Right now I should be at Cynthia Miller’s Primers Launch in Waterstones, (part of the Birmingham Literature Festival Spring Edition). I have a million things that need doing and a lack of time to squeeze them all into.
For the past few days I have managed to write my poems on time or in epic late-night catch ups. I am currently on Day 23, letting ideas settle in my mind. I have fallen behind with blog posts as I am currently organising 3 festivals and have been busy with research, work and real life.
Day 20 – Step Back in Time…
http://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-4/
I really enjoyed the prompt today, had lots of fun and research points, became a half decent poem, edited into a decent poem and performed at Uncorked that same evening.
I cannot believe we are 2/3 through NaPoWriMo and I am feeling proud that this year I have managed it. Thanks to Carrie Etter’s group.
I get the feeling that most of my Napo writing is airy draft, I know I can go back to these poems and extract the gold dust and rebuild. So please do not be hard on yourself if you feel that most of your daily writes have been a bit naff.
I spent some time wandering around participants sites the other day and reading some incredibly strong poems (with a glint of envy), it is amazing what rolls out of people’s heads during this April challenge.
Our featured participant today is this and other poems, where the creation myth for Day 19 is “tenuous,” but strikingly believable!
Our interview today is a two-fer: the poet Rickey Laurentiis being interviewed by the poet Carl Phillips. You can find examples of Laurentiis’ work here and Phillips’ work here.
Today, I challenge you to write a poem that incorporates the vocabulary and imagery of a specific sport or game. Your poem could invoke chess or baseball, hopscotch or canasta, Monopoly or jai alai. The choice is yours!
I chose Poker, as it is a game I do not play and I discovered lots of associated vocabulary that leant itself to poetry. It was a fun write although not so jolly for the character in my poem. It went down well with the audience at Uncorked, so it has been filed in the OKAY pile for now.
For the first time I used the computer rather than my notebook. This is how I usually write and I wonder if this has anything to do with creating a better poem. My brain understanding what I am trying to achieve as my hands dance across the keyboard.
For me, the difference of swimming safely in a pool or being out in the open sea, those blank pages scare me sometimes. Although I love the freedom of writing in notebooks, as I love the sea, but there is always danger lurking and scribbles have to be crossed out rather than deleted from existence!
She placed even money
on diamonds, lost it all.
Carrie Etter’s prompt involved using titles. Titles are not copyrighted but some poets felt that they couldn’t use work in this way. I liked the idea and wrote from a title as a springboard and then edited the title out.
Sandra Lim has some splendid titles in her first collection, Loveliest Grotesque.
I used ‘Curious This’.
Crossing roads between moving cars…
…like the aura of a Prophet…
I also revisited my poetry from Day 19 and wrote a poem I like ‘Crabsticks and Gin’.
White hair dyed Paprika,
Cherry Red applied over
shallow pink lips
that talked for England.
Jo Bell (whose Canoe writing workshop I am also missing today at BLF Spring Edition), posted Variation on a Theme by Rilke by Denise Levertov. I am really appreciating these daily reads and discussions.
The best thing – the very best thing – about reading poetry widely and deeply is that when you need it, it finds you… Yesterday, hearing news of the impending UK election I felt a mighty need for something to give me a sense of purpose and positivity in the coming weeks. – Jo Bell
The Poetry School offered us
Day 20: The One-Sentence Poem
Which for anyone taking part is light relief – well it would be, but a one sentence poem is harder than you imagine.
Morning poets. Today, I’d like you to write a one-sentence poem. Draft it in prose, so you’re not worrying about line-breaks. They can come later. You’ll also find that you become more expansive and loquacious by drafting this way. If you reach a natural break, connectives (also known as conjunctions) are your friends: use ‘but’, ‘and’, ‘which’ and so on to carry on your sentence. Brackets and dashes are useful, but I’d like you to avoid colons and semi-colons as they stop you in your tracks when you’re supposed to be flowing.
Your example today is Steve Scafidi’s magnificent ‘To Whoever Set My Truck On Fire‘, but your poem doesn’t necessarily have to be this long!
awritersfountain 