Poetry Prompt April 3, 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 Stranger Conversations: Start the first line of your poem with a word or phrase from a recent passing conversation between you and someone you don’t know.   Todays Poem The Insufficiency of Your Love  10 March 2023  The insufficiency of your love  Could have kept me alive longer  Raise your hand as high as you can  Now raise it higher  What the hell is that?  That is the insufficiency of your love  If you could have taken a moment  And thought about someone outside of your brain  Maybe just maybe you would have picked me  But you chose the most athletic kids to play ball with  Reminding me that although being last picked by you  Because no one else would pick me at all  Was what I should expect  When you taught me the meaning of trophy family  Without saying a word,  I embraced the role of being an embarrassment   I delved into the depths of De Sade and other of that denizen  Knowing I was stabbing your heart  Until I declared you dead to me  Your love and acceptance   Is no longer required or desired  Yes, that is my blood on that knife  The same one your silent partner chased me around the house with  Yes, these cuts are in cursive   So, I can remember them and lie to my children   Who can read what I wrote  I hear remnants of your voice in mine  Sometimes I just want to rip out my throat  And silence both of us  Sometimes when I look at this husk  I see a foggy glimpse of you  And smash my face against the mirror  The insufficiency of your love wasn’t what killed me off  That was all my doing  I wouldn’t give you the pleasure of thinking  That what you did caused this decision  I took myself out of the picture years ago  Ensuring whatever influenced your existence  Never saw the light of day again  It was easy, quick, and not a tear was shed  And when it was done  I put on my new skin  Replaced the diseased innards  Promptly forgot where I came from  And set my compass for elsewhere  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 nex This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy