I designate myself a poet reluctantly, as I know while I often write work that isn’t prose, I’m still unsure if it is true poetry. My dissonance is reconciled when I tell myself that poetry is art and that art is a process. So long as I earnestly attempt or practice poetry, I am a poet regardless of if I’ve ever successfully written an actual poem.
Having said that, I qualify myself to participate in National Poetry Month by submitting 30 poems for 30 days over the month of April. And now being an official participant, I as an emissary extend the invitation for you to also join along. I’m not actually sure if there are “rules,” but what I’m doing is simple. Start writing a poem every day, finish that poem by end of the day. No overthinking or harsh judgment. Whatever state it is in by end of the day it will be considered “done” and will be posted and shared. All styles of poetry are valid and welcome, though I will focus on narrative, lyric, and imagery.
30 Poems for 30 Days
- Love is God (4/1/2019) - A god that needs my defense has lost my belief, while I will advocate the Devil and not abdicate my seat so long as I strike at his head and he at my feet.
- Groupie (4/2/2019) - I need a minor second of your time Because if we don't have harmony, You're no friend of mine Because me and my friends align At least three-quarters of the time So we ought to be just fine.
- She Called Me a Poet (4/3/2019) - She called me a poet To what do I owe this Because when I speak other's notice? That my verbs stray to wordplay? That I've recited what you've heard me say?
- Running From my Fear (4/4/2019) - Again I have been running from my fear And for a minute there, I lost my self From darkness did the terror swiftly near Unsettling as night, my path engulfs A stumbling escape on weary legs A chariot by motored wheel brings death The road before obscured both dark and vague And panicked air left hanging on my breath
- Held (4/5/2019) - An embrace is a tragic reminder That I can hold on to love But never possess it. Phantom limbs leave a numb tingle where they used to surround me And I chuckle when it occurs to me I can no longer juggle your emotions Without your arms.
- A Toast (4/6/2019) - Climbed a straight ladder Just to place my mind over my grey matter Stay scatter brained prattle lines lame chatter "Cheers!" Look away, glass of champagne shattered
- You’ll get it in the end (4/7/2019) - Everyone's ex is crazy Including your ex's ex. And maybe your next. She has received harsh names But Karma is nothing but elegant
- “Why”s Make the Wise (4/8/2019) - The question resembles the answer Like the lock resembles key Necessity is the silhouette of a solution And as the Chasm is also the shape of what is yet to fill it
- Rise, Phoenix, Rise (4/9/2019) - Rise, phoenix, rise To the zenith in the skies You're the freest as you fly You're surprised But you survived
- Mote of Dust (4/10/2019) - Cosmic existential woes Pour with the torrential flow Venture toward the center And I enter elemental glow
- Bathe in Night-Sun (4/11/2019) - The sleepy sun releases her grip from Where she hangs in the sky Floating slowly and gently to the ground Like a child blown bubble Made of match flame and filled with joyful breath
- Where there’s smoke (4/12/2019) - It can take less than a minute for a fire to take your life As it swallows the oxygen from the air around you When you are near me Is this how you take my breath away?
- Excuse Me, Can I Help You? (4/13/2019) - Excuse me, can I help you? Am I the card that life has dealt you? If so you can shuffle again There's been enough of you men And your solicitation
- Bitch, I am Fabulous (4/14/2019) - You may need to call an ambulance for the awesomeness avalanche. It would be to your advantage to advance with caution Because each portion of my power quotient is potent.
- Office Gossip (4/15/2019) - We all come here to earn our bread But really, it's a rumor mill instead Grinding grains of truth into flowery Half baked stories
- It Looked Good on Paper (4/16/2019) - A day reads as a passage read aloud That more resembles hallways looked up close And leads to tiny, cluttered chambers cramped With verbose mind and punctuation thoughts.
- I Have The Best Words (4/17/2019) - I know words No words leave me stumped I need more words. Twitter. Donald Trump.
- I Struggle With Words (4/18/2019) - I struggle with words Like I struggle with bowling balls Once I send them off They never seem to hit quite right
- Love the way you love yourself (4/19/2019) - Love the way you love yourself If you find you don't Love yourself differently Until you do
- Prince of Lies (4/20/2019) - You may paint me a villain Once I was your prince But now Machiavellian Caught with my hands stained in vermillion
- Affection Confection (4/21/2019) - My love is a confection mixed with bitter herbs Tubes of sour lemon icing, disguised in pink and blue Milk white filling leaks from parted lips again Half baked emotions don't contain the recipe flavors
- Diamond Jacket Button (4/22/2019) - Conversations hung in the air suspended on rising warmth from an active street Billowing syllables soup into a moist ether
- Stretch (4/23/2019) - I always remember to stretch in the morning.In a therapy session, I was once askedwhy I looked so uncomfortable.I replied that it was because I was in a therapy session.The therapist told me to relax,and for the first time in my lifeI was prompted to stretch. “Never be too afraid of formalityto give yourself the […]
- A Triolet on a Valley Near Banner Elk (4/24/2019) - Billowing Earth and voluptuous hill Sonorous hum of the deep valley creek Cavernous mouth that no supper could fill Billowing Earth and voluptuous hill
- Familiar and Distant (4/25/2019) - It's ironic, when asked to recall my family's voice my first thought is a threat to literally put words in my head.
- Allow me not to introduce myself (4/26/2019) - An introduction is the act of colliding my ego against social expectation. Whichever is most brittle determines how awkward I feel
- If I lost my name (4/27/2019) - If I lost my name How would I be called? Would it be by my calling? I would like that to be How I am known To mold my spirit to My purpose
- He Realized He Had Forgotten His Wallet (4/28/2019) - He didn't make it far before he realized he had forgotten his wallet but he already decided it wasn't worth continuing on.
- This is the location where I’d like for us to meet (4/29/2019) - Cobblestone and brickwork from an alleyway emerged At an intersection where two narrow roads converged Opening a pathway to a seldom traveled street This is the location where I'd like for us to meet
- I struggle with the code (4/30/2019) - My face is worn by a million men With a mouth that speaks for a multitude Each word must be beaded On a narrow thread
My goal is to improve as a writer by using National Poetry Month as a period of practice and refinement. I also hope to help further discover and develop my own personal voice. In short, this will be a playful experiment. Hopefully, it will also be fun, insightful, entertaining, interesting, and meaningful.