April 25: I added a piece of community news to wrap up this entry. Go check it out!

Welcome to week three, everyone! How goes the versification?

There are only seven days left in April. For me, these last few days promise to overflow with activity: sprinting through essays at four in the morning, cramming for exams between classes, and penning poetry in the dead of the night. What can I say? I thrive on stress. [/blatant_lie]

I hope that cramming, desperation, and unintelligible poetry are not in your end-of-April future. (But if they are, never fear: we can start a club! ) I also hope that you're on the road to successfully completing your NaPoWriMo goals!

Completing those goals is a demanding business: it often requires a mental readjustment (especially for us newer poets and NaPoWriMo'ers), a willingness to buckle down, fail better, and improve on victory. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for everyone who took the poetic plunge: for those of you who have managed to keep up a constant stream of poetry this month and for those of you still versifying away, whether you've just begun or are just now starting poem number ten. Give yourselves a hand!

So what did you set out to do this month? Have your goals changed? Have you accomplished them? On track to accomplishing them? Fallen behind like nobody's business?

PROMPTS for APRIL 24-30

Write a poem that uses the atmosphere and/or key themes/elements of your favorite genre of fiction (for example: a horror poem)

Have you noticed trends in your poetry? Certain words, themes, or images that you use repeatedly? Make a list of those trends and use them in a poem. Alternately, use the opposites of those trends in a poem.

Write a poem that uses the sounds of a certain location (the soundscape) to tell a story.

Describe the aftermath of a scene from three (or more) points of view.

From ToastedCheese.com [link]

Write about something that could have happened, but didn't.

Write about facing something you're not (or a character is not) prepared for.

Write about observing someone without their knowing.

Identify your Ideal Reader. Write something just for him/her.

Address this question to yourself, someone you know, or a character in a poem: "Were you scared when…?"

Onward, poets!

COMMUNITY NEWS

~jagrier celebrates poetry and pairs NaPoems with artwork in the wonderful feature, "Poetry + Art." Find the first of the three features ("Early April Poetry") here [link] and the second (Mid-April poetry) here [link]. Check it out!