One of the many things I love about NaPoWriMo is discovering other blogs & websites from the list of participating sites (which is extensive). Yesterday I trawled a few and read the NaPo poems and had a click about, here are a couple I enjoyed:
https://islandsofmysoul.com/category/poetry/
On occasion inspiration to revisit a prompt comes after reading the featured poem. I started today with an incredibly lazy lie in – having woken only just before 9 AM (hours after my work routine, a blessing) with head on pillow I read the NaPo Day 2 post and the title of the featured poem and decided that my process made me miss out on the whimsy of this late 70s recording. So I lay there comfortably enjoying the tones of Sun Ra and his Arkestra. I saw images I had missed whilst writing and repeated my listen, this time I screen shot my favourite bits to use again, as an ekphrastic prompt.
Once I had finished this double day writing I treated myself to reading today’s featured poem: “avocado jello”
Later I took 24 shots of the animation and chose the final picture shown here.
The poem was still surreal (as expected from such source material & prompt). I wrote about burdens and overcoming them. Here are the end lines:
For beneath a camel
the world is a golden place.
I really enjoyed revisiting this prompt and creating something surreal. I also love this animation, have now watched it in full more times than one hand can be counted on!
Day Two Click here to read the full post.
… Today, our featured participant is A Softer Shade of Red, who stepped out of her comfort zone to pen a poem titled “avocado jello,” which sounds like a phrase that Sun Ra, the inspiration for Day One’s prompt, could definitely get behind.
Our featured reading … is pre-recorded…. it is a series of videos from the 47th Annual Poetry Project New Year’s Marathon. Given that the marathon involves 24 straight hours of poetry readings, there’s lots here to explore!
And now, for today’s prompt. In the world of well-known poems, maybe there’s no gem quite so hoary as Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about your own road not taken – about a choice of yours that has “made all the difference,” and what might have happened had you made a different choice.
Happy writing!
©napowrimo.net
PROCESS NOTES:
I had a good look around the website and emailed myself links to pages I have stored to read in the future. The poetry resources unearthed by NaPo are always gems, sometimes ones we have already found. I love the mixture of LIVE event offerings and pre-recorded made possible by a global poetry community which has shifted online. The Poetry Marathon resource has lots of interesting/useful PDFs, videos and Guided Writing exercises. I have quite the list stored up and also have had 3 dips into the archives of the website, trawling and reading for about an hour… giving me the same sense of rejuvenation one gets from a spa retreat!
I think we all know Frost’s poem. In the past year it has been used in several workshops and I am aware that there is a strong argument which centres around how it has been misinterpreted. I wanted to take the prompt on face value but had the knowledge of criticism/ articles swirling in my head.
I spent my entire life (until a few years ago when Mr. G helped me undo the spell/curse) wondering what if I had chosen B rather than A, sending myself slightly loopy and regretting a lot. I have learnt to let go and accept the decisions and consequences of them.
With this in mind, I automatically focussed on changes I had no power over. After this initial poem, I wrote a poem about the road I didn’t take in 2019 to have my open wound cauterized – having experienced this process before. I bled for a further 6 months after this decision instead, but eventually healed.
awritersfountain 