Erasure, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry5 Comments

A Tropical Fever

Charlotte Hamrick

A Tropical FeverOn the island nightwas a wall of flameascended, receded, opened,disappeared again.He was feverish,vague, unsettled —preparation was almostexecution.Pleasure bound, all was ready,minutes doubled into desiremore poetical in the obscurityof the night.Thoughts, illusions, anticipation,the island loomed large.He could not close his eyesfor a moment. Na/GloPoWriMo day 5. This is an erasure created from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas via Project Gutenberg. See screenshot below of the selected page. I’ve been watching th PBS production so it seemed a good idea to use a page from the text. Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Continue reading A Tropical Fever

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry1 Comment

Air So Still

Charlotte Hamrick

Air So StillOctober 2005Parched ground, wind-burned foliage,you’d think there was a droughtinstead of a storm of rain falling like sheetsblown sideways on a clothesline.Hurricane’s winds blew everything away.Plant, bird, animal, human.But flies soon returned – coffin flies,they were called – everywhere,everywhere, crawling on everything.Everything being the debris of livesscattered everywhere.Then, dragonflies by the hundredsreturned. It was so odd when the groundwas so dry, the air so still, a dearthof activity by animal and human and yetthe beating of wings by my ear.* I went off prompt for day 4 of Na/GloPoWriMo because I was inspired by my friend Matt Dennisons … Continue reading Air So Still

Free Verse, My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry10 Comments

Hollywood

Charlotte Hamrick

HollywoodAfter shedding the skin of another the wine bottle winks from the fridge, garnet liquid slides down a throat where words written by others clog their own.Adulation and awards are determined by cliques and closed parameters, deviation from a set ideologyis cancellable.Pretty faces bow, keep their opinions in line with the establishment.Go home and drink it all away. Napowrimo.org prompt for today: Today, we challenge you to write a poem in which a profession or vocation is described differently than it typically is considered to be.  My poem is on the cynical side today but I call it as I … Continue reading Hollywood

Free Verse, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry4 Comments

Edinburg on the Pearl

Charlotte Hamrick

On a long, sleepy Sunday afternoonI succumb to my heavy eyelids,leave the adults chatting and reminiscing on the porch as I make my wayinto MaMaw’s bedroom. Her featheredmattress covered in white chenille enclosesme like angel wings and clouds, soft laughter and chatter from outside, soothing soundsinviting me to sleep. But instead, sleep hovers over my mind, joining low murmured names drifting in the window -Ruby, Lessie, Aline, Shelby, Hattie -sharing their growing up memories, together stillon this sultry Southern day. And I, lying there,still growing up without a thought for time,how fast it flees, how much it changes us, believing … Continue reading Edinburg on the Pearl

My Poetry, Na/GloPoWriMo 2026, Poetry, Tanka5 Comments

Sleeping Tanka

Charlotte Hamrick

Night drops a sheer veilover budding bits and bobsbut they burrow rootsdeep in earth’s warm soft bosomuntil morning bounces back Prompt via Na/GloPoWriMo is to write a Tanka. This was quick & dirty, as they say. I haven’t written in this blog in a while and things have changed! Bear with me in relearning how do it. Hoping to connect with past Na/GloPoWriMo writers! Leave a link in comments, if you like. Continue reading Sleeping Tanka

Cento, My Poetry, Publications 20252 Comments

A Surprise!

Charlotte Hamrick

I woke up the other day to a SM post from Revolution John magazine that I’d been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Surprise is putting it mildly. It’s always wonderful to be nominated for literary recognition and I want to thank the Editors for believing in my work. The piece nominated is a Cento so I want to thank the poets whose lines I borrowed to create “You lied to me.” You can read the poem here. Continue reading A Surprise!