NaPoWriMo Day 30 – The End
This was my 4th year participating in Napo and I have to say the most enjoyable yet and the most committed to using prompts from several sources.
Yesterday I spent most of the day rehearsing and performing at Stourbridge Literature Festival and was out for about 8 hours, before I left, I wrote my final prompt poem from Carrie Etter’s group. I had plans for writing and submission when I got home, but then had an impromptu night with neighbours and didn’t write this last Naponet prompt poem until this morning.
Yesterday I read the prompt and started listing things that repeat.
Well, everyone, we all knew it was coming . . . today is the thirtieth of April, and the final day of NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2017. I hope all of you had fun, and that if you didn’t get 30 poems, you got at least a few!
As is usual, I’ll be back tomorrow with our final featured participant. I’ll also keep the participants’ list up and live until we start to get the site ready for next year, when we’ll go “dark” for a bit of annual housekeeping. And of course, all this year’s posts and comments will remain as a permanent part of our archives.
Our featured participant for the day is Words from a Lydian World, where the favorite-word poem for Day 29 has the lyrical sense of a song, and the mysterious feeling of a fairy tale.
Today’s interview is with Cathy Park Hong, whose pop-culture-filled verse explores language, genre and place, wheeling between the American west and the tech-industrial boomtowns of Asia. You can read more about here, and you will find two of her poems here, and another here.
And finally, our final prompt – at least until next year! Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about something that happens again and again (kind of like NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo). It could be the setting of the sun, or your Aunt Georgia telling the same story at Thanksgiving every single year. It could be the swallows returning to Capistrano or how, without fail, you will lock your keys in the car whenever you go to the beach.
Happy writing!
In the end, this morning I took a scientific route involved atoms, crystallised theory and polysomnography. I spent some time taking notes before settling on the idea of writing about the sleep cycle.
I am perfectly happy with the final result of my last NaPo poem – although I am tempted to write just one more – as it will make 100 poems for April!
Body immobile,
you know nothing of this
or your pillow.
Carrie Etter’s final prompt was to use a song you loved as a teenager and describe the scene of listening, allowing the reader to discern how the song made you feel.
This is not a poem that enthrals me, but when researching I did happen upon other tracks which hold significant memory so it is a task I may return to.
I’d sing this one
upside down
gymnastically hanging off
my friend’s huge climbing frame…
Jo Bell finalised NaPoReMo with an ancient 4 line gem.
I wanted something that would take us back to the essence of poetry. I wanted a poem that would remind us why we write, how simple it can be at base – and how reading well helps us to write well, which has been the whole point of these blogs. So instead of Auden’s magnificent, multi-layered reflective poem (which I urge you to read anyway), I offer you this ancient gem. – Jo Bell
Go find it for yourselves here http://www.jobell.org.uk/
The Poetry School 
finished with Julia Bird and the Cover Letter.
Good Morning! We made it to the end of the month! At PSHQ we’ve been overwhelmed with the response to NaPoWriMo – the numbers of you taking part, the commitment of your participation, the quality of your poems. Thank you very much for joining in, and we hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves.
The prompt was from Ali Lewis.
#NaPoWriMoPrompts
Day 30: The Cover Letter
An unusual form, and one that a lot of poets get wrong. This is a type of prose poem, which obeys the following conventions:
It always starts with the words “Dear [name of a literary editor]”. This should be followed by a stanza break.
Much like a ghazal, the Cover Letter always ends with a name, usually the poet’s own.
The middle-section, which is written in long, enjambed prose lines, explains the poet’s fervent desire to be published by the addressee and often lists said poets prior achievements and publications.
The Cover Letter should be placed at the head of a sequence with 1-6 more conventional poems by the same author.
Let us know how NaPoWriMo was for you.
awritersfountain 