Category: NaPoWriMo 2014

NaPoWriMo 20146 Comments

Glass Woman Prize: Supporting Women’s Writing

Charlotte Hamrick

Well, National Poetry Month is over and I’m pleased with myself for writing as much poetry as I did. I posted new poems 22 out of 30 days which is the best I’ve done for NaPoWriMo, ever. Last year I didn’t even attempt it so I feel good about this year’s effort. Not that I think all the poems were good ones, but the exercise made me stretch, made me write when I didn’t feel inspired on my own, made me think hard. I had to look for something to inspire, something I don’t do on a regular basis. The … Continue reading Glass Woman Prize: Supporting Women’s Writing

NaPoWriMo 2014, New Orleans, PoetryLeave a comment

The Big Picture

Charlotte Hamrick

From the window of a moving train you can see only the big picture. Clouds and a wall of green move past like a dream that vanishes when you wake. To focus on one tree or one house or cloud makes your eyes cross with a feeling of hurtling into space from the broken safety harness of a runaway roller coaster, causing the hours old coffee in your stomach to rise thickly into your throat. Continue reading The Big Picture

NaPoWriMo 2014, Poetry22 Comments

Driving To New Mexico, 1973

Charlotte Hamrick

Stuckeys signs rise into the sky like lamp posts lighting the way from rest stop to bathroom break to late night motels with swimming pools (yay!) In between the miles I read every passing billboard – especially the ones showing sophisticated grown ups holding cocktails and cigarettes (temptation!) White and yellow stripes disappear behind us in the endless flatlands of Texas dotted with pumping rigs like giant grasshoppers bolted in the earth. The first glimpse of purple mountain slopes rise on the horizon like a wonderous mirage after the boredom of dusty plains. Green valleys and twisty roads meander through … Continue reading Driving To New Mexico, 1973

NaPoWriMo 2014, Poetry6 Comments

Polaroid Moment

Charlotte Hamrick

Easter Sunday afternoon on the drive to Mamaw’s house we topped a hill (Like any other Mississippi hill) to see a tableau of wild jonquils, a riot of buttercream yellow and white, carpeting a gently sloping field. Mamma took our picture sitting among the flowers in the gentle spring sunlight, the three of us so young, so innocent, without a care except for wondering who would find the Queen’s nest full of treasure at the Easter egg hunt. Continue reading Polaroid Moment

NaPoWriMo 2014, Poetry4 Comments

Summer of Mary

Charlotte Hamrick

You taught me how to shave my legs, the downy almost invisible blonde strands of silk falling to the razors swath, the last vestige of a child’s body helpless against the vanity of a teenagers critical eye. But I loved you, that summer, loved your shiny pageboy flip, your tweezed eyebrows and ice pale lips. You were sophisticated in a way I didn’t understand but coveted. Shaving my legs was only the beginning. Continue reading Summer of Mary

NaPoWriMo 2014, PoetryLeave a comment

Chroma

Charlotte Hamrick

Name me any color you like: Chartreuse Vermillion Cattleya Lay me in a bed of rare papyrus among prismatic swirls of paisley nesting sweetly into each other and fill me in. When finally your epicene brush lifts from the page, we’ll cry like fools, licking our tears of hue and tint from our rapturous faces. ________________________________ For inspiration I took the first four song titles from one of my playlists and incorporated them into a poem. The titles were: Fix You by Coldplay Any Color You Like by Pink Floyd Fool To Cry by The Rolling Stones Fill Me In … Continue reading Chroma