by the Read Write Poem Staff
Nelle Lytle encourages you to keep going with your NaPoWriMo poems by writing inside-out or outside-in. She says:
I watch too much HGTV, so I have learned (very well) about bringing the outdoors inside and also turning outside spaces into rooms (which is, apparently, more than putting the old sofa out on the front porch).
In our case, writing inside out (or outside in) means setting your physical or metaphorical inner bits out of doors, to be walked around and looked at from odd angles, as if they were monuments or mailboxes (as an example). Or it could be transforming your internal organs into flowers or letting a pack of four-year-old’s (human or otherwise) loose in your attic.
Write a poem today that illustrates your idea of what is inside-out. ![]()
Reminders for everyone
Read the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Kickoff post for details on how the challenge works — and how you can engage with Read Write Poem this month, no matter what your personal writing challenge is for the month of April.
Please read this page to find out how Read Write Poem’s prompt posts work. Remember that work linked from any post this month is shared in precisely that spirit: sharing, as opposed to critiquing. If you haven’t done so already, please read all the pages under About in the navigation bar.













Not a clue what this means, but I’m sure we’ll get somewhere together…
Jaelle replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Me neither, so here goes:
Today’s metaphor is Inside-Out.
I’m wrecking my brain what it means.
I think I’ll take pictures of a cloud,
That’s Outside enough for me.
nelle replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 10:10 am
nelle is a supplementary personna
all mask
nelle has no exterior to admire or shun
i dont either Dan, im a little confused too. but i am tired, maybe my brain just isnt communicating properly
Ill have to ponder this for awhile…
xxsm
OK Dan, Sweet – there are three of us currently in this boat of perplexity regarding Nelle’s prompt… but I’m just going to jump overboard and start swimming — maybe I will get somewhere?
…rob
Dan Rako replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:23 am
Yeah, sometime you just have to put black on white & see where it goes!
rob kistner replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 2:04 am
…here is my NaPoWriMo #4 – a poem, a haiku, and a collage…
viviblake replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 2:29 am
Both your poems are very satisfying, as is your art – specially the pebbles one. I can’t think inside out yet, but I’m trying.
Inside Out
http://www.dansbait.com/?p=142
Uma Gowrishankar replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:37 am
This is real fast work, a good one at that!
geisha replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 2:02 am
nice one Dan, love the fishbowl perspective!
Marija Sanderling replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 7:10 am
I really like the images in your poem, Dan.
OK so I am not the only one who is saying “What the hey is this?” But I’ll give it a shot.
Griefsong
(after Ted Hughes)
He lost her and she lost him
Their tears washed away then and now
They had no other language…
Read ‘Griefsong’ at http://www.gregoconnell.com on the NaPoWriMo 2010 page (see top menu bar)
barbara_y replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:35 am
I can’t understand your site to find the poems, greg
gregoconnell replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Hi, Barbara. Between the headings SCHOOLS and WORLD FIRST, click on NaPoWriMo 2010 – Greg =)
What an intriguing prompt!
Well, if I get stuck on this I have one or two other poems that need writing.
In the meantime, here is my day four poem (to the day three prompt)
Missing
Inside Out
It lies upon the floor
In a congealing pool of crimson
Wetly vulnerable
Unflinching before my sickened gaze.
Unable to escape judgment
The inevitable foot that will stamp it.
My heart.
Exposed to sunlight.
To every eye it would hide from.
I can’t force it back in my chest.
It is obscene in it’s slick, organic beauty.
Brazenly lying in the open.
Daring me to pick it up.
Reclaim it and make it safe again.
Hands tremble.
Ribs constrict around empty space.
I am so hollow.
I taste the blood on my tongue.
Tucking the screams in my cheeks.
Ordering tear ducts
To offer no merciful dew
To this traitor.
Outside, people pass by.
Unaware of this trauma.
Inside, I stare in mute horror
At my rebellious heart.
Knowing it will never be safe again.
http://legacyleonard.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-prompt-4-inside-out.html
derrick replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 8:34 am
I think you definitely got the idea of the prompt with this! Very good.
nelle replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 10:06 am
nicely exposed
Sara replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 10:09 am
wow I love your style here
Wide awake and on it: LINK TO MY POST
Oooops! …here is my NaPoWriMo #4 – a poem, a haiku, and a collage…
and here’s day 4
http://travelsinthefloatingelvis.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-4th.html
Exterior Decorating
barbara_y replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 10:47 am
I can’t sign in to read your poems.
leatherdykeuk replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
My apologies – my LJ is set to friends only.
