National Poetry Writing Month 2022 April 14th 2022

History of National Poetry Writing Month 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 the National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada. NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April. This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, or 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. My History with National Poetry Writing Month 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 Espesso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. This continued for many years when I ran my own poetry reading at Cannova's in Loves Park Illinois and attended the poetry slams at The green Mill in Chicago Illinois. 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 2009 I started participating in National Poetry Writing Month which became the basis for my book Wisdom From the Sack and Shaving Crop Circles in My Chest Hair. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021. April 14th Poetry Prompt And now for our (optional) prompt. Today’s challenge is a fun one: write a poem that takes the form of the opening scene of the movie of your life. Does it open with a car chase? A musical number? A long scene panning across a verdant plain? You’re the director (and also the producer, the actors, the set designer, the cinematographer, and the lowly assistant that buys doughnuts for the crew) – so it’s all up to you! April 14th Poem Big Bang  14 April 2022  There’s a smattering of people sitting in an early 70’s movie theater  Trails of cigarette smoke rise through the air  You can hear the sounds of shoes moving across a sticky floor  Most everyone had seen the picture before  This was the winter of 72 and The Godfather was heading out after a phenomenal run  The lights started to go down, someone snored, someone else lit up a joint  The projector kicked on and the single lamp illuminated the yellowed screen  A pregnant couple with a 4 year old boy sat toward the back  Both parents smoking and sneaking a drink from a flask  Just as the opening credits started to roll  The mother cries out from the contractions  She hollers as tears start to form in the boy's eyes  The time is now and wasn’t expected for a week or more  This was supposed to be their X-mas baby  That was what the father wanted  Because you get all the clothes from the hospital   He sighs and mutters about the money he has spent  On tickets popcorn and drinks  As she grunts and the boy narrowly doesn’t wet his pants  They leave the theater  Hearing patrons shush the mother   Not knowing or caring about her predicament  The father climbs behind the wheel  And starts to warm the car  Mother and son sit in the back seat  She is crushing his little hand  The father lights another smoke and rolls the window down a crack  As they get to the hospital and swerving to the ER  The attendants rush the mother inside  The boy and the father sit in the waiting room  He’s smoking again, the boy silent and very alone  After 4 AM, the boy looking at the father who has fallen asleep  Between the snores and coughs  A doctor steps out  Calls out the father's name  The boy wonders if he should answer  And again, he hears the name  The boy speaks he’s asleep  Reaching Out To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation. Email: [email protected] YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel IG: @createartpodcast Twitter: @createartpod This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy