At the beginning of this month, Tara Connor created a Substack-only version of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), and since then she has been offering her own original daily prompts to the rest of us.
Here is Tara’s prompt for Day 1:
Today, we’d like to challenge you to write—without consulting the book—a poem that recounts the plot, or some portion of the plot, of a novel that you remember having liked but that you haven’t read in a long time.
This prompt was so much fun that I used it for the first seventeen days, but the thrill is gone. Herewith, the collection—seventeen tankas based on novels that I remember having liked but that I haven’t read in a long time.
Day 1.1 Tanka after The Four-Gated City, by Doris Lessing Martha lost her mind. (Lynda’s was already gone.) Meanwhile, Francis coped. Mark holed up in his study, pondering the world’s demise. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.2 Tanka after The Story of My Wife: The Reminiscences of Captain Storr, by Milan Füst* Captain Jacob Storr marries Lizzy on a dare. She’s a Frenchwoman. Jacob thinks she’s unfaithful. He ties himself up in knots. * Translation of A feleségem törtenete from the Hungarian by Ivan Sanders ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.3 Tanka after Two Serious Ladies, by Jane Bowles Mrs. Copperfield takes a trip to Panama, hoping to “linger there awhile,” then “penetrate into the interior.” ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.4 Tanka after The Plague Sower, by Gesualdo Bufalino* “What sad days those were, the happiest of my life,” says the narrator from a sanitorium in beautiful Palermo. * Translation of Diceria dell’Untore from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli (in the UK, the translation is titled The Plague-Spreader’s Tale) ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.5 Tanka after Wild Card, by Assumpta Margenat* Rossi Olivan hates her dead-end job. One day she hatches a plan for embezzlement. She brings her sister in on the grift. * Translation of Escapa’t d’Andorra from the Catalan by Sheila McIntosh ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.6 Tanka after Angels on Toast, by Dawn Powell Baby is seated at her table on the porch eating her supper with her best friends forever, Stuffed Bunny and Krazy Kat. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.7 Tanka after Doctor Slaughter, by Paul Theroux* Powerful Lauren. Her talent for pleasing men is phenomenal, and she makes it look easy because she’s a willing slave. * Doctor Slaughter is one of two novellas (the other is Doctor DeMarr) included in the volume titled Half Moon Street. The first printing of the Washington Square Press trade paperback edition (1986) exemplifies the type of small but annoying error that can be introduced into a book after the publisher’s editorial department has turned the project over to a production department that proceeds to make changes to the text without bothering to clear them with the book’s editor. Throughout the recto running heads in Doctor DeMarr, the protagonist’s name is spelled DOCTOR DE MARR. What’s worse, most readers who notice the unwarranted extra space will probably blame the editor. Arguably, the error could have been caught and corrected by the proofreader—but, again, it’s at least equally likely that it was introduced at the very last minute by the production department, after the page proofs left the proofreader’s hands. J’accuse, goddammit. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.8 Tanka after The Pegnitz Junction, by Mavis Gallant* Herbert and Christine get a very early start. Herbert is grumpy. He turns to Christine and says, in French, “You are overdressed.” * The French-Canadian writer Mavis Gallant lived most of her adult life in Paris. Her name and address were listed in the phone book, and so I stopped by one day in 1990 and left a note of appreciation with her building’s concierge. Some weeks later, back home in Seattle, I received a package from 14 rue Jean Ferrandi containing a warm handwritten letter and a signed copy of Gallant’s first novel, Green Water, Green Sky. Of course I still have the book, with her letter tucked inside. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.9 Tanka after A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter Unreliable narrator is a voyeur, at least in his mind, and his imagination serves up quite a steamy tale. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.10 Tanka after The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon, by Tom Spanbauer “I just met a man who knew my mother,” Shed says. Ida looks at him. “Shed,” she says, “don’t get me wrong . . . Lots of men knew your mother.” ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.11 Tanka after Dra—, by Stacey Levine* Dra— will need to choose what kind of job she should take. That will be easy, she thinks. Poor fearful Dra—. She has another think coming. * Stacey Levine is an inventive and undervalued writer. I can’t claim to know her but used to see her often enough to smile and nod in passing while visiting a close friend who shared a hallway with her in a rambling gray house converted into apartments at 11th and Harrison on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.12 Tanka after The Beginning of Spring, by Penelope Fitzgerald What a mess! Frank Reid— abandoned, with three children, by his wife, Nellie— writes to her repeatedly but never gets a reply. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.13 Tanka after The Sandman, by Miles Gibson “Yes, I like women,” says the serial killer. “Mom was a woman. But I would prefer not to, you know, get involved with you.” ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.14 Tanka after The Malady of Death, by Marguerite Duras* You wake her up. You ask if she’s a prostitute. She shakes her head. You ask her why she accepted the deal, and all the paid nights. * Translation of La maladie de la mort from the French by Barbara Bray ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.15 Tanka after The Fall of Valor, by Charles Jackson* John Grandin: husband, father, upright citizen. 1946. On a family vacation, John meets a handsome marine. * Charles Jackson’s first novel, The Lost Weekend, served as the basis for the 1945 film of the same title, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four: best picture, best director, best actor, and best adapted screenplay (by Wilder and Charles Brackett). ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.16 Tanka after Boy Genius, by Yongsoo Park Boy Genius punches his friend Rex square in the face. What’s wrong with you, man, says Rex, bleeding from the mouth, there are folks here with cameras. ♦ ♦ ♦ Day 1.17 Tanka after An Apprenticeship or The Book of Delights, by Clarice Lispector Somehow she had learned no day was ordinary, and it was her lot to suffer through every day or to take pleasure in it. * Translation of Uma Aprendizagem ou O Livro dos Prazeres from the Portuguese by Richard A. Mazzara and Lorri A. Parris
What an interesting prompt - and such interesting poems in response!
Wowzer!