Wednesday 4 April 2012

NapoWriMo, day 4

I've written three poems in three days, and any other month, I'd be delighted, but it's April, and this has become usual. I'm trying not to evaluate whether the three very different poems--one a nature poem in fragments, one more linear, one a prose poem--have any value, so as to stay focused on the momentum. I'd be glad to hear others' experiences....

21 comments:

  1. Frank Dullaghan9:22 am

    Four poems in four days - so sticking with it. I think some of the pieces will form part of a sequence poem rather than stand up by themselves. But, like you, my objective is just to write something everyday. Even a haiku will be fine. I'll evaluate at the end of the month. But the great thing is, that there will be lots of good material to continue working on.

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  2. Have written a villanelle on sunspots, a free verse piece on reading ages and a sonnet on Spring, written in terms of a war movie. I sense a need for something less flip. Subject matter is toughest. Last time I did this, I prepared a list of possible subjects in March. Missing one, now.

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  3. When I decided to do this challenge, I also decided to work on a sequence I've been thinking about for a week or so. So my poems so far are part of that, and as part of something I imagine being quite long, they are developing their own syntaxes and forms. I have no idea what it will all be on April 30, but it's interesting to make, and it's nice to play. Glad to be doing it–it's reminded me how easy it can be when I let it, and of the value of just making things and seeing what happens afterwards.

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  4. I am working on the poem that I should have written yesterday. I can do this. I will just have to write two today somehow. I have two very different poems so far. One playing with language, the other based on a view when I was in Cornwall to give a reading on Monday. The momentum seems to be key, but it is difficult not to fret about the value of each poem and to fiddle with it too much when that can come later perhaps.

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  5. I'm finding this is quite a liberating way of starting a days' work; even though I'm not sure yet how I feel about any of the stuff I've written, there's a certain degree of pressure lifted in knowing that I'm writing something each day, to come back to later. I'm finding I do that and then can start some other work feeling like something has come out! They are loosely related to a long poem I am writing at the moment, so as others have found, may form some sort of sequence.

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  6. Have taken this opportunity to begin a daily project I'd had in mind for about a year, inspired by an agenda I found for the year 1932, distributed by the french electricity company. Am loving my daily ritual of integrating text and images. I think about Lorine Niedecker's calendar poems, which I admire for their appearance of spontaneity, and the warmth of her handwriting.

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  7. It's good - much more positive a feeling than when I've started one of these writing months before. I tend to write in bursts and there's a lot of diverse stuff bubbling up just now - little things, but they're not haiku. This morning it's an imaginative reconstruction of two of yesterday's cloudscapes. I'm finding the photography training I did last year has made me much more aware of clouds. I'm grateful for the prompt, Carrie. Thank you!

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  8. Anonymous11:45 am

    So far, I have been experimenting with the same theme and employing different different poetic transmitors to convey it. I think Graham's comment is relevant with regard to keeping the momentum going, as is Eireann's.

    Natalia.

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  9. Kit Kennedy3:04 pm

    Using this opportunity as a month-long writing project on one piece of which I don't know where it will take me -- always to the good. Took a work-in-progress piece and labeled it Prologue. Seems to be calling for a daily 3 pages, 3 stanzas per page, 3 lines per stanza with the occasional page of one line. Carrie, thanks for creating this opportunity to play & explore.

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  10. I've discovered the same thing, Carrie--not to fixate on the value. When this is all over, I will see what I have. In the meantime, onward!

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  11. Bob Walton3:57 pm

    Three pieces in the first three days - a 300% improvement on the past three months. the first day was always going to be the most difficult - visiting friends in London - but I stole an anti-social hour as an indication to myself that I was determined to give this a go. At this stage I'm putting the pieces under one title, 'Songs from the Labyrinth,' so London Underground was a helpful starting point. Thanks for stirring us up like this - it's the way you do it, you littl'ol' poetry activist, you.

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  12. My comment turned out a bit tl:dr, so I started a blog: http://turnpushturnpull.blogspot.com/

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  13. Linda Black5:21 pm

    About to begin day 4 poem (late in the day)- can't regard what I have as poems though, more possiblities towards. I like to leave them and come back a lot later - months maybe - and see if I have anything I can work on, so for me its a resource (hopefully).

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  14. Anonymous6:21 pm

    Three short poems in the first three days... but they're more like fragments than poems. Still, this is as much writing as I have done since, well, maybe September...

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  15. Kristina Close7:42 pm

    Snow on the hill earlier and now freezing wind so am inclined to stop and stare into the fire. Day 4 and am stuck already in hibernation.

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    Replies
    1. Don't give up, Kris! Look at these 30 prompts Kelli Russell Agodon posted last year for NaPoWriMo for ideas.

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  16. Hazel Hammond8:23 pm

    This is so good, four pieces of text which may be poems in four days ( all to Alisons photos as I intended) for the project. Whether there is anything worth saving we shall see . I'll probably start going over them in a couple of weeks. At the moment I'll just keep going. Off to london for four days next week but i shall take the lap top, the motivation and the group support. Thanks Carrie !

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  17. Dikra Ridha9:58 pm

    This process is making me write poems again after 2 years of not producing anything new. In terms of theme, three of the pomes are on reflecting on the current events happening in my life at present, but one felt like old times, with shape and some editing. Although quality is yet to be discovered, I feel I'm on the right path at least.

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  18. Anonymous11:15 pm

    I have written four poem so far, and the process has been exhilarating! I have written all but one directly on the computer, and the subject matter has been totally intuitive. One poem is about the April Fool, one is a letter from Anna Karenina to Emma Bovary, one is about Red Riding Hood in the belly of the wolf, and one is about a phone call I got from my brother and Fiddlehead ferns. It's been like a little electric storm. I hope it continues!

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  19. Thanks, everyone, for your posts--they're so heartening to read! I love the idea, Eileen, of writing a poem a day creating a kind of "electric storm"--that's it! That captures what I feel in the process so well....

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  20. Jenny Martin7:47 pm

    Eight poems so far, just because if I write a bad one I attempt to write a better one. They are getting pretty surreal - which usually doesn't happen until the half-way point, but I'm merrily going with the flow. I love NapoWriMo. I tend to respond pretty well to this challenge and it sets me up with a good amount of material to work with throughout the rest of the year.

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