National Poetry Writing Month 2022 April 24th 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 Espresso 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 24th Poetry Prompt

Today, I’d like to challenge you to channel your inner gumshoe, and write a poem in which you describe something with a hard-boiled simile. Feel free to use just one, or try to go for broke and stuff your poem with similes till it’s . . . as dense as bread baked by a plumber, as round as the eyes of a girl who wants you to think she’s never heard such language, and as easy to miss as a brass band in a cathedral.

April 24th Poem

The Donkey In Me

24 April 2022

20 times a day

I seek the solitude of being an uncool kid

Knowing what it is doing to my body

Not caring for the smell it leaves behind

Hiding my breath in mints and gum

When my parents did it

I hated it

I didn’t want to give them a kiss

Because of the stench

And here I am

Being as stupid as a jack ass

Because I am too scared

To lose my pacifier

I find myself wishing for the past some days

Misremembering that the old times were not the good times

And making the same mistakes in life

Thinking it will work this time

But it just happens again and again and again

Waiting for the time it changes

I try to climb a mountain

But I am not a billy goat

My hooves weren’t made for these stones

The one thing I know to do is push forward

Even if the load is too much

Looking at the carrot

But not looking closely to see the rot

Thinking the goal is what will bring happiness

When I don’t know where to find the goal

I am as stubborn as a mule

And I thought that used to be a good quality

But being unbending is not what the great ones taught us

Bend but don't break were the words that should have guided me

But my long hair filled ears

Didn't catch what was actually said

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.