The Zingara Project

Author: Lisa Hase-Jackson

  • Submission Deadline Approaching

    Submission Deadline Approaching

    The deadline for submitting poems written in response to prompts 1-6 posted during this year’s Poem-a-Day challenge is Sunday, August 31.

    PROMPT 1: Journal Splunking – Skim entries from old journals and diaries from a year or more ago jotting down interesting words, lines, phrases, sentences or images as you do so. The goal is to compile a page (or more) of fragments that still resonate emotionally but resist nostalgia and thwart typical associations or your own predictable writing patterns.

    PROMPT 2: Protection – What are you protecting yourself from? What are you protecting your loved ones from? Make a short list of items, people, parts of self, or conditions you feel you need to protect or to be protected from. Next, select one or two items from your list, perhaps related, to write about. Describe why protection is needed an how to protect persons, places, items, or condition you listed.

    PROMPT 3: Beginnings – There are several websites who post poems by well-regarded literary poets on a daily basis, including Poets.Org, Poetry Foundation, and Verse Daily. For this prompt, read poems posted for today on one or all three of these websites. Select a first line of your choice to begin a poem of your own. Once your poem draft is more or less complete, remove the first line and give your poem a new and unique title. Alternatively, if you decide to keep the first line, just credit the poem and poet from which the line is borrowed using an epigraph. Something like “after Emily Dickinson.”

    PROMPT 4: Whispers of Work – Write a poem about a profession which does not exist anymore or which is phasing out. If you like, you can aim for an ode, a lament, a diatribe, a docu-poem, narrative poem, or found poem with your chosen profession as the central image, setting, or source. Examples of extinct professions: ice cutter, elevator operator, milkman, lamplighter, switchboard operator; Examples of professions phasing away: farmer, travel agent, mason, tailor, literary translator: Professions at serious risk: writer, teacher, librarian, journalist.

    PROMPT 5: Absence Unfolding – Freewrite about absence, absenteeism, or absent things. Start with real, ordinary absences, both abstract and concrete, then progressively write about larger absences, each growing in size and scope, even to the point of hyperbole, until you find an absence that feels larger than all other absences, larger than the world, larger than the universe. Make one of them the subject of your poem.

    Prompt 6: Transformation – Make a list things in life that you find ugly, shameful, or repulsive–things like foot odor, rudeness, cockroaches, road kill, belching in public, etc. Choose one or more items from your list to include in a poem. For an extra challenge, see if you can transform something usually deemed ugly into something desirable, beautiful, and worthy of admiration.

    GUIDELINES

    Please send 1-2 poems inspired by any prompt posted during National Poetry Month April, 2025 in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com.

    Include NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email.

    Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.

    For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May and June in the process.

    Include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

  • Call for Submissions and Submission Deadlines

    Submissions for the 2025 Poetry Prompt-a-Day challenge have been trickling in nicely. Please keep sending!!

    For the sake of structure, a bit of motivation, and to keep everyone engaged, here are submissions deadlines:

    • Submit poems responding to prompts 1-6 by August 31, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 7-12 by September 30, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 13-18 by October 31, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 19-24 by November 30, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 25-30 by December 31, 2025

    Submit poems to me at zingarapoet(at)gmail.com and REMEMBER Include the NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email. Several emails have not. Paste your poem submission(s) into THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL.

    Also remember to Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.

    For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May or June in the process.

    Please include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

    All poetry prompts from the 2025 challenge can be found under that tab 2025 POETRY PROMPTS or by clicking here: 2025 Poem-a-Day Challenge

    The plan is to begin posting poems, along with their explanations of process, in early 2026.

    Feel free to email or comment with questions. I look forward to reading your work!

  • Hellvellyn

    Hellvellyn

    by Sir Walter Scott

    “In the spring of 1805,” says Scott,” a young gentleman of talents, and of a most amiable disposition of talents, perished by losing his way on the mountain Hellvellyn. His remains were not discovered till three months afterwards, when they were found guarded by a faithful terrier, his constant attendant during frequent solitary rambles through the wilds of Cumberland and Westmoreland.” The poem was written at that time.

    I climbed the dark brow of the mighty Hellvellyn,
    Lakes and mountains beneath me gleamed misty and wide;
    All was still, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling,
    And starting around me the echoes replied.
    On the right, Striding-edge round the Red-tarn was bending,
    And Catchedicam its left verge was defending,
    One huge nameless rock in the front was ascending,
    When I marked the sad spot where the wanderer had died.

