Gearing up for NaPoWriMo2010

Just don't say you weren't warned.

National Poetry Month begins tomorrow and so does National Poetry Writing Month, more generally known as NaPoWriMo, a challenge to write and post a poem every single day.

I did it last year and it was a startling experience for me. It gave me some poems I'm proud to have in my oeuvre, some poems that spawned other poems, and some poems that were ho-hum.  It taught me things about my process and gave me new ways to work.  Best of all, completing this challenge convinced me I could complete other challenges.

I swear I credit NaPoWriMo2009 for my success in losing 40 lbs, a challenge I embarked on the very next month.

So I'm doing it again.  I'm scared I won't finish. I'm scared I won't be able to write a poem every day and do all the other creative projects I'm committed to doing.  But I've got to try.

Check out other NaPoWriMo-ers here: NaPoWriMo2010
And get all kinds of poetry goodies here, including signing up for an email Poem a  Day: Academy of American Poets
Knopf will also send you a poem every day in April and has beautiful broadsides you can download and print out. Check out this page: Knopf Poem-a-Day


Big breath. Smile. I'm excited!!
'Zann

strange shelfmates

My poetry books used to be very well organized, now they are just haphazardly shelved. It seemed interesting to me the other day to contemplate the juxtapositions of poets on my shelves...

Allen Ginsberg stands next to Homer

Nikki Giovanni hangs out with Mary Oliver...
Yoko Ono is snuggled between Lorca and Diane DiPrima

Szymborska and Clampitt (I suspect Amy does most of the talking...)

and Sappho cosies up with e.e. cummings (next door to Paris and an old house covered in vines...)