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), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves 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 a platonic love poem. In other words, a poem not about a romantic partner, but some other kind of love – your love for your sister, or a friend, or even your love for a really good Chicago deep dish pizza. The poem should be written directly to the object of your affections (like a letter is written to “you”), and should describe at least three memories of you engaging with that person/thing.
Poem for Today
When You Found Me
2 April 24
When you found me
I was at the ripe old age of 19
Didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground
And some days I feel the same
When I walked into that coffee shop in Abilene Texas
And I still live there in my mind
You welcomed me
Gave me a start on my journey
Made sure My Favorite Things played
In that dust bowl of a town
Where I thought I had landed on Mars
And the civilization I had encountered before
Didn’t prepare me for what was ahead
When you found me again
As I was driving all over my hometown of Screw City
Getting high 13 times a day
I sat there with an old friend
Whose feet stank of bad cheese
Who didn’t have enough money to pay for electricity
Who had a god that he followed religiously
Whose sister was my next conquest
You stood by me and made sure my car didn’t kill anyone
Including me
You and my old friend listened to my rantings
As I read books from other madmen
And found that you had found them as well
And I wanted to emulate them
In hopes you would cradle me in your warmth
When you found me next
I was still on the weed
And I handed you over to my nephew
In hopes he would surpass me
In hopes he wouldn’t have to struggle as much
In hopes he would be able to handle the dragon raging on the inside
You found him, but he was too young
And had others finding him
Helping him tell his story
Accompanying him through his journey
And now in the mornings when he sleeps in after driving around all night
I invoke you to slip into his brain and provide some sort of relief
When you found me for the first time
Before the coffee shops
Before the weed
Before the searching amongst the mad men for sanity
I listened to you in the dark
Not knowing what I was hearing
But feeling something was there
Rebelling against the circumstances that I lived through
You spoke no words to me
But you prepared me for what I am today
And for where the journey would take me
Letting me know there were other paths that I would not follow
Until further down the road
A kid, in his bedroom
Headphones on
Listening to your murmurs
That I listen to every night
Calming my fears
Calming my mind
And when I need you, you are always there
Closer than lovers
Closer that real friends
When you found me
Sitting in the middle of the night with my newly born children
I let them listen to your soft voice
In that hospital room with an exhausted wife
I gave you entrance
Because you were the only one, I would entrust with what had been entrusted to me
And I relish the day that I see in my mind’s eye
When my children sit at my feet
And listen with intent to the sounds without words
To the feelings you allow me to feel
And we can escape this world of impending doom
And know we have one friend who will never leave us
Even when we stray
When you find them
I look forward to that day
When you find me
Is when I find myself
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