    Dark green was that spot ‘mid the brown mountain heather,
    Where the Pilgrim of Nature lay stretched in decay,
    Like the corpse of an outcast abandoned to weather,
    Till the mountain winds wasted the tenantless clay.
    Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended,
    For, faithful in death, his mute favourite attended,
    The much-loved remains of her master defended,
    And chased the hill-fox and the raven away.

    How long didst thou think that his silence was slumber?
    When the wind waved his garment, how oft didst thou start?
    How many long days and long weeks didst thou number,
    Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy heart?
    And, oh! was it meet, that — no requiem read o’er him—
    No mother to weep, and no friend to deplore him,
    And thou, little guardian, alone stretched before him
    Unhonoured the Pilgrim from life should depart?

    When a prince to the fate of the peasant has yielded,
    The tapestry waves dark round the dim-lighted hall;
    With scutcheons of silver the coffin is shielded,
    And pages stand mute by the canopied pall:
    Through the courts, at deep midnight, the torches are gleaming;
    In the proudly-arched chapel the banners are beaming,
    Far adown the long aisle sacred music is streaming,
    Lamenting a chief of the people should fall.

    But meeter for thee, gentle lover of nature,
    To lay down thy head like the meek mountain lamb,
    When, wildered, he drops from some cliff huge in stature,
    And draws his last sob by the side of his dam.
    And more stately thy couch by this desert lake lying,
    Thy obsequies sung by the gray plover flying,
    With one faithful friend but to witness thy dying,
    In the arms of Hellvellyn and Catchedicam.

    From Scott’s Complete Poetical Works edited by Horace E. Scudder, copyright 1900

  • Three Days More

    Suiwo, the disciple of Hakuin, was a good teacher. During one summer seclusion period, a pupil came to him from a southern island of Japan.

    Suiwo gave him the problem: “Hear the sound of one hand.”

    The pupil remained three years but could not pass this test. One night he came in tears to Suiwo. “I must return south in shame and embarrassment,” he said, “for I cannot solved my problem.”

    “Wait one week more and meditate constantly,” advised Suiwo. Still no enlightenment came to the pupil. “Try for another week,” said Suiwo. The pupil obeyed, but in vain.

    “Still another week.” Yet this was of no avail. In despair the student begged to be released, but Suiwo requested another meditation of five days. They were without result. The he said: “Meditate for three days longer, then if you fail to attain enlightenment, you had better kill yourself.”

    On the second day the pupil was enlightened.

    From Zen Flesh Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki

  • Fail Better

    Seems like, when it come to revision, my work becomes better when I keep the stakes low.

    For today’s prompt, try revising a poem with the aim of making it worse.

    Alternatively, revise a poem by un-poeming it. That is, take away its lyricism, imagery, meter, and figurative language.

    When finished, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

  • Call for Submissions

    The Zingara Project posted a poetry prompt every day in April for National Poetry Month and now seeks submissions of poems written in response to those prompts for Zingara Poetry Review.

    Please send 1-2 poems inspired by any prompt posted during National Poetry Month April, 2025 in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com.

    Include NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email.

    Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.

    For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May and June in the process.

    Include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

    If accepted work is later published elsewhere, please acknowledge that the piece first appeared in Zingara Poetry Review.

    There are no fees to submit.

    Zingara Poetry Review retains first digital rights, though rights revert back to the author upon publication.

  • Mash Up

    Today’s revision exercise suggests you select several rough and unfinished poem drafts to remix or combine. Here are a few approaches for consideration:

    More is More: Combine two (or more) poems into one longer poem. Feel free to rearrange stanzas or lines. Consider creating a sectioned poem or a poem with parts.

    Half and Half: Cut two poems in half and switch them around so the first half of poem one is now the first half of poem two and the first half of poem two is now the first half of poem one. Try variations of this process using three poem draft, or even four.

    Print and Cut: Print copies of your chosen poem drafts and cut them apart by lines, stanzas or words. Place these cutouts on a clean table top and move them around. Experiment with different layouts and ordering until you have a new poem — one that feels finished or one that could be finished with just a little more revision or editing. Alternatively, the process may trigger an entirely different poem.

