National Poetry Month / NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2019

Friends, here we go again! It’s the lovely month of April, not at all the “cruellest month” old uncle T. S. Eliot called it. Won’t you join me in writing a poem each day throughout the month? Maureen Thorson’s first NaPoWriMo prompt suggests we “write poems that provide the reader with instructions on how to do something. It can be a sort of recipe, [or] you could try to play on the notorious unreliability of instructional manuals (if you’ve ever tried to put IKEA furniture together, you know what I mean). You could even write a dis-instruction poem, that tells the reader how not to do something.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “For today’s prompt, write a morning poem. Maybe you’re a morning person, maybe not. Your poem can be about a morning. Or it can be set during the morning. And those who’ve done this before probably already know that I have no problem with you interpreting this as a ‘mourning poem.’” Here's my tanka for the day, or for the morning, mashing up both of the prompts above. Not a Morning Person: How to Wake Up Just swim, ponderous dog-paddle and slo-mo kicks, bottom of the well, cylinder of thick liquid, till you break through, light too bright! —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Those of you who have followed my April poetry-writing in past years know that my good friend Thomas Alan Holmes has often taken part and I've posted his April poems alongside mine. Alas, Alan is unable to do the project this year. I've told him that if he writes an occasional poem in the month of April, I'd be glad to host them intermittently. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don’t find the word “comments” in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

NaPoWriMo / PAD 2019 • Pick a day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30