National Poetry Writing Month 2022 April 13th 2022

History of National Poetry Writing Month

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 the National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, or 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 Espesso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. This continued for many years when I ran my own poetry reading at Cannova's in Loves Park Illinois and attended the poetry slams at The green Mill in Chicago Illinois. 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 2009 I started participating in National Poetry Writing Month which became the basis for my book Wisdom From the Sack and Shaving Crop Circles in My Chest Hair. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.

April 13th Poetry Prompt

And now for our (optional) prompt! Today, in honor of the potential luckiness of the number 13, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that, like the example poem here, joyfully states that “Everything is Going to Be Amazing.” Sometimes, good fortune can seem impossibly distant, but even if you can’t drum up the enthusiasm to write yourself a riotous pep-talk, perhaps you can muse on the possibility of good things coming down the track. As they say, “the sun will come up tomorrow,” and if nothing else, this world offers us the persistent possibility of surprise.

April 13th Poem

How Are You Not Dead Yet

13 April 2022

Two motorcycle wrecks with trees on a farm

Jumping off freezers with a face plant and a broken nose

Collapsed tunnels in the neighbor's new construction

Roman Candle vs Bottle rocket fights

Diving into an inground pool from the roof of the house

Trapped under the ice in the local swimming hole during a blizzard

These are a few of my favorite things to do before age 12

Dodging bullets in Somalia while delivering booze to the Aussies

Wrecking a motorcycle on a dark Texan road

Clubbing rattle snakes for a festival

Dressing freshly struck armadillos up in sombreros and beer cans

Bungie jumping into the Rio Grande

Being electrocuted at 15K feet trying to fix a firelight so I could get a beer in Germany

Driving a van as old as me with no steering column bushings

These things and more that I cannot speak about kept me awake in the military

Rescuing a suicidal actor at a bonfire with an open-air tackle

Winning at spades while being outgunned and chased in my lil 3 banger Metro

Bringing a machete to a gun fight while delivering pizza

Having a stalker chase me 100 miles in Missouri

Meeting that same stalker years later and flashing the same machete

Working on sets fresh from wrist surgery and large doses of Vicodin

Moving to Phoenix in June with no AC in the car

Deadman carrying a roommate before the flood of our basement apartment with live outlets on the floor

College was a hoot for me let's try some more

Three rips from Chicago to Fredericksburg back-to-back over a 3-day weekend

More MRI’s than I have fingers and toes to count make me glow in the dark

Spinal tap that caused my left leg to feel electrocuted and on fire simultaneously

Brain fistula that was embolized and now everyone smells of burnt vinyl

Being told on a Friday at 4 PM you have MS have a great weekend

While my car refuses to start 60 miles from home

Fighting off 2 soldiers younger and bigger than me, because they won’t accept defeat

And I thought these would be my quiet years

So yeah, why am I not dead

Is it because I like to make my guardian angel work overtime

Do I have a 4-leaf clover horseshoe in my pocket

Or was I born under a good sign

I guess I am here to tell you that hang on for this ride we call life

I am here to tell myself that I have lived

And if none of this stuff has killed me yet

I must be a strong MF

And that is all I really ever wanted to be

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 let's start that conversation.