    Line Roulette: Write a new poem using random lines from several poem drafts. You can add order to the process by making your own rules, such as using first lines from four or more poems for the first stanza, second lines for the second stanza, and so on.

  • Find Your Rhythm

    I’m never one to impose rigid patterning into or onto a poem, but if a rhythmic pattern exists, the poet may want to take advantage of it.

    Scan several poems you wrote in April and determine if they have a natural rhythm and/or meter.

    Did you serendipitously write a poem in iambic pentameter or some other meter?

    Do your lines seem to consistently contain a certain number of syllables?

    Whatever you discover about your poems’ rhythms, lean into those rhythms and make them more intentional, more deliberate.

    Once you identify a poem’s pattern, interrupt it once or twice to create interest and tension.

    For example, if your poem contain 8 syllables per line, revise or write a line or two that contains 7 or 9 syllables.

    If your poems seems to utilize anapestic hexameter, throw a dactyl or a heptameter into the mix.

    Remember to keep the rhythm as natural as possible to avoid slipping into sing-songi-ness or Yoda speak.

    Below is a quick review of feet and meters for reference.

    See what arises for you, but don’t feel compelled to force anything.

    Feet in Poetry

              Iamb: a metrical foot containing two syllables, the first of which is unstressed and the latter of which is stressed (e.g., “today”).

              Trochee: a metrical foot containing two syllables, the first of which is stressed and the second of which is unstressed (e.g., “matter”).

              Spondee: a less common metrical foot in which two consecutive syllables are stressed (e.g., “A.I.”).

              Anapest: a metrical foot containing three syllables, the first two of which are unstressed and the last of which is stressed (e.g., “unaware”).

              Dactyl: a metrical foot containing three syllables, the first stressed and the following two unstressed (e.g., “Waverly”).

    Meter in Poetry

    The length of poetic meter is described using Greek suffixes:

              Monometer – one foot, one beat per line

              Dimeter – two feet, two beats per line

              Trimeter – three feet, three beats per line

              Tetrameter – four feet, four beats per line

              Pentameter – five feet, five beats per line

              Hexameter – six feet, six beats per line

              Heptameter – seven feet, seven beats per line

              Octameter – eight feet, eight beats per line

  • Stanza Is Another Name for Room

    Revise a poem by reorganizing its stanzas considering how each choice affects the poem’s structure, language, syntax, continuity, rhythm, chronology, and imagery as you work.

    Some approaches worth exploring include:

    • Breaking a single-stanza poem into multiple stanzas.
    • Conversely, placing a multi-stanza poem into a single stanza.
    • Creating uniform stanzas that contain the same number of lines: couplets, tercets, quatrains, quintains, sestets, octets, Spencerian (9-line stanza), or dizains.
    • Disrupting uniform stanzas by varying the number of lines in each one.
    • Creating a pattern using indentation. For example, indent every other line of a stanza or every other stanza; center some lines but not others; use right marginalization, etc.
    • Rearranging the stanzas — backward, forward, from the inside out.
    • Experimenting with multiple approaches then returning the poem to its original form but with new content created during the process.

    As you might guess, the goal is to discover the poem’s “about-ness” through serious play and experimentation. Aim for process rather than product, change over predictability.

  • The Two Frogs

    Once upon a time in the country of Japan there lived two frogs, one of whom made his home in a ditch near the town of Osak, on the sea coast, while the other dwelt in a clear little stream which ran through the city of Kioto. At such great distance apart, they had never even heard of each other; but, funnily enough, the idea came into both their heads at once that they should like to see a little of the world, and the frog who lived at Kioto wanted to visit Osaka, and the frog who lived at Osaka wished to go to Kioto, where the great Mikado had his palace.

    So one fine morning in the spring they both set out along the road that led from Kioto to Osaka, one from one end and the other from the other. The journey was more tiering than they expect, for they did not know much about traveling, and half way between the two towns there arose a mountain which had to be climbed. It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but there they were at last, and what was the surprise of each to see another frog before him! They looked at each other for a moment without speaking, and then fell into conversation, explaining the cause of their meeting so far from their homes. It was delightful to find that they both felt the same wish — to learn a little more of their native country — and as there was no sort of hurry they stretched themselves out in a cool damp place, and agreed that they would have a good rest before they parted to go their ways.

