NaPoWriMo – can I do it?

I didn’t think that NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month), where you’re supposed to write a poem a day for all of April, was something I’d ever do. I don’t usually like to write on demand, I hate being told what to do, and I tend to have an itchy reaction to rules.

But, it’s been a pretty slow poetry-writing year, and when Emma said she was planning to do it, I had a sudden feeling that that might be just what I needed to give me a bit more of a poetry-writing kick. Knowing my issues with rules, and with an eye to practicality, I know it’s likely that I won’t write a poem every day, and I’ve accepted that most of the ones I write might well be crap, but if I’m thinking about poetry every day, and trying to write something, that can only be good.

In fact, I’ve already broken the rules. April, and NaPoWriMo, began yesterday and I didn’t even think to write a poem. In my defence, it was the end of a busy week, the JAAM deadline was the day before, and I wasn’t feeling very well. But to make up for it, today I’ve written three poems. Or rather three poem-like things. Unlike many other NaPoWriMo participaters, I will not be publishing my fresh new poems on my blog – I’m generally not much of a poem sharer until I’m pretty happy with something, and it usually takes me quite a bit of time before I know whether I’m happy with it or not.

Of course, April is kind of a stupid month for me to be doing this because, as I mentioned earlier, the deadline for JAAM 28 has just passed, which means that Clare and I are going to spend the next wee while elbow deep in submissions for our DanceDanceDance issue. Though, on the plus side, I find that reading other people’s poetry tends to get me into a poetry space, and can send me spinning off into quite random poetry directions. So, am I planning to parasitically use to your submissions to inspire me to write my own poems? Yes, yes I am.