Johannes Beilharz replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Yes, there seems to be a problem with this link; a registration prompt comes up.
leatherdykeuk replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
My apologies.
Again writing off prompt (kind of) today – Cold/Empty/Echoing.
Damian replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Not sure what happened there? Cold Empty Echoing. Did that one work?
Damian replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
My day 5 poem was in response to this prompt, though. <a href="http://damianinreallife.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/secret-music-napowrimo/"Secret Music". I guess I’ll post that again when the day 5 prompt happens? Gosh this is confusing.
Damian replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
It’s bad day for me and HTML. Secret Music.
Naught Nelle and her cryptic prompts.
‘Outside In…Inside Out’
Michael Leunig is the most well known cartoonist in Australia.
http://rallentanda.blogspot.com
Thanks for the fun prompt.
Here’s mine: http://culdesaccastaways.blogspot.com/2010/04/disembodied-thoughts-i-have-hope-of.html
Here’s some steamy inside out for you, a probably a bit of upside-down and backward – La Difference
rallentanda replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 4:03 am
Hey,settle down sailor boy
and please don’t try to
pretend that is you in the photo
If somebody whispered
that in my ear
They’d get a thumpin’
with my walking stick
I thought Americans always wore clothes
in flagrante delicto
They do in the movies!
These people must be from a foreign country:)
rob kistner replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Woah Rall -
It’s erotic poetry, written to a prompt over on Keith Ramblings site, Carry On Tuesday. Certainly you’ve heard of erotic poetry in your part of the world — it’s rather universal and timeless… and that picture in my Avatar above is now, ever was, and always will be — me… sad as that might be… ;(
Actually, we Americans go quite naked into our love making. You might want to put that walking stick down and give it a try once in a while — maybe you wouldn’t be so cranky…
Finally, the picture I included with my poem “La Difference”, is from Getty Images — as I noted in the post, and to which I linked.
gregoconnell replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Nip the Nipple
nip the nipple of language
stroke the spine of language
cup the buttock of language
nature has gifted us
sinew and skin
language has gifted us
words
Greg O’Connell 2010
rob kistner replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
That is beautiful Greg…
…rob
Richelle replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I love the alliteration and repetition you use here. I particularly like the line “stroke the spine of language.” That image is pretty powerful.
barbara_y replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:04 am
that would be a la Clockwork Orange, a bit of the old In-out-in-out
Sens dessus dessous
Went to bed at silly o’clock
and rose at half past three
to find the world had gone to sleep.
What’s to become of me?
Everything is inside out
from pants to fancy socks.
The laundry’s in the dishwasher
and I have writer’s block.
Joanne Johns replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 4:10 am
Awesome
rallentanda replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 4:12 am
Ha ..Quel drole! Cute poem
Linda replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Viv, love it!
barbara_y replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:06 am
fun, fun
this may go on the fridge.
Johannes Beilharz replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Just about the funniest piece I’ve ever read about writer’s block
viviblake replied:
April 5th, 2010 at 3:18 am
I’m overwhelmed that everyone seems to like my little bit of doggerel, written in five minutes! Why can’t I write proper poems any more?
inside out
http://crankymango.blogspot.com/2010/04/inside-out.html
I have managed to crawl out of my chocolate induced coma to write Breaking In
Snapshot of a Poet’s Interior
http://www.redbubble.com/people/nebsy/writing/4938050-napowrimo-4
barbara_y replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:25 am
I like that boutique of personnas
Hi there,
I´m not sure if I got the idea but here it´s my haiku: http://bit.ly/8ZwzgT
http://mothersparrow.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/rabbit/
I’m enjoying these prompts. Thanks!
Outside in
Blood, sweat and…well, blood anyway at Scrambled, Not Fried:
http://rlavalette.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/napowrimo-4/
NaPoWriMo #04 Gardens and knees
This one was quite a challenge for me!
Somehow, random thoughts about ‘inside out’ turned into a short poem about setting crossword puzzles and communicating with a partner who speaks a different language, of all things.
