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 2nd Poetry Prompt
And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem based on a word featured in a tweet from Haggard Hawks, an account devoted to obscure and interesting English words. Will you choose a word like “aprosexia,” which means “an inability to concentrate”? Or maybe something like “greenout,” which is “the relief a person who has worked or lived in a snowy area for a long time feels on seeing something fresh and green for the first time”? Whatever you choose, happy writing!
April 2nd Poem
Peel The Bones
2 April 2022
*Peel The Bones is the phrase I chose. PEEL-THE-BONES was a 19th century term for bitterly cold or windy weather—so to PEEL was to go out in unsuitable or insufficient clothing given the conditions.
I had spent the hottest summer of my life up until then in San Antonio
With a man snarling at me for 6 weeks
Telling me bad things about my Mama
And threatening me with 6 more weeks of hell
If I didn’t finish a mile and a half run
He had our squadron up at 0400 every morning
Because he loved to run
And now I was running for my life
His breath on my neck
His threats
I’d never run so hard and so fast
And just like that I was headed back to Illinois
For the comfort of the snow and ice
Only to be told that I would be headed back to Texas in February
When I arrived in my death machine from the 70’s
It was Mid-Texas
Abilene, prettiest town I have ever seen
People there don’t treat you mean
But damn the weather was nothing I’d ever seen
In sweet Abilene, my Abilene
It was there that I began my fascination with working all night
It prepped me for grad school
It prepped me to be a dad of twins
But nothing prepped me for the wind
From big sky country
Nothing stopped the oppressive blowing
The howling, the strange noises from what I hoped were animals
I climbed on the expeditor truck that held 8 men
Each had black coffee steaming up to the dim light
Some were snoring
Others were playing cards
While we waited for the call
That would drop us off to fix the metal birds
That would become my reason for being there
We pulled up to tail number 1666, the little gremlin
SGT Couter called out Electrics
My trainer and I stood up
I grabbed the toolbox that almost froze to my bare hands
It was a liquid oxygen leak
And we would spend the next hour in the front wheel well
Two men, in the dark and cold
Our lower halves being pummeled
My field jacket was still packed away
My thermals were probably left at my home of record
That was the first night of my mistake
Being from Chicago
I thought I knew what freezing was
I thought I knew how ruthless mother nature could be
Seeing snowfall in June made me think I could endure anything
And that all Texans wore cowboy hats and died
When it got below freezing
But whatever deity was on call that night
Was more than determined
To give me the worst possible welcome
I considered peeing on myself to warm my legs
When my trainer told me
Next time dress for success
Don’t think that piss will warm you up
Because you’ll get frostbitten
And the expeditor won’t let you back on his truck
So, I stood in the cold that night
Thinking I’d never be warm again
Thinking that the frozen demons from home followed me here
Thinking it was too damn cold to think
My trainer took pity on me
He offered a drink of his coffee
Warned not to backwash
No sugar, no cream, just the blackness
The heat that kept me awake
That kept me alive
When we finished two hours later
It seemed like forever
He taught me how to make mud
And now every time I drink it
I shiver for a few moments
Then I drain the cup and pour another
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.
- Email: timothy@createartpodcast.com
- YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
- IG: @createartpodcast
- Twitter: @createartpod
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