Day 6 2024 ~ How to write a “Question Poem” for #NationalPoetryMonth ~ "30 poems in 30 days"

This has been a great first five days of Poetry Month! I wish more would join in but I know life gets in the way (there’s a poem topic)! But for those who are participating in our FB group – wow!! Great poetry is going on there.

I’m also super busy (and sick) so I wasn’t planning on introducing new poems or writing any news ones at this time but the last two days were new poetic forms to this challenge and I wrote poems both days! Yay!

So, today, on a busy Saturday – let’s go for “easy” AND new!!! Cheers!

This is just too simple and yet, sometimes our simple (and short) poetry forms bring some of our most profound poetry. OR, if you choose, you certainly can complicate it and make it as long as you wish. LOL.

So, here ya’ go:

Today, let’s write “Question Poems.” WHAT is a question poem? Just what it sounds like. . .

A question poem asks a question to anyone about anything!! No rules beyond that. It can rhyme or it can just be free verse.

A quick easy example can be found in the Nursery Rhyme, “Mary, Mary, quite contrary.”

        Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
        How does your garden grow?

 

You may just ask a random question and let it stand alone as your poem – OR – you may answer that question as the body of your poem. As I said, there aren’t really any rules for a question poem.

Or, you can follow Walt Wittman’s lead and both start AND end your poem with a question, as in this beautiful example:

 

Miracles

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in
the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of
a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars
shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new
moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is
spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the
waves—the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

                         — © Walt Whitman

 

Now, just asking a random question and leaving it at that, seems kind of silly (and presumptuous) to add a © copyright to it as some questions have most likely been asked by many others over the years – so, I doubt if I’d try to copyright a freestanding question – but you can use a question for today’s efforts if that is what is on your mind.

A great example is a question I have thought of often throughout my life:

“What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”

But ANSWERING that question might make a great question poem. And then, I would add the © at the end of such a poem.

You can just have fun – you can even ask a question of a literary character or a historical figure. Let’s see what you’ve got . . .

Here’s one of mine (OF COURSE, I COMPLICATED IT AND MADE IT LONG):

What would you change if you were granted a “do-over”?

Well, that would depend on whether my “do-over” included the knowledge I have gained or if I was doing things over again from the exact same point in time that I did things then.

If I could have today’s perspective and knowledge and go back, yes, there are a number of things I would do over differently.

I would especially do over – or, better yet – not do things that turned out poorly, or that hurt someone (unintentionally or intentionally done in my own hurt or anger), things of that nature.

I would like to think I would choose some of my words and actions differently, and yet, who would I be then? (Another question)

There actually are two or three things I most definitely would change, too personal to share, but I know what they are and a few of those close to me probably do too. Lives, mine and others, could have been better if I had known to choose differently then. Sigh. And for that, I am sorry. And I can’t help but wonder what could have been.

But, overall, I probably wouldn’t change that much because the things I have tried, done, and participated in are the very things that have shaped me, trained me, warned me, changed me, and fashioned me into who I am today. . . A huge “W-I-P,” a work-in-progress. Mistakes are great teachers and I’ve made my share. It’s like that song, “The Dance” ~ if you skip the sorrows and the pains, you also miss the dance.

In the fabric of our lives, every thread has its place, holding together the lives we have made, the lives we have touched, the legacy we leave behind. Some threads are bright and colorful, some are dark and dreary, but they all have a place. Some have been sewn over and over in the same place, trying to darn the holes, to cover up, and in many cases, those spots are stronger, tougher than before. But every thread counts, holding things together.

So, rather than a “do-over” maybe I could choose to do more. And now, with that hindsight and wisdom, do it better.

What is that old saying?

Ah, yes, the best is yet to come.

                        © Stephanie Abney 2024

 

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright to them as soon as they create them and especially once they post them. Thanks so much!

*** Also, if you choose to post your poems on your own blog or elsewhere on social media ~ that’s awesome. But PLEASE don’t just copy and paste my daily instructions, but rather post your poem on your blog or your FB wall or wherever AND LINK BACK TO EACH DAY’S SPECIFIC BLOG POST for others to come here to read the instructions. I’ve spent considerable time researching the poetry forms and writing them up to share with you. Thanks for respecting my work.