Hello friend, I am Timothy Kimo Brien, head instigator at Create Art Podcast where we help you to tame the inner critic and create more than we consume. Every year in April National Poetry Writing Month occurs, this is a challenge to write 30 poems in 30 days and comes from the NaPoWriMo site. When you participate you are given a prompt every day for 30 days and you can choose to follow the prompt or not. Each prompt has a commentary with it and a style of poetry that you may not be familiar with. I enjoy it because it stretches my creative muscles and helps me organize my thoughts. I also really enjoy a good challenge. There is also an opportunity to read other people's work as they post on their websites and for you to comment on their work, giving them encouragement or offering a suggestion. Care to join me on this journey?
Day 23 Prompt
Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that responds, in some way, to another. This could be as simple as using a line or image from another poem as a jumping-off point, or it could be a more formal poetic response to the argument or ideas raised in another poem. You might use a favorite (or least favorite poem) as the source for your response. And if you’re having trouble finding a poem to respond to, here are a few that might help you generate ideas: “This World is Not Conclusion,” by Peter Gizzi, “In That Other Fantasy Where We Live Forever,” by Wanda Coleman, “La Chalupa, the Boat,” by Jean Valentine, or “Aubade: Some Peaches, After Storm,” by Carl Phillips.
Day 23 Poem
Whimper – response to T.S.Elliot’s The Hollow Men
1
Remembrance
We are the ones who aren’t innocent
We do not ask for mercy
Admitting our “sins” to those others deem worthy
Is not the path we have chosen
We just ask to be in your thoughts
We want to be part of your memory
The holy life escaped us
As we tread our own way to our new home
2.
Entrance
As we walk into the new realm
Some try to hide in shame
Others try to cover themselves in hopes
that they will be transported to a happier place
We are being watched obtrusively
Every movement calculated
So some of us stop moving altogether
But the wind pushes us all forward
To our unknown destination
3.
Arrival
We are here
But not with each other
Those that have traveled this path
Disappeared when I woke
A faint sun has risen
And the stars seem almost brighter
I am alone
And the urge to keep walking has ceased
This feels like it will be my home
I will pay whatever eternal penance here
Among the nothingness
4.
Empty
As I look around
The eyes that once penetrated my soul
Are no longer here
The next day, if that is what I can call it
I see the footprints around my camp
But not the footprints I created
I know they are not mine
As I step in them
Most do not fit
Either to large or small
And I feel the fresh warmth
From another’s foot
As I step inside their print
5.
Eternal Shadow
The sun never blazes as it did
The world feels numb
My body doesn’t react as it once did
And my emotions are dulled
The songs that brought me hope
Have warped into a doomsday nursery rhyme
After countless days
I have forgotten my name
After eons, I have forgotten how to count
At some point, I decreased to a whisper
Until there was no I
Reaching Out
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 lets start that conversation.
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