The buoy sings
In broken meter
While gull cries
As steel
Rings out its soul’s lament
Rolling on the seas becalmed
Which lap gently at the marker
Slings languid clapper
Side-to-side
Until it dings
Seeking gull’s reply
For bereaved augment
Not one to be remiss
The gull
Its song amiss
Takes wing with foulest aural screech
Through which the many souls buried
Here
By storm
Beseech
For they that never heard the bell
But discovered rocky shoal
With sundered timbers of their hull
Forsook their invitation to God’s holy hell
No, not that descent
Instead remain beneath the sea
Without repent
To pull the chain of their lament
This Melfort Bell
Forever
Out of meter
Melfort Bell & Gull
Ucluelet
Vancouver Island
British Columbia, Canada
NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025
Day 9 … and on prompt!
[And here’s our optional prompt for the day. Like music, poetry offers us a way to play with and experience sound. This can be through meter, rhyme, varying line lengths, assonance, alliteration, and other techniques that call attention not just to the meaning of words, but the way they echo and resonate against each other. For a look at some of these sound devices in action, read Robert Hillyer’s poem, Fog. It uses both rhyme and uneven line lengths to create a slow, off-kilter rhythm that heightens the poem’s overall ominousness. Today we’d like to challenge you to try writing a poem of your own that uses rhyme, but without adhering to specific line lengths. For extra credit, reference a very specific sound, like the buoy in Hillyer’s poem.]
What is NaPoWriMo? National Poetry Writing Month. AKA GloPoWriMo for Global Poetry Writing Month because, you know, it’s a worldwide event. During the month of April, poets challenge themselves to write at least one poem a day, every day, for the entire month. So, 30 poems in 30 days.
If you’d like to join in, or just want to learn more about this annual poetry writing event, the more-or-less official website is NaPoWriMo.net.
I am also one of the admins for a small, private FB group, NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025 if you want to follow other poets on their journey. Just click “Join”.
Pix to Words 