NaPoWriMo

Hello, imaginary readers of my poetry blog! You'll be pleased to know that I intend to write 30 poems in 30 days starting in April.

Because April is National Poetry Month and that's my favorite month of the year- when tree pollen isn't having their way with my sinuses. Learn more about awesome activities for National Poetry Month by visiting Poets.org's fabulous website. Fabulous activities they are hosting include (but are not limited to): poem in a pocket, Dear poet, and 30 more ways to celebrate.

If I remember, I'd like to try committing a new poem to memory. I'll be picking something from here. Perhaps...

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
William Wordsworth 

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

I have listed my blog at NaPoWriMo and I'm using Camp NaNoWriMo to help keep me motivated and connected to my friends who are also participating in a 30 day writing challenge (Hi Sleazer and Michelle!)

Oh, maybe I'll make some youtube videos!

I don't know man, let's have fun with this!

February Poetry Week: it begins...

look, I made a banner thing!

Oh hey, there! Welcome to a week of poetry. This week of poetry prompts was originally created by the Wilde Workshop to prepare us for National Poetry Writing Month. There will be one more in March, before NaPoWriMo starts. We will be work-shopping these prompts privately, but I wanted to share this practice with y'all, in case you find it useful.

The goal of this practice is to challenge yourself to write a poem-a-day. Each day of this week, I'll post a prompt that you can use to get your creative mojo juicing. You don't have to consider yourself a poet to participate! I'd like to invite you to join us by posting your poems, inspiration, prompts that work for you, and encouragement in the comment section. Maybe we can motivate each other to make it happen!

Not every poem you write this week will be good, or even mediocre. Writing is hard and we can't hit the perfect note every time we put pen to paper, or finger pads to keyboard, but we have to work our creative muscles so when we do hit the note, we can sing the whole song. It's a silly metaphor, but it's true.

Your first poetry prompt is to use the following words in a poem: cinnamon, Osage orange, molecular.

They don't have to be in any particular order and if it works better plural or as an adjective, do it. As long as the root stays intact. No particular length or form.




Have fun! Can't wait to see what y'all have up your sleeve :)

A quick note on paper poems and writing

I've tried to like e-book poetry, but I don't think it's my jam, which is rather a shame since that's how I self-published. I'm contemplating different ways to do a second edition. If I reserved all rights to Amazon, I could just have the book go through them. This would be very convenient but a very snobby, elitest part of me feels that would simply be feeding the beast.

But to make this artisan, I would have to get down and dirty with some book binding, which is not something I ever learned to do. I'm not sure how that would end.

I'm contemplating many things right now. Back in the day of Chaucer and other folks, they would have a single book that would be passed from noble to noble. Books were precious and printing them was a pain in the arse. This is a distinct possibility.

I'm also considering an idea, of about 5 seconds age. What about a book that grows old? I kind of like the idea of this... I've known I would never, ever, make a living off of poetry. No poet does. It's a fraking shame. What if I made a book that grew in perpetuity? I wonder what that would look like. Worth contemplation.

I'm also thinking about pinterest-ifying my poems. That's a thing? What about pinterest books of poems. What would that look like? Too kitschy?

In other news, workshop related...Want to write a poem a day? Join us. Resistance is futile. Us wylde, Wilde, wild writers are gearing up to start a week of poetry prompts. We've been doing it monthly. We're prepping ourselves for NaPoWriMo. Come to think of it- it would be kind of fun to do some stuff here? I'll post the prompts and y'all can use 'em if you want. We'll get something going, yeah? Moar poetry! Poems poem poems poems. Write.

It's nice to see y'all in 2014. Hibernating is bad, this time of the year. All of the trees are barren. The ground is made of cold, green spikes. The air is difficult to breathe. I tend to hibernate and eat as much as possible. Winter is a hard business and hopefully next weeks poem-a-day will help me grasp that flame. I'm really cold, right now. That's not a metaphor. My office is freezing and I wish that I could be warm for five whole minutes.