What is National Poetry Writing Month?

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Prompt for today

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a platonic love poem. In other words, a poem not about a romantic partner, but some other kind of love – your love for your sister, or a friend, or even your love for a really good Chicago deep dish pizza. The poem should be written directly to the object of your affections (like a letter is written to “you”), and should describe at least three memories of you engaging with that person/thing.

Poem for Today

When You Found Me 

2 April 24 

When you found me 

I was at the ripe old age of 19 

Didn’t know my ass from a hole in the ground 

And some days I feel the same 

When I walked into that coffee shop in Abilene Texas 

And I still live there in my mind  

You welcomed me 

Gave me a start on my journey 

Made sure My Favorite Things played 

In that dust bowl of a town 

Where I thought I had landed on Mars 

And the civilization I had encountered before 

Didn't prepare me for what was ahead 

When you found me again 

As I was driving all over my hometown of Screw City 

Getting high 13 times a day 

I sat there with an old friend 

Whose feet stank of bad cheese 

Who didn’t have enough money to pay for electricity 

Who had a god that he followed religiously 

Whose sister was my next conquest 

You stood by me and made sure my car didn’t kill anyone 

Including me 

You and my old friend listened to my rantings 

As I read books from other madmen 

And found that you had found them as well 

And I wanted to emulate them 

In hopes you would cradle me in your warmth 

When you found me next 

I was still on the weed 

And I handed you over to my nephew 

In hopes he would surpass me 

In hopes he wouldn’t have to struggle as much 

In hopes he would be able to handle the dragon raging on the inside 

You found him, but he was too young 

And had others finding him 

Helping him tell his story 

Accompanying him through his journey 

And now in the mornings when he sleeps in after driving around all night 

I invoke you to slip into his brain and provide some sort of relief 

When you found me for the first time 

Before the coffee...