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’s we’d like to challenge you to write a poem rooted in “weird wisdom,” by which we mean something objectively odd that someone told you once, and that has stuck with you ever since. Need an example? Check out Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Making a Fist.”
Poem for Today
Learning About Life Backstage
6 April 24
Bathroom walls
Subway cars
Discarded napkins at the bar
Elroy was here tagged on a city alley way
These are the places where philosophy starts
But on the back of a high school theater set
Is where I found my calling
Life is like a shit sandwich
The more bread you put on it the less shit you have to eat
Was what i saw one day
In the dim light of the stage
And I have tried to put more bread in my life
Because it has been a shit show
I’ve tried wheat
And only found that to be dry
I have tried pumpernickel
And my teeth turned black
I have tried multigrain
Only to pick out seeds in my teeth
But sourdough, oh sweet sourdough
When it is toasted with butter or oil
Is the best bread to have to cover up the smell
I once tried ciabatta
And she broke my heart
Well her brothers were going to break my arms
So I stuck with plain white bread for prom
Is naan considered a bread or just a vehicle for food consumption
I have never been able to tell
And the pita? Is it a pocket of goodness
That I can crawl into
And swim around in with tzatziki sauce
And falafel and lamb
What bread is best to make shit taste better
And what bread is considered part of the sandwich equation?
Will we ever know
And why do we accept the shit in our sandwich
Dripping out of the sides
Does diarrhea count as shit
Or must it be a log
And what about a hotdog bun
If we get a nice chunky log to come out
Filled with corn and the remains from other shit sandwiches we had to eat
Does the shit we are forced to eat identify us at all
Or is it a badge of dishonor that we wear
Proving to our lovers
Who taste the shit we consume
That we have suffered more than them
I don’t want a bite of your sandwich
Keep it to yourself
Because we all must eat the shit between some bread
And all we are about is if it tastes good
So, we can gobble up more of the shit we deal with in life
Don’t focus on the shit,
Focus on what makes the sandwich better
Because we all gotta eat a shit sandwich sometime
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