I’m not sure if it quite fits the prompt, but I meant well!
http://www.shicho.net/words/?p=1006
Writing off-prompt today, but it sounds interesting, may save it for later days: Day 4
I have two poems from yesterday’s prompt, though one is not really worthy of the name.
http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com
viviblake replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Two terrific poems; the second is well worth working on further.
V
My very first haiku:
April snow covers our knees
Forsythia blooms
In the vase you left last spring.
Cara Holman replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Nice one!
Like others, I was a little confused by this prompt, but I live for trying to make sense of confusion. Here`s my response:
http://poiesis3.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-4-inside-out-conversation.html
http://marcieaf.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-4.html
Read or listen to: “Transubstantiation Is A Crock(pot)”
http://jasoncrane.org/2010/04/04/poem-transubstantiation-is-a-crockpot/
All the best,
Jason
My April 4th Poem Starter, Septolet and Double challenge using the inside out suggestion and random words to create a poem.
It’s on my facebook and also here:
http://dash30dash.ning.com/profiles/blogs/napowrimo-day-4-easter-2010
Enjoy.
Keep Writing.
Here’s today’s contribution.
http://melrosemusings.blogspot.com/2010/04/transmogrification-napowrimo-day-4.html
I kinda liked this prompt. But not sure if I got it.
http://onetimepad.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/esprit-de-lescalier/
A little God got in my Easter Sunday poem. http://rhiannonproblematising.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/napowrimo3-the-presence-in-the-midst/
Thanks for the prompt, I wrote a NaiSaiKu In her living room
whoa, nellie.
making us think too much.
I’ll have to work on this one awhile…
angie werren replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 9:51 am
ok — did it!
http://another2doors.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/uterus/
my response to nelle’s prompt is inside, candy
http://triatriatria.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/self-portrait-in-a-rearview-mirror/
Is having a bunny come into your house to hide eggs inside out enough?
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978150719
Here is my effort:
http://poemblaze.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/inside-out-rwp-napowrimo-4/
So, I took it a little bit literally, and I guess a little bit creepily.
Midnight in the Garden of Oncology
viviblake replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Very powerful. I can see where you’re coming from. Congratulations
Writing this late, but yay, I showed up for Day 4.
personal treasures
http://sadiespoems.blogspot.com/2010/04/inspired.html
When I started thinking about inside and outside, this is what came to my mind: http://poetry.disorderedcosmos.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4a-outside-in/
Chanda replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:18 am
And my more off-promptish piece today, although I think it isn’t entirely off prompt: http://poetry.disorderedcosmos.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4b-dani-on-the-pavement/
Remission
She walks as if her footsteps may ruin carpet, her shadow permanently stain the grass.
Some days she brought outdoors into her bed,
made cracked ceilings lightning bolts overhead.
Sleep was a door that creaked half way closed,
sunlight shattered, a broken chandelier on bare toes.
Thoughts of land mass kept her from screaming,
earthquakes placed by her chart like mousetraps.
She heaved clouds from the window, patted them down, stuffed their cotton into shape in her ears.
The window’s sampler was all she had, horizons
an eye unpicked the thread of, distant birds stitches on branches fine as cracks in glass sky, she invited them in, made her limbs into stems, let them gather wool from barbed fences to nest within her ribs.
She would hear only their song, feel wings
where she once felt sighs push feathers down her throat to land on her heart, rain on stone.
There, she could not hear weeping,
the rattle of gurney’s or cries torn from emotions no one should be able to identify,
the crack of bones only wind and birds,
a groan of timber as they tested trees
and slowly moved around the furniture of a day.
Now in the cool air, she looks up, everything is so big she thinks of inside, she never thought she would carry anywhere,
Already, night approaches, light changing
like wallpaper curling at the edges of the day.
Chanda replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Beautiful! Thank you
Richelle replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
I really like the image of “branches fine as cracks in glass sky.” Good job.
Quill replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Day four
Here’s mine. This one took some more thought. Excellent prompt, even if it was a little hard to interpret at first.
Primal Honesty
Glass
Stained by earth
A ring of flora.
Windows lacking
Privacy.
I am naked
Exposed
Raw .
Screaming.
Mute.
My skin peeled back
Delicate fleshy petals
Unfurl
Displaying, without shame
My soft interior.
A lock without its
Key.
Croons an impossible
Riddle.
I am raw.
I am vulnerable.
Captive to my secrets.
