Poetry Prompt April 12, 2023

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 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. 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 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. What I am doing differently for Poetry Month 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. Todays Poetry Prompt Dear Reader: What audience enjoys reading the type of poetry you like to write? Craft a note to your potential audience that addresses their biggest fears, hopes, and dreams.  Todays Poem Read with Caution  8 April 2023  You who are searching for a familiar voice  You who want to laugh at me and my mishaps  You who really like how I keep it real  You have no idea who I am  I give you a peek inside  But I gotta say I cleaned up the back room  If you suddenly drop in unexpected  You'd see something completely different  You think you know my political affiliation  But guess what kiddos, I am as loyal to them  As they are to me  Being an anarchist in libertarian clothes is hard to comprehend  I used to smoke cigs  And I talked about them forever  With a cup of joe and lusting after the dark-haired barista  The only problem is I was too shy to talk to her   I used to have a drink or three  And I just got dizzy and sick   There was no pontifications  That rattled the cages   I used to get high 13 times a day  I kept count at some point, I don’t remember when   But now I can’t partake  Because I love my pension and Retirment more than Mary  I drove around the country to visit friends  Now I can’t stand to drive an hour to get to work  Traffic angers me more  Than injustice  If you knew me when I was fearless  If you knew me when I was invulnerable  If you knew me way back when  Then you know I was not any of those things  I’ve always been a teddy bear  I was the person who would be up at 3 in the morning  And you could call me and have me listen  But now, at 3 AM  I only get up to scare nightmares away  Sign Up for the Create Art Podcast Newsletter Or Subscribe Here Reaching Out To The Podcast 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 Special Message If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to find new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy