qui manco' possa;
ma gia' volgeva il mio disio e 'l velle,
si' come rota ch'igualmente e' mossa,
l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
Here my exalted vision lost its power.
But now my will and my desire, like wheels revolving
with an even motion, were turning with
the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars.
Translated by Robert and Jean Hollander.
This year, there are no form requirements, only "tiers" or "rankings" given informally to all participants:
Bronze Tier: Participate at least once.
Silver Tier: Participate all days.
Gold Tier: Participate all days, and have all entries be the same form or have all entries be different forms.
Write a poem involving a star, some stars, or the whole host of stars in the heavens. Fun fact: each of the three canticles of Dante's Commedia end with the word "stelle", or stars:
From Inferno:
salimmo su', el primo e io secondo,
tanto ch'i' vidi de le cose belle
che porta 'l ciel, per un pertugio tondo.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
we climbed up, he first and I behind him,
far enough to see, through a round opening,
a few of those fair things the heavens bear.
Then we came forth, to see again the stars.
From Purgatorio:
Io ritornai da la santissima onda
rifatto si' come piante novelle
rinovellate di novella fronda,
puro e disposto a salire a le stelle.
From those most holy waters
I came away remade, as are new plants
renewed with new-sprung leaves,
pure and prepared to rise up to the stars.
From Paradiso:
A l'alta fantasia qui manco' possa;
ma gia' volgeva il mio disio e 'l velle,
si' come rota ch'igualmente e' mossa,
l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
Here my exalted vision lost its power.
But now my will and my desire, like wheels revolving
with an even motion, were turning with
the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars.
Translated by Robert and Jean Hollander.
