NaPoWriMo begins today, and continues through April. I do this every year - come here, to my laptop, with
the intention of filling the month with poems - and every year, I work through the
same sad cycle. I write, at first, at a glorious white heat, all flash and fire,
all struck spark. After a week or so of a poem each day, the heat goes out a
little, and only glows. Then finally, by the end of the month, there's little
left at all - just a slow gold
smouldering in the grate. A line here if I'm lucky, a single image there. An
exquisite state of frustration every writer knows.
How to find the minutes, when the hours slip through
the fingers like small change. How to find the words, when the brain has gone
mute. It feels like waiting for lightning to strike. To be scorched by it; to
be that lucky.
I wanted, this year, to create a space specifically
for those April poems. An empty space I cannot help but want to fill. A space
that is invited-readers-only, and therefore, somehow, safe. A way of holding
myself accountable. An organised base from which I can link to the blogs of
other NaPoWriMo writers, and read some new poetry.
Maybe it will help keep the momentum going. Maybe not.
Maybe the words will still leave at some juncture like the snow geese heading
South for Winter. But I hope not. I hope.
If you're interested in reading, if you're participating in National Poetry Writing Month yourself, if you want access to the poetry I'll be putting on the new blog, please leave your email address in the comments so I can add you to the list of invited readers. I don't want the blog to be public as a lot of magazines and journals won't publish poetry that has appeared on open blogs as they consider it 'previously published', but I do want to share NaPoWriMo with as many of you as possible, whether you're along for the ride or just enjoying the view...
