Poem-a-Day 3: Haiku Golden Shovels

A three-line headline calls for a haiku golden shovel. Here are two.

What is history
But loss and beauty hammered
Into a burnt home.

Here's your history
Bound by tinsel and hammered
By tears into home.

Poem-a-Day 2: War?

The bombs fall in the predawn for

Maximum fear. If they are real. A meta

War sends bombs upward toward workers

Pulling strings on paper planes. The rules

Require no casualties in a beta test of

Fantasy dreams death cleansing war

Of fear and blood, while the bombs keep

Falling down and up, down and up, shifting.

 

A golden shovel based on a New York Times headline.

Poem-a-Day 1: Who Is Free in a Free Market

For National Poetry Month, I’m trying the golden shovel format with New York Times headlines again. Too busy yesterday to start on day 1, so will try to get another poem before today ends.

 

Workers at Amazon on Staten Island, not all

But a majority, all that were needed to hail

A new union, one of their own creation. The

Organizing, phone calls, crowdfunding send a scorching

Message to owners: we are not robots, our labor

Comes in human bodies. We are not free in a free market.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #30

source: Beneath a Surface, History Can Hide

 

Cigarette smoke and beery breath linger beneath

Bar lights bright at closing, a

Stop sign to drinkers floating on the surface

Of drunkenness. She wonders which history

She wants to remember tomorrow, whose shoes can

Lurk under her bed, or where she will hide.

 

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Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #29

source: Vaccine Hesitancy Doesn’t Stop Herd Immunity

From blue mountains comes the vaccine

that protects silence. There is no hesitancy

from daring green cactus that doesn’t

protect invisibility. I cannot stop

a desert drained of love, while a herd

of the silenced seeks some sort of immunity.

  

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Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #27

source: Voting Overhaul Poses Quandary for Democrats

 

The room is long and chilly when the voting

Begins. No one remembers who did the overhaul

Of procedure. They think it poses

No constraints. They are put off by the quandary

Of too many voters, not enough ballots for

The folks who show up to be Democrats.

 

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Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #26

source: Conspiracy Theorists Cavort in Messy Recount in Arizona

 

You know who’s really behind the conspiracy

That there is no conspiracy. Problem theorists

Devise reasonable ideas, but ordinary people cavort

Under the sign of Saturn, bleeding curses in

With eye of newt. There are no messy

Side-effects with this dose, only a recount

Of moon rays as they drip into the ocean, in

Tremors that shake the canyons of Arizona.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #25

source: Despite Losses, CEOs Prosper Amid Pandemic

The money pot grows larger despite

pandemic lockdown losses,

So why does so much go to CEOs?

Who is truly responsible, who should prosper?

When work exposes to illness, who is essential amid

Viruses whose spread competes with conspiracy theories. What is the true pandemic?

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #24

source: Need More College Aid? It’s Not Too Late to Ask

 

She lingered in the park with some need

To swallow fruit trees with more

Flavors than she’d learned in college.

Not a taste of licorice could aid

Her move out of limbo, but it’s

Difficult not to swerve too far left, not

To swerve too far right, to swim, too,

With dolphins and giraffes. She was late

To an audience with protestors, but to

Atone, she knew she would have to ask.

 

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Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #23

source: What Do Women Want? For Men to Get the Shot

 

Dark threads lurk at the edge of what

some fear is the future. How do

roses and lilies spare women

who dance at dawn? The women want

to linger while the sun brightens for

a day that frees them from men.

Genders multiply in pools to

mangle feelings like love, desire, to get

swords for hate, bullets for fear, as the

sounds of solidarity shatter with one shot.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

·        

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #22

source: Video Shows Chaotic Scene Before Deadly Police Shooting in Columbus

 

We didn’t want to watch the video.

We would have preferred musical shows.

We were unnerved by chaotic

incidents that meant every scene

shifted perspective depending on who stood before

and who shot after. There were too many deadly

blooms to review, no clear evidence that police

understood what we celebrated, while no shooting

or shouting could save us from whispers in

our search for safety before the arrival of Columbus. 

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #21

source: A Year of Protest and Reform. What Now for Racial Justice?

 

A moment when people waited nervously, a

Moment when the worst was expected after a year

Of worldwide demonstrations, of

Protests to support Black lives, to protest

Against white supremacy and

A history white people do not know how to reform.

What truth is hard to accept, what

Form of reconciliation is now

Available to those who do not know for

What they must apologize, who believe racial

Connection requires a color-blinded justice?

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel #20

source: Justices Increasingly Express Dim View of the News Media

 

Glittering sunlight brightens five justices

Eating vegan ramen on an increasingly

Cloudy afternoon. They cannot express

Opinions that do not match the dim,

Cloud-covered sky and offer no view

Of definitive answers. Numinous shades of

Questioning colors sprout like ragweed in the

Courtyard of temptation, while news

Of distant rebellions riot through the media.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #19

source: With Much to Lose, Afghan Women Fear Stifling Return to Past

 

The hills are bare, with

Few signs of human life against much

Emptiness. Wooden stakes form an enclosure to

Hold some sheep, some goats. To lose

An animal is to lose income for the Afghan

Women living here. The women

Tend sheep, goats, kitchen, without expressing fear

Of the men who come now and then, stifling

The women’s wish for their daughters’ return

From exile, from freedom. What could daughters do to

Push back this hurtle backward to the past?

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #18

source: A Cautionary Tale for the Age

 

She sat on the bank of a quiet pond, a

Mirror into dark rages. Cautionary

Words wrapped around her neck, the tale

Too lurid for children, too wan for

Adults. What would become of the

bones when she surrendered to age?

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Gold Shovel poem #17

source: Why Workers Chose Amazon Over a Union

She had no answer to why

There was no agreement among the workers.

She had spoken fiercely and chose

Her comrades, helping to construct amazon

Defenses against scare tactics, prevailing over

Most obstacles. The vote was not a

Slam dunk, but it enabled a just union.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #16

source: China’s Gain Is Hardly Felt by the People 

We went down to the beach to see China’s

sea yacht. We bet that it would gain

first place in the first heat. It is

majestic in its red and yellow glory, hardly

making any right turns. Though it felt

soft in the evening, we traveled by

helicopter to land on the deck, but the

cheers were missing from or for the people.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

 

30/30: Golden Shovel #15.2

source: Shortage of Small Chips Is Causing Big Problems

He doesn’t foresee how the shortage

of resources, of outside help, of

inside information will nibble small

chinks in his defenses. Poker chips

become his only asset, but that pile is

an illusion of strength, causing

enemies to bolster their evidence, their big

lie, which only begins his problems. 

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel #15.1

 source: With Earnings Soaring, Banks See Boom Ahead

The rich kids invited their friends with

large boats, large cars, and larger earnings

to a private party in the Rockies. Soaring

balloons floated high over a pristine lake whose banks

glittered with gold dust. Who could see

that the good times, the expected boom

would implode, leaving many to face doom ahead.

 

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Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel #13.4

(a little out of order)

 

source: Pubs and Shops Reopen, Lifting a Nation’s Spirits

 

Walk with me down to the pubs.

We’ll drink and talk and dance and,

Well soused, we’ll stop by the shops,

Wander past bakeries that reopen

Wide-eyed with yeasty bread, lifting

Warm crusts to soak in buttery pools. A

Whisper of hope dashes against a nation’s

Worst fears, sinking into darker spirits.

 

----------------------------------------------------

Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.