May 2022 Poetry Challenge

by Rebecca Cuningham

Welcome to the Fake Flamenco May Poetry Challenge! In April, brave writers wrote wonderful poems using a brand new form, Prime (Number) Verse. This month we’ll write in free verse, up to 14 lines. We will describe a mystery person, place or thing without naming it. Then our readers will try to guess what we’ve portrayed. See details after the example poem.

¡Bienvenidos al Reto poético de Fake Flamenco! En abril, los escritores valiosos crearon poemas maravillosos usando una forma nueva, Verso número primo. Este mes escribiremos en verso libre, hasta 14 líneas. Describiremos una persona, lugar o cosas sin nombrarlo. Entonces, nuestros lectores intentarán adivinar lo que hemos retratado. Ve los detalles después del poema de ejemplo.

Canadian Anemone Photo: R. Cuningham

Example: Mystery Poem

Joyous sentinel
lining the walk
yellow garbed
hooded cloak
stationary dancer
taking a bow
head covered
pretty bonnet
ready for a sunny day
great-grandmother calls
from a saffron phone
wish you’d visit us
more than one week in May.

–Rebecca Cuningham

Did you guess what it was? Write your answer in the comments.

Ejemplo: Poema misteriosa

Centinela alegre
a la orilla de la vereda
atuendo amarillo
capa con capucha
bailador estacionario
doblándose
cabeza cubierta
por capota linda
bisabuela nos llama
por un telefono azafrán
deseamos que nos visitas
más de una semana de mayo.

–traducción de Rebecca Cuningham

¿Lo adivinaste? Escribe tu respuesta en los comentarios más adelante.

The Challenge

Write a free verse poem, up to 14 lines about a mystery person, place or thing in English or Spanish, deadline: Sunday 5/08, noon CST. G-rated please. If you are a blogger, please publish your poem on your website with the hashtag #ffpoemapop and link to this page by 5/08. If you are a poet at large, please post your poem below by April 8. I’ll publish a post with your poems next Tuesday, May 10!

El reto poético

Escribe un poema, hasta 14 líneas sobre un misterio; persona, lugar o cosa en español o en inglés, fecha de entrega: el domingo 8 mayo, mediodía (Chicago). Para todas las audiencias por favor. Los escritores que tengan su propio sitio web, favor de publicar tu poema en tu blog con la etiqueta #ffpoemapop y haga un enlace a este artículo antes del 8 mayo. Los escritores que sean damas y caballeros andantes, favor de añadir tu poema a los comentarios abajo antes del 8 mayo. ¡Publicaré un artículo con sus poemas el próximo martes,10 mayo!

¡Gracias! ¡Olé! –Rebecca

Large Cup Narcissus Photo: Rebecca Cuningham
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Rebecca Cuningham

56 thoughts on “May 2022 Poetry Challenge”

  1. A lovely verse. I’m wondering – Welsh poppy (Papaver cambricum)? I’m going to be travelling between now and mid-next week, so given that I still haven’t risen to last month’s challenge (I will, I will!) I’m not sure whether I’ll deliver. But I start out with a long train journey tomorrow, so let’s see if that gives me a chance to get creative.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Welsh poppy is a good guess, looks beautiful hadn’t seen one before I searched it today. I planted a hint among the flowers in the post. 😉 Happy train travel, hope it inspires a May mystery poem. Where are you off to? 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. Thank you, Suzette. A friend held an online meditation meeting for creatives and in our work time these words sprung to mind. Your guess is petal to the metal 😉

      Like

  8. She is so often present
    as the sun makes its
    daily retreat, we
    imagine she is
    mysterious as
    she hides or
    does she take
    refuge in the shadows.
    Only a few
    have truly seen her
    and they only speak
    of her luminescent
    alter ego.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. So much poetry in your neck of the woods! My childhood friend, Ronnie Hess, just put this https://www.wfop.org update on Facebook :
    “Great panel at the WFOP Conference on getting the word out, featuring James Roberts Roberts Gillian Nevers Bruce Dethlefsen and Jerod Santek.”

    Liked by 2 people

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      1. Thanks for making the challenges so interesting! I also really, really enjoy reading the poems in Spanish, afterwards. There is just something about reading my own words in another language. Spanish isn’t my go to language of choice, I speak it, but not well enough to create in it. So thanks to your translations, I can improve my Spanish one poem at a time. Thanks!

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  22. You may choose to consider this an ode

    to the woman who appears in the night

    who, despite the distance, invites our sight

    we hoping for a smile to be bestowed

    that we might then return to our abode

    and offer prayers she regains her birthright

    and sits upon her earthly throne, her plight

    forgotten, no longer to forebode.

    But we know that she will not soon return,

    her smile replaced by an anger she holds

    tightly until the sun has arisen

    and in dawn’s first light she will spurn

    your requests that you behold

    a queen in her celestial prison.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Thanks for your comments. I encourage people to try writing a poem because in many cases it’s about viewpoint and self expression rather than rhyming. But we like appreciative audiences too!

      Liked by 1 person

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