I apologize for being away so long, but I took a wonderful vacation to Puerto Vallarta, and returned with COVID-19. I’m only now beginning to feel like I have a functioning brain again, and that’s only for a short part of the day. When I’m feeling all better, I should have beautiful pictures, and writing from my trip to share which will most likely sneak into my poems and posts this NaPoWriMo.
I received this year’s poster from Academy of American poets in the mail the other day. I really like this year’s design. You can find out about their events and get their graphic on the poets.org page.
While I was trying to decide on my Blogging A to Z theme this year, I found myself thinking, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Every year, I hope to write better poems that speak to and inspire more readers. And each year I hope to write more than one poem a day, so I have poems to revise and submit when the month is over, but I find that one poem and a post are all I have in me each day. So how will this year be different? How can I change my Poetry Month experience to get to different results?
My first idea was to not participate in any of the blogging challenges this year, and only write unpublished drafts each day, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, I’m going to the other extreme: complete poetry immersion.
I decided to use this month as the first four weeks of the eight week Portable MFA Poetry program by Rita Gabis from the book, (assoc. link)The Portable MFA in Creative Writing from The New York Writers Workshop. I’ve started it in the past, but not made it past the second week. I’ll be discussing each week’s program and my progress. I hope you readers will keep me accountable.
2024 Blogging A to Z
Theme: Miscellaneous poetry topics inspired by reading physical Poets & Writers Magazine issues from July 2018 – February 2021.
I pulled out all of my physical copies of Poets & Writers. I have every issue from Autumn of 2018 through January/February of 2021. I plan to read every page of each issue cover to cover, one issue every two days, and share what I find most interesting in that issue for two letters of the alphabet.
For example: The first issue I’ll be reading is the July/ August 2018 issue with Terrance Hayes on the cover. Only looking at the cover, I see it’s the literary Agents issue, so A might be for Agents, or (assoc. link)American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes, or the African fabric print on his t-shirt because have some fabric with that exact print on it in my closet that I bought in West Africa. B might be for Jamel Brinkley because there is an interview with him inside. Who knows what will actually grab my attention and be what I want to write about once I read the entire issue.
I thought to further explore each magazine, I would cut them up and use them to make collages to illustrate my blog posts. Flipping through this first issue, it appears that my imagery will include a lot of faces, book covers, and words.
The Prompts
Each day I will post a poem that combines the daily prompts from NaPoWriMo and the Writer’s Digest PAD (Poem a Day) Challenge. And I may add the dVerse Poets Pub prompt on Monday, Tuesday, and/or Thursday.
This year to be more immersive, I’ve also found a podcast celebrating NaPoWriMo. Poetry Non-Stop will have daily prompts and poems shared by guest poets each day. So their prompts may also sneak into my daily poems.
Today’s Poem
There is an Early Bird prompt at NaPoWriMo, so I thought I’d get in the mood with a new poem.
Prompt: “Pick a word from the list below. Then write a poem titled either “A [your word]” or “The [your word]” in which you explore the meaning of the word, or some memory you have of it, as if you were writing an illustrative/alternative definition.”
An Ocean
Through the searing sand
I raced to you
Even when you appeared calm
you pushed back
with an uninviting chill
that disappeared once
you rose over my chest
and reached my neck
After difficult introductions
we became playmates
inventing games, fun
for their hint of danger
Shells and bones, leftovers
from death, scattered
on the beach, betrayed
the life within your darkness
I gave you my body
and you lifted me as if weightless
All I wanted was to stay
immersed in you
forever, then I would know
pure joy, but with that thought
I also felt my muscles tire
and my guts rumble
and I let you push me
to the shore.
Other Plans for Poetry Immersion
Classes: I’m going to take my favorite free poetry class again. Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop with Douglas Kearney through CALARTS is available online through Coursera. And I’m also going to review the poetry courses on Masterclass: Joy Harjo, Billy Collins, and Amanda Gorman.
Videos: I found a list of interesting looking poetry TED talks. And there’s plenty of interesting results on Youtube when I searched poetry videos.
With these videos and the podcast, I have my vision and hearing full of poetry, but what about my other senses? How do I smell, taste, and touch poetry every day?
1. Each morning in my journal I will write what I am experiencing with my five senses in that moment: I see, I hear, I smell, I feel, I taste . . .
2. At every meal I will note about the flavor, smell, texture, colors, shapes, similes, metaphors, etc. in a notebook.
3. Every day I will select one small object to interact with and describe each day. I will attempt to pick objects with different textures each day to explore touch.
Throughout the month I will attempt to become more specific and more descriptive of all my senses.
I’ll share more about my poetry journey so far this year as it fits with my daily posts. I hope you’ll join me and share your thoughts. If you have any ideas for my poetry immersion in April, please leave them in the comments. I’m looking forward to sharing this poetry intensive with you.
Experience Writing 