One-Week Countdown: Day 1

Eee! Can you feel the poetry excitement in the air? NaPoWriMo begins tomorrow!

For all you early birds who’d like to post your first poems as soon as possible on April 1 (and in recognition of the fact that, by the time NaPoWriMo rolls around on the east coast of the United States, it will already have been April 1 for some hours in much of the globe), today we are featuring an “extra” prompt. As always, the prompts are optional. If this one doesn’t suit you, or if you have other ideas, feel free to ignore!

Without further ado, the prompt is this: Take a look at this poem by Bernadette Mayer, a “New York School” poet whose highly influential book, Sonnets, was recently reissued by Tender Buttons Press. Like other poets associated with the New York School, Mayer pushed the boundaries of what poetry could be and could talk about, writing in a straightforward, highly vernacular style that belies the rhetorical complexity of the work. Mayer’s lamentation for the other lives we could have led is something we probably have all felt. Today, why not try writing your own poem that begins “I guess it’s too late to live on a farm”? Or if you already live on a farm, why not “I guess it’s too late to live in the city”? Or, if you’ve lived on both farms and in cities, perhaps it’s too late to live on a boat or in the mountains or on the moon or in an underground missile silo?

By the way, for those of you in search of greater inspiration than our daily prompts may provide, Mayer is the author of a well-loved series of journaling ideas and poetry “experiments” that have kept generations of budding and experienced poets happily engaged. If you feel your creativity sagging, why not check it out?

In the meantime, Happy Writing!