Poetry Prompt April 30, 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 I’d like to challenge you to write a palinode – a poem in which you retract a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem. For example, you might pick a poem you drafted earlier in the month and write a poem that contradicts or troubles it. This could be an interesting way to start working on a series of related poems. Alternatively, you could play around with the idea of a palinode by writing a poem in which the speaker says something like “I take it back” or otherwise abandons a prior position within the single poem.  At One Time  30 April 2023  You used to be important to me  I even let you seep into my world  Mine  The world of words  That I crafted for others  And let you reside for one or two works  I looked to you to provide guidance and called you Papa  I wanted to be the ideal son  I don’t know when I felt that I should  And most normal families  According to your third trophy wife  Are set up that way  And she said that because  I told you not to come unannounced  I gave you restrictions  To protect my mental health  To protect the family I cocreated  I told you both not to send anything without checking  And you could not abide  You could not follow directions  You could not honor my life  So you were discarded  I won’t speak your name in my house  I won’t call you Papa  Or father or friend or mentor  Especially after the one call you did receive  At a time when I knew you wouldn’t be home  And I left the last message  You would ever receive from me  You were renamed sperm donor  Which is what you were  But you were so much more  You were my tormentor  You instilled the hatred of my body  My mind  My choices  You instilled that I shouldn’t ever be satisfied with myself  Which is not the same as never being satisfied with the status quo  I have to lie to my children  And beg their forgiveness later in life  When they find out you didn’t die  When I vaguely mentioned that you did  No details  Just death  Because you are dead to me  But you still live in me  And the hatred I have felt of myself  Reminds me of your hold  Your influence  But the victory comes  When the day you will actually die  And I won’t fear you showing up at my door  Ad having to explain to my children who the person  I won’t let in the house   Standing on the porch  Waiting to infect  The poison  The poison you injected into me  They may ask who that person is  And again I will lie to them  It's just easier this way  Then describing your sickness  So I do thank you for one thing  And that is being the photo negative  I don’t ever want to be  Other than that  I’ll see you in hell  And that is what you mean to me  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