Poetry Prompt April 25, 2023

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 National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.

This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, 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.

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 Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. 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 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.

For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.

Today’s prompt challenges you to also write a love poem, one that names at least one flower, contains one parenthetical statement, and in which at least some lines break in unusual places.  

Giving Love Another Try 

25 April 2023 

I wasn’t content  

With being  

Alone 

But I wasn’t interested 

In sharing 

Everything 

I wasn’t content 

With the 

Life 

But I wasn’t interested 

In starting  

Over 

I wasn’t content 

With the 

Past 

But I wasn’t interested 

In rehashing 

Us 

I wasn’t content 

With the 

Situation 

But I wasn’t interested 

In developing  

Feelings 

(I found contentment in your eyes, I found interest in your smile I found tulips where you walked)) 

You didn’t want 

Just another 

Body 

But you did 

Try to 

Love 

You didn’t want 

This to  

Fail 

But you did 

Rely on 

Defenses 

You didn’t want 

Me to  

Escape 

But you did 

Honor my 

Freedom 

(You found where I hid my heart, You found a way to trust me You found daisies to put everywhere) 

We weren’t sure 

About our  

Compatibility 

But we tried 

To make 

It 

We weren’t sure 

About being 

Dependent 

But we tried 

With open 

Minds 

We weren’t sure 

About our  

Lasting 

But we tried 

And are 

Trying 

(We were met with scoffs, We sometimes scoffed at ourselves we planted a family) 

We weren’t sure but we tried 

You didn’t want but you did 

I wasn’t content but I wasn’t interested  

(And so far, it’s the journey  

That we needed to be on 

Together) 

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