National Poetry Writing Month (also known as NaPoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.
My History with National Poetry Writing Month
I started writing poetry in 1988 after I had been exposed to T.S. Elliot in my honors English class in high school. In 1992 I started reading my poetry publicly at Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. While living in Rockford Illinois I published my first book of poetry Throwing Yourself at the Ground and Missing in 2007 followed by Postcards From Someone You Don't Know in 2008 Wisdom From the Sack in 2010 and Shaving Crop Circles In My Chest Hair in 2017. You can get copies of all of these books in my merch section. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.
What I am doing differently for Poetry Month
For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.
Todays Poetry Prompt
Stranger Conversations: Start the first line of your poem with a word or phrase from a recent passing conversation between you and someone you don’t know.
Todays Poem
The Insufficiency of Your Love
10 March 2023
The insufficiency of your love
Could have kept me alive longer
Raise your hand as high as you can
Now raise it higher
What the hell is that?
That is the insufficiency of your love
If you could have taken a moment
And thought about someone outside of your brain
Maybe just maybe you would have picked me
But you chose the most athletic kids to play ball with
Reminding me that although being last picked by you
Because no one else would pick me at all
Was what I should expect
When you taught me the meaning of trophy family
Without saying a word,
I embraced the role of being an embarrassment
I delved into the depths of De Sade and other of that denizen
Knowing I was stabbing your heart
Until I declared you dead to me
Your love and acceptance
Is no longer required or desired
Yes, that is my blood on that knife
The same one your silent partner chased me around the house with
Yes, these cuts are in cursive
So, I can remember them and lie to my children
Who can read what I wrote
I hear remnants of your voice in mine
Sometimes I just want to rip out my throat
And silence both of us
Sometimes when I look at this husk
I see a foggy glimpse of you
And smash my face against the mirror
The insufficiency of your love wasn’t what killed me off
That was all my doing
I wouldn’t give you the pleasure of thinking
That what you did caused this decision
I took myself out of the picture years ago
Ensuring whatever influenced your existence
Never saw the light of day again
It was easy, quick, and not a tear was shed
And when it was done
I put on my new skin
Replaced the diseased innards
Promptly forgot where I came from
And set my compass for elsewhere
Reaching Out To The Podcast
To reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
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