Marie replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I love “my skin peeled back delicate fleshy petals unfurl…” Effective image for vulnerability. Great!
kolokolchiki replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
I love how “captive to my secrets” closes everything back up.
http://poemsotherwise.blogspot.com/2010/04/sky-and-me.html
I think/hope the prompt is just ambiguous enough for me to get away with writing this poem! Inside and Outside In Partnership.
http://herwordsbloomed.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4-inside-out.html
Loved this prompt, thank you!
http://memali.posterous.com/0430
I think I followed the instructions this time…
A Man, All Four Seasons”
viviblake replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
I loved this, specially the title.
The soul takes a Walkabout.
http://tinacelio.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/write-the-inside-out/
Here is today’s piece, on the inside/outside prompt: Exhaling. I decided to stop fussing and post an early draft so I have some time to read everyone else’s work later today. It’s great to see so much enthusiastic participation.
Waterfall
Your tears
your spine
are the same waterfall
I am the cup
that catches them both.
Greg O’Connell 2010
I am back for day 4 and here is my offering.
Nelle thanks for the interesting prompt!
http://flaubert-poetrywithme.blogspot.com/2010/04/inside-out-and-outside-in-napowriomo-4.html
Here is mine for today:
http://mygorgeoussomewhere.org/2010/04/04/i-always-wanted-a-clutch-of-giant-robots/
http://www.robertlunday.net/2010/04/poem-4-lost.html
Insight
Deep inside me is a bookcase
and a school of fish
my shoal, my inner shelf.
Greg O’Connell 2010
markoolio replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
well shed. I she what your shaying.
~Mark
for my 4th napowrimo poem, “Of Violent Digging and the Self Turned Out,” go to http://richelledodaro.blogspot.com
I enjoyed writing this and didn’t concern myself with whether or not I followed the prompt exactly.
Enjoyed the process, which is more than I can say for my poetic life lately. Been too busy and breathing too hard.
http://juliejordanscott.typepad.com/jjspoetry/2010/04/the-veins-on-either-side-napowrimo-day-4.html
My poem called ‘Inscape And Landscape’ is a take off from Early Tamil Literature called the Sangam Literature. Sangam poems are classified as ‘Akam’ of the inner world and ‘Puram’ of the public realm. Here is the link http://umaathreya.blogsome.com/2010/04/04/inscape-and-landscape/
Marie replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Lovely. Very balanced and well crafted.
within and without? http://estherpoyer.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/purification-3030-day-4-poem/
This was an interesting prompt – so many ways it could go… hopefully my poem addresses it in some ways: “Crossroads” at http://www.cathymcguire.com/poetry.htm
Marie replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I love all your submissions so far, Cathy M. I will read them all again. And again. Having just been in Times Square yesterday, I particularly enjoyed today’s poem. Great work!
markoolio replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Great stuff, Cathy. You’re voice is very distinct with great images, sounds, and smells. I really enjoyed the New York City “people-scape” and the “Right-wing Pundits.”
~Mark
Ms. Mueller’s Receiving Speech – inside and out.
Here’s my poem for April 4th titled “Body World”:
http://1965footprints.blogspot.com
A poetic polemic look at “Inside Out.”
http://www.BabblingOnInBabylon.com/blog
Here is my 4 April for Inside Out
titled, You’ll Know
http://jdmackenzie.blogspot.com/2010/04/youll-know.html
This prompt made me think a bit.
http://caraholman.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/2010-napowrimo-4/
Sheila Deeth replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Hi Cara. Fun to see you here.
Cara Holman replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Hi Sheila!
I have one more poem today on this Easter Sunday. This is more a of a secular look at Jesus. Please drop by and feel free to leave a comment.
Thanks,
Mark
http://www.BabblingOnInBabylon.com/blog
Here’s my attempt:
http://sheiladeethdrabbles.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-nopowrimo-4.html
I had to stop over analyzing the prompt and just write. This is what I came up with http://wp.me/pGBCb-T
Here is my poem for Day 4. Because of my time zone – I must write each day’s poem after I see the prompt when I get home from work in the evening. Today – got home and found the prompt 2 hours ago. Good practice to write poems on such short notice. I usually hem and haw for a long time – days, months! This is the work of a couple of hours – and is a draft – and needs more work.
http://www.synecdochicstuff.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much for this prompt. This literally saved the manuscript that I’m writing.
Before (Our Bones) & After (Our Skin)
Poem #4. “Easter.” Posted at: http://troysworktable.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4.html