    “What a pity we are not bigger,” said the Osaka frog; “for then we could see both town from here, and tell if it is worth our while going on.”

    “Oh that is easily managed,” returned the Kioto frog. “We have only got to stand up on our hind legs, and hold on to each other, and then we can each look at the town he is traveling to.”

    The idea pleased the Osaka frog so much that he at once jumped up and put his fron paws on the shoulders of his friend, who had risen also. There they both stood, stretching themselves as high as they could, and holding each other tightly, so that they might not fall down. The Kioto frog turned his nose toward Osaka, and the Osaka frog turned his nose toward Kioto; but the foolish things forgot that when the stood up their great eyes lay in the backs of their head, and that though their noses might point to the placed to which they wanted to go their eyes beheld the places from which they had come.

    “Dear me!” cried the Osaka frog, “Kioto is exactly like Osaka. It is certainly not worth such a long journey. I shall go home!”

    “If I had had any idea that Osaka was only a copy of Kioto I should never have travelled all this way,” exclaimed the frog from Kioto, and as he spoke he took his hands from his friend’s shoulders, and they both fell down on the grass. Then they took a polite farewell of each other, and set off for home again, and to the end of their lives they believed that Osaka and Kioto, which are as different to look at as two towns can be, were as like as two peas.

    From The Violet Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang

  • Be Kind, Rewind

    One of the earliest revision exercises I remember experimenting with in my early days of writing poetry was to write an existing poem in reverse, a tactic, it turns out, that has variety of approaches:

    • Writing a poem backwards, literally word for word, perhaps adjusting grammar and syntax to accommodate the new structure, perhaps not.
    • Writing a poem backwards line by line, adjusting for grammar and syntax along the way, or not.
    • Writing a poem in reverse stanza by stanza (stanzas retain their line order, but the order of the stanzas are reversed).
    • Leaving each line in place but reverse the order of the words.
    • Leaving each stanza in place but reversing the order of the lines.
    • Writing a poem in reverse in terms of imagery (last image first, first image last).

    The point really is not to write perfectly reversed poem to show that you are able to follow instructions correctly, though that may be the end result, but to rearrange the ways we see and interpret the poem and how it works and to follow where new discoveries lead. To allow the poem to lead rather than to impose meaning on the poem.

  • Markets for Writing Moms

    Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers–Brain, Child treats motherhood as a subject worthy of literature. And in the best tradition of literature, it celebrates the diversity of mothers and their styles. Our essays and features address readers as thinking individuals, not just medicine- dispensing, food-fixing, boo-boo-kissing mommies. We think of it this way: When our mothers wanted to hash over the important stuff with their girlfriends, they’d say to us, “Honey, the grown-ups are talking.” Brain, Child is like that: the place where grown-ups are talking.

    Literary Mama: Writing about the many faces of motherhood–We celebrate an inclusive understanding of motherhood as experienced through diverse lenses and bodies and welcome perspectives that challenge readers’ assumptions and values about motherhood. We’re excited to publish work that crosses boundaries of race, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, age, disability, and/or economic status and encourage contributions that build community.

    Mom Egg Review publishes literary work on mothers, mothering, and motherhood, in an annual print and quarterly online issues of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art. We also present craft notes, interviews, features, and book reviews online at http://merliterary.com. We publish established and new writers whose work reflects diverse experiences and perspectives on motherhood, literature, and art.  MER supports and promotes the work of mother writers and artists through publications, performances, workshops, and educational programs. MER is about being a mother, in its many varieties. It is also about being a daughter, worker, partner, artist, a member of cultures and communities, and explores how these identities can collide and coexist.

    Mutha: We’re interested in reading nonfiction about all aspects of the journey to becoming a parent (or determining a different path). Trying to conceive, LGBTQ parenting, birth stories of all variety, experiencing loss, early days and later struggles, joy and tough times and hope and forgiveness, funny stuff and sexy stuff and stuff you didn’t think you could say out loud but just wrote it down. Politics and rants and sob stories and what you wish you had heard before you thought of it. Send it to us.

    Raising Mothers: Since 2015, Raising Mothers has served as a digital literary platform that amplifies and provides a supportive and inclusive space for Black, Asian, Latine(x), Indigenous and other marginalized identities from the global majority to share their experiences and creative works, while also advocating for social justice and equity.
    Raising Mothers publishes experimental and traditional fiction, micro and flash, creative nonfiction, interviews, book reviews, photo essays, and comic/graphic narratives.

