2026 NaPM 1 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 the Falklands, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

[wasellajam]

Ramona Takes A Break

Dressed to kill as usual, heavy breasted,
brown eyes shadowed powdery blue, her spiked heels
clack against the pavement as buttocks sway in
wide-hipped rotations.

Slipping through the door she stays hopeful, paying,
praying future prospects might raise her station.
Crystal, palm and tarot, a stack of methods
needed to alter

preordained paths. Changing a fated future
isn’t easy; multiple tactics bear no
fruit, each telling similar stories of a
hovering devil.

Berni’s Ramona Y La Adivina

[dukealien]

Can’t Cry


Argentina, I cannot cry for you when
all you had to do to obtain the Falklands
was to show a map with nine dashes bounding
all the South Atlantic that’s off your coastline,
then build up islands

out of dredged-up sea-bottom mud and tofu.
After all that game works for China or at
least in China’s person-cult dreams of glory
when enforced by legions of fishing trawlers
and of course, nukes.

[RiverNotch]

Patagonia


The last of the giants lived on the eastern slopes
of the southern tip of the Andes, far from the plains
most men of shorter stature called their home.

Only every so often would he descend,
all to relieve a most essential urge:
not just to find a mate, but to beget.

Since myths alone could wrinkle him, his youth
proved suit enough for marks more erudite,
though he was not above the odd abduction;

still, there were certain lines he would not cross,
such that he always singled out the shortest,
the ones least likely to have him for a sire.

His crop, then, would deplete at each excursion
until he found whole tribes of men too tall
and farther did he have to travel searching

until he found all homeward courses lost.
He wandered for so long that all his urges
were overpowered by the urge for home,

even the urge to eat, the urge to sleep,
the urge to grant his legs a moment's rest,
so when he finally reached his cherished peaks

both his knees buckled. He fell headlong to the earth
and burst to a gold dust shower as he crashed,
whence scattering the gift for which his seed
would, in a crueller epoch, be bled white.

Taking advantage this year of knowing the prompts in advance xD

[milo]

I asked him where he's from and he said - You're a gay!
and I don't mind, after all I voted for Obama
still - what a Chad! and what's a chap to say?
Are bigots still in fashion in this modern day
I asked him, where he is from? And he said - you're a gay!
fine - if it's a game of insults two can play
but just before I get to mention his fat momma
I asked him where he's from and he said - Uruguay
and I don't mind. After all, I voted for Obama

[CRNDLSM]

Around the world in 30 days, 
to start in Argentina, Chi-
le, Falkland Islands, or the -guays.

But what do I know of those re- 
gions? Maybe music? They want free-
dom just as much as anyone?
Or do they? Don't they? I don't un-

derstand the nuances of cul-
ture, things that people do for fun.
My own imagination's dull.

[Wjames]

Chimichurri sirloin and a glass of Carménère
salsa dancing midnight pencil moustache debonair,
moon is bulging pupils breathing fertile buenos air
softer than the petals scattered loosely in her hair.

[fastmarshmallow]

The Mo’ai

When the boats ripped into our shores, 
they claimed the earth and straddled her.
The boat-people rule the shackle and hook,
masters of metal, our slings outmatched.

At dusk they dust 
off their hands and sleep quiet
in tall white tents.

But past the lakes of children’s blood,
beyond the smell of burning bark,
the Mo’ai watches all.
On rugged peaks they stand upright,
carved from rock and hoisted tight,
the Mo’ai watches all.

Soon the kids would trace their ribs,
and mothers hid their bubbled skin.
The stones we dyed with red and white
to save the tales that once were told
would wash away in flood and fright.

But
the Mo’ai still stands on bloodied stone.
It knows their sins from skin to bone.




'A View of the Monuments of Easter Island' painted by William Hodges in 1775 following British discovery of the Easter Island (or Rapa Nui).

Later European colonisation led to slave raids, famine, the spread of smallpox, and the elimination of about 95% of the native population. Around 900 Mo'ai monuments survive today, having stood for around seven centuries.

[Magpie]

We could tango
swirl staccato into the light.
We could tango,
trace an arc beneath the moonglow
of a Patagonian night;
a twirl of limbs entwined that might...
We should tango.

[ilovewomenandbeer]

Living Borrowed

Living borrowed—
out of Barrio—
nowhere to go.
Rusting trade—
thinning years—
shallow wage.
Gilded hopes—
panning dreams—
disobedient means.
Sorry sons—
living borrowed—
I left the Barrio—
unfulfilled dreams.

[Mark A Becker]

2022

Mbappe did all he could,
yet in the end it got messy-

Messi beaucoup

[Mark A Becker]

Chimichurri sirloin and a glass of Carménère
salsa dancing midnight pencil moustache debonair,
moon is bulging pupils breathing fertile buenos air
softer than the petals scattered loosely in her hair.

Lovely, evocative imagery, and subtle rhyming. Cool phrase buenos air, hinting at Argentina.