National Poetry Month 2018

I have been looking forward to and preparing for National Poetry Month since February. April is also National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), a challenge to write a poem a day for 30 days. It’s a great way to celebrate, and there will be a poem a day on this site for the next month, including today (it’s down below). Update: To see all the poems that have been posted thus far, click here.

Before getting into the first poem, I want to share some links to help out other people who want to participate in this month’s celebration and challenge, and let you know what else I have prepared for all of you.

First, here’s a list of a handful of places to find poetry prompts:

• NaPoWriMo will have daily prompts.
• Kelly Russell Agodon has 30 prompts to get you through NaPoWriMo. 
• Writer’s Digest has a poetry prompt every Wednesday.
• Toads has new prompts every few days.
• dVerse has several prompts a month.

Hopefully, this selection of prompts will contain something that inspires you to write poetry this month. If you know of other sites with poetry prompts, please post a link and description in the comments below.

That brings me to my next request. I’d love to see what you all are working on, so please feel free to share your poems in the comments or provide a link in the comments on where we can find your poem (whether it’s on your blog or a link to a literary magazine where we can view it). Please feel free to share one every day. Also, if there’s a poem you love by another author, feel free to share a link to the poem. This month is all about sharing the love of poetry.

Finally, if you haven’t been to my Facebook page, there’s a link on the right hand side of the screen. Here’s what I plan to share over there this month:

• Spoken word performances by other authors (to be posted every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon)
• Links to poems, by other authors and bloggers, that I love (postings will be scattered throughout the month)

Without further ado, here’s the first poem of the month.

Holding On

I write about cherry blossoms
like they’re my last connection
to my grandmother.

I write about stars
as if they will lead me
past my grandfather’s grave.

I write about desire
to think of fond memories
without pain.

I write about fear and loss
like those are the only feelings
I know.

But I keep writing because I
don’t want to lose those
memories through avoidance.

I will fight for those memories
until they are no longer tainted
by loss.

They are my happy memories
and I will write until I
remember what they feel like.