  • Dénouement

    Here is a recap of prompts and poems from the last half of April. Hoping they were, and continue to be, a source of creative inspiration.

    Watch for weekly revision exercises through the month of May beginning Monday, May 5

    Submissions for poems written as a result of following any posted prompt or revision exercise opens on June 1.

    April 17

    Seventeen Syllables

    Poems to Inspire

    “January haiku” by Frank Higgins

    “A Modern Sonnet” by Cleopatra Lim

    Haiku Contest Winners

    April 18

    Elemental

    April 19

    Chance It

    April 20

    Poems to Inspire

    Temp-orality

    “Years Go By” by Haley Sui

    “spring is a time of death” by J.C. Mari

    “Plans” by Jen Schneider

    April 21

    Focus Prompt

    Poem for Inspiration

    “Emily Dickinson May Be Weary” by Rikki Santer

    April 22

    Intangible Inheritance

    April 23

    By Any Other Name

    Poems to Inspire

    “AppleSong” by Terry Savoie

    “My Brother Julian’s Apple Core” by Alejandro Lucero

    “Take the Apple” by Michelle Holland

    April 24

    Hands On

    Poems to Inspire

    “How to Baptize a Child in Philadelphia, PA” by Mike Zimmerman

    “How My Father Learned English” by Juan Morales

    “Woodworking Lessons” by Mike Zimmerman

    April 25

    In Tune

    Poems to Inspire

    “Living in Opryland” by Javy Awan

    “Let it go on and on” by Kenneth Pobo

    “Reverend Billy’s Boogie Woogie and Mom’s Gulbranson by Gianna Russo

    April 26

    Not the Kind You Flip

    Poems to Inspire

    “Blackbird” by Yvette R. Murray

    “The Lark Ascended” by Wayne Lee

    “Seringo” by Charles Weld

    “Bird, Tired Bird” by Sue Blaustein

    April 27

    Top of the Morning

    Poems to Inspire

    Like Her by by J.D. Isip

    Predictable Patterns by Laurinda Lind

    Legacy by Terry Severhill

    April 28

    Child’s Play

    Poems to Inspire

    “Directions Back to Childhood” by Judith Waller Carroll

    “Elegy with Ice Cream” by Kathy Nelson

    “When I Got My Ears Pierced” by Sophie Cohen

    “Gleeful” by Christina M. Rau

    “On the Eve of Roberto Clemente’s Third Miracle” by Michael Brockley

    April 29

    Endings that Shape Us

    Poems to Inspire

    “Seas of Change” by Marc Janssen

    “Manumission: A Codependent Romance” by KJ Hannah Greenberg

    April 30

    Course and Method

    Poems to Inspire

    “In Step With Desire” by Margaret Randall

    “A Better Poem” by Thomas Zimmerman

    “Eyes Fastened with Poems” by Lois Marie Harrod

    “On the Occasion of 50 Years of Poems” by Alan Perry

    “Listening To Poetry That I Don’t Understand” by John F. McMullen

  • Course and Method

    “To write about poetry is to believe that there are answers to some of the questions poets ask of their art, or at least that there are reasons for writing it.”

    ~Michael Weigers

    For today’s prompt, write an ars poetica that explores your relationship with your writing process. Be as liberal as you like with your use of metaphor and poetic license.

    Poems for Inspiration from Zingara Poetry Review

    “In Step With Desire” by Margaret Randall

    “A Better Poem” by Thomas Zimmerman

    “Eyes Fastened with Poems” by Lois Marie Harrod

    “On the Occasion of 50 Years of Poems” by Alan Perry

    “Listening To Poetry That I Don’t Understand” by John F. McMullen

  • Endings that Shape Us

    As we near April 30th and the imminent conclusion to this year’s poem-a-day prompt, I can’t help but to think about endings.

    For today’s prompt, make a list of endings from your life.

    Your list could include things like the end of a day, or of the night, the end of a job, the end of a movie, the end of a pet’s tail, or any other creative interpretation you have for the concept of “endings.”

    Chose an ending from your list that speaks to you right now—one that you feel would be fruitful for writing.

    Poems for Inspiration:

    “Seas of Change” by Marc Janssen

    “Manumission: A Codependent Romance” by KJ Hannah Greenberg