National Poetry Writing Month 2022 April 25th 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 25th Poetry Prompt

Today’s (optional) prompt is based on the Aisling, a poetic form that developed in Ireland. An Aisling recounts a dream or vision featuring a woman who represents the land or country on/in which the poet lives, and who speaks to the poet about it. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that recounts a dream or vision, and in which, a woman appears who represents or reflects the area in which you live. Perhaps she will be the Madonna of the Traffic Lights or the Mysterious Spirit of Bus Stops. Or maybe you will be addressed by the Lost Lady of the Stony Coves. Whatever form your dream visitor takes, happy writing!

April 25th Poem

The Call of Victory

25 April 2022

dedicated to Winged Victory

I was a wanderer for so many years

Hearing a call from so far away

I wanted to find the origin of the voice

But in no state could I find it

I moved from place to place

I moved from person to person

For so many years no one matched the voice in my head

I often thought it was merely a dream

One day it hit me

The voice was not from America

It came from some place older

Some place that would take my heart

So I climbed on the plane for Paris

Not fully knowing what I would find

My itinerary was not fully planned

I saw the sights recommended

And one day I went with another traveler

She had an idea

Walking into the Louve we tread lightly

Viewing the great masters works on every wall

It was there I heard the voice clearer than ever

When I turned a corner and looked up

There the voice was

The stone could not contain her

I dropped to my knees

At the top of a staircase was the one I had been searching for

Without arms

Without a face

Standing on a vessel

Against the storms of the world

She stood there

I had completed the journey to find the voice

And to find my ancestral home

The ancients that came before

And landed me in the residence I rented

Had come full circle

The journey was done

And the temptation to never leave permeated

But the voice changed that night

When I slept in a rented bed

The voice changed from someone unknown

Someone mysterious

To the voice of a friend

And so that journey started on the very next day

I headed back to the States

And searched out the one who calls me love

I took her to see the one I had spent so many decades searching for

Only to see my ancient removed

My heart sank through the floor

And doom ensued

But know I count the days until

I can bring my children there

To tell them the story of how I searched unknowingly

For the voice in the stone

That led me home

To make a world for them

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.