National Poetry Writing Month Day 1

What is National Poetry Writing Month?

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), celebrates the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates oneself to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Prompt for today

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write – without consulting the book – a poem that recounts the plot, or some portion of the plot, of a novel that you remember having liked but that you haven’t read in a long time.

Poem for Today

Waking to a new life 

1 April 24 

Based on Metamorphosis from Franz Kafka 

It was a day in June, 2014 

I woke up bleary eyed on a couch 

Much like other nights, but I heard some noises around me 

Noises that weren’t the Redline El 

Noises that weren’t police sirens 

Noises that weren’t cars honking 

An unknown body laid next to me 

I heard their breathing 

The snores seemed familiar from long ago 

Like I had laid with this person before 

But I didn’t know who it was 

And I sprung up 

Something inside me said there should be more sounds 

The daylight had broken 

The heat of the day started 

And I was somewhere I didn’t remember 

The air smelled different 

There seemed to be more space 

As my eyes grew accustomed to the dim light peeking through 

I looked over the coffee table 

And saw two babies 

Gurgling, happy, warm and fed 

Gently waking up, small yawns, gripping at invisible animals 

The person beside me was a lover from the past 

This wasn’t my studio on the north side of Chicago 

But I didn’t know where I was 

And a small cry broke the silence 

And a cat strolled past casually, calmly 

My instincts took over 

And I walked to the baby crying 

Hushed them, cuddled them 

And my past lover quietly watched the baby and I 

Her eyes piercing through the fog 

And welcoming me back into the world  

That we had created 

The baby was tiny, fit on my forearm, needed a new diaper 

And I took them over to the table 

A table filled with diapers and wipes 

And like an expert I quietly changed the child 

And as I changed them, they grasped for my pinky 

Enclosed their fist around it 

And smiled a gas filled smile towards me 

Switching out the soiled diaper for a new one 

Wiping the genitals the right way 

Cleaning this child and caring for them 

Hearing the slight murmur of approval from my old lover 

I got a bottle of milk from a fridge I had never opened 

I was a father in that moment 

And ever since 

And when I go to sleep each night 

I don’t fear the monsters that flooded my dreams from eons ago 

I fear that this is the dream 

And when I wake 

I’ll be in that bedbug infested studio 

Waking alone 

Drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, reluctantly doing my morning chores 

And losing out on this dream from which I hope to never wake  

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