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NaPo 2022 Recap
30 poems in 30 days. NaPoWriMo is a feat — not unlike NaNoWriMo. In 30 days, I managed to come up with some good ideas, one really good poem, some filler, and one poem about picking up dog poop. The dog poop piece was very close to the end of the 30 days.
I have participated in NaPo for 4 or 5 years now. Each year has felt a bit different. I should preface this paragraph by telling you that I participate in a closed poetry critique group — I have worked with these same poets for the last 10 years or so. These poets and other friends do NaPo together each year. The poems are not accessible to the public — only to the poets participating. This protects publishing rights later.
Each year I grow more relaxed with the process. The first couple of years, I was sure that I was going to run out of poems before the month was out. After that, I tried hard to be a good poet during NaPo — tried writing profound work. Last year, I got some publishable work out of the process. This year, I wrote about profound moments of deep simplicity — and dog poop.
Now, I begin organizing the pieces into those to work on, those that can go out right now, and those to toss. I workshop my pieces with this same group of poets.
I believe it is important to have a group of writers to help hone skills and pieces. I trust their input. Their comments always give me food for thought — help me see the work from a different angle. That can be so helpful in letting a poem come into its own. As one of these friends always tells me, the poem will tell you when it is finished.
I hope that each of you found at least one poem that moved you during this past month or one that took you to an unexpected and little visited place inside yourself. Yay for NaPo!
copyright/all rights reserved Audrey Howitt 2022
