Okay, so the prompt said six lines, and I had every intention to keep it that short, especially with my work overload today…but I kept enhancing each line with parallelism and repetition until they were too long and unwieldy to keep. I had to break it up both for my sanity and yours. See if you can find the rune JERA hidden within.

I also decided to include the most accurate spelling of the gods’ names here for pronunciation’s sake. The anglicization Jord is pronounced “your’d” — which I kind of hate, to be honest. The spelling I used is pronounced “yerth” (close enough) which makes it much more obvious as the origin of our word earth. Since I felt it was necessary to spell Jörð this way, I had to stay consistent with the rest. Hopefully that isn’t too much of a turn-off for those of you not accustomed to these letters.

Poem prompt: “Today’s resource is the online gallery of the National Museum of New Zealand. It’s pretty fun to just search for random words in their search bar, and see what kind of objects and art pop up. For example, I searched the word “butter,” and was presented with this photograph of a bracelet made up of butter and cheese exhibition medals, this stamp celebrating the wonders of butter production,  and a teeny saucepan made for a dollhouse.

And now for our (optional) daily prompt. The MC5 was a 1960s rock band. If you’ve heard anything by them–and you likely have–it’s their 1969 song Kick Out the Jams.

Jesse Crawford, otherwise known as Brother J.C. Crawford, was the band’s stage MC and warm-up man. Below are the words with which he opened a concert in Japan in 1969 (you can find the recording on Spotify/Apple Music as part of the Kick Out the James [Live] [Japan Remastered] album, on the track titled Intro/Ramblin’ Rose).

Brothers and sisters
I wanna see a sea of hands out there
Let me see a sea of hands
I want everybody to kick up some noise
I wanna hear some revolution out there, brothers
I wanna hear a little revolution
[big pause]
Brothers and sisters
The time has come for each and everyone of you to decide
Whether you are gonna be the problem
Or whether you are gonna be the solution (that’s right)
You must choose, brothers, you must choose
It takes five seconds, five seconds of decision
Five seconds to realize your purpose here on the planet
It takes five seconds to realize that it’s time to move
It’s time to get down with it
Brothers, it’s time to testify and I want to know
Are you ready to testify?!
Are you ready?!
I give you a testimonial
The MC5

And now here’s a short little poem by Jane Kenyon:

The Shirt

The shirt touches his neck
and smooths over his back.
It slides down his sides.
It even goes down below his belt—
down into his pants.
Lucky shirt.

And now for your prompt! While Brother J.C.’s warm-up and Kenyon’s poem might seem very different at first, they’re both informed by repetition, simple language, and they express enthusiasm. They have a sermon/prayer-like quality, and then end with a bang. Your challenge is to write a six-line poem that has these same qualities.”

Calling All Maidens

Hail 
Sisters — let me hear you 
let go of all humiliating yesterdays Loki gave. Joy 
Sisters — show me 
in every breath exists a perfect Bifröst prism. Exult 
Sisters — let me remind you 
of your aliveness, of quick fingers that sieve Urðr's water. Relax 
Sisters — together now 
reap the harvest and devour the hearty meal. Attest 
Sisters — let me know you know 
Iðunn blesses without need of worth and proof. Observe 
Sisters — while we still have Sight 
Jörð's green yet grows on this forsaken world. Hope 
Sisters — hold hands and trowels like hammers and build 
your walled gardens to withstand the Æsir's war, and Fare  
Well.