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.
Imaginary Imagery
Inside out
outside in
Boxes, mammary glands, internal organs pillaged
by science
Medical transfusions, organ donations
to the dog fund, the child protection league
avengers of political masquerading
In the city, in the bank, on the shop floor
The prevailing door of change
Endrymitriosis, cystic fibrosis
in a Danish anthology of drug trials
by error, by disdain, lost remains
Empty boxes, lost churches, full moon cities of blood
on floors with medusas heads
filled with children, blessings
Fornication, alien nation,
hybrid Hitler, gunshots to the head and toe
a burning Christ, oesophoghus, hair-lip nose
dulcet tones of Owen “Dolce et decorum es
Veils, sun dials, unlifted memories
on street corners
Mercedes Benz, journey’s end
to the Lighthouse, Virginia Wolf
Isaac Newton, John Betjamin
drink the fruit of eternal youth
In the box are human remains,
outside, crucified
are the lost cities of gold
Gold dust, no just lost dead in the head
inside and outside the coffin
Outside and in
geisha replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Bravo Carol good write, great read!
carolf22 replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Thanks Geisha!
http://poetry-life-distilled.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-3.html
it’s a busy day today i’ll be back later to read the other posts… have a great day 4 the neighborhood
Tough one today. Sometimes the muse just isn’t very nice
http://yearofthebooks.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/poem-a-day-day-4/
Outside in!
http://katharinewhitcomb.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4-home.html
Here’s what I have today: http://disorder1313.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/transliteration-of-catullus-iii/
Happy day 4!
http://healingforthehealthy.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4-inside-out.html
carolf22 replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Like this,very immediate and clear,made its point succinctly. At the risk of sounding a bore, I agree it is a hard prompt, would be nice to do something a bit more political and now than the interiors and exteriors of somewhere – zzzz to todays prompt but thought we all stuck well at the challenge.
These prompts are great. They’re allowing me to excavate my anthologies, and search for more online. Here’s today work:
http://avniously.blogspot.com/2010/04/prompt-4.html
This prompt, I found, was the most difficult yet. But to be challenged is to live. On Readying Your Bird for the Oven: http://thekitchenbitchponders.blogspot.com/2010/04/national-poetry-writing-month-day-four.html
This is who I really am…
On the Inside
http://sky-lined.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4.html
The poem for this prompt is ‘Open my eyes, I see sky’
haikujunky replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
love underwater lovers…
The prompt was…difficult but I did manage to finish a draft on it. You can find it here.
Here’s today’s:
Plenty
Another interesting journey…destinations unknown.
My #4 – Theory Repudiated – can be found at http://bridgeanna.blogspot.com
Blessings on your day!
Outside In
I left Seattle 2 years ago
to return to LA
but I woke up this morning
to rain in my bedroom
Not the pouring flooding Los Angeles rain
but the steady spitting rain of Seattle
I opened my eyes and sure enough
the room was grey and cloudy
I wouldn’t mind so much
but it’s only April
and as Seattlites will tell you
and this could continue through July
Sarah replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Enjoyed your poem very much haikujunky.
Day 4
inside out
http://a-mus-ing.blogspot.com/2010/04/inside-out.html
napowrimo#4…..LOOKING
http://waynepitchko.blogspot.com
Ieisha replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Now that was a serious whirlwind. Just like life. It so cleverly captures the internal clash and conflict. Thank you.
OK – not sure if this fits the prompt exactly, but here’s what came to me…
Dancers
Inside the ocean drinks from my bloodstream again
The grass covers the most unlikely scars
with its soft understanding
Outside my memories ignite the leaves
all autumn, my laughter soothes the lake at dusk.
Out pulls, in pushes:
Cosmic dance partners
As practiced as breathing.
gregoconnell replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Hi, Kelly. Love it. “its soft understanding” and “my laughter soothes the lake” brilliant. Find my latest ‘Griefsong’ at http://www.gregoconnell.com on the NaPoWriMo 2010 page. – Greg =)
Kelly replied:
April 5th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Thank you, Greg! I’ll check out your poem tonight. Just popping in to see the prompt.
Not sure I exactly followed the prompt, but here you go:
http://freckledwriter.blogspot.com/2010/04/un-zen-art-of-mothering-tulips.html
I look forward to returning to read your poems later!
Yeah, odd prompt, but I suppose it worked…
The Vivisectionist
Finally finished.
http://cosmicmermaid.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/turning-it-in/
Walking around the neighborhood I thought it was cool how you can tell so much about a family from the outside of their house. So I took the prompt a little further than the individual.
http://mylineofwords.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4-inside-out.html
http://eveningpoems.blogspot.com/
http://poetry-life-distilled.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-4.html
My day #4 post:
http://robin-turner.blogspot.com/2010/04/bone.html
Wow. I’m not sure exactly how this one happened or where it came from. But here it is:
http://rustbloommansions.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-four-poem-4-joseph-cornells.html
In with the Out Crowd
The crowd that was in
In our high school
The best looking girls
And the sports stars ruled.
We were the out crowd
And proud of our status
We dressed all in black so
People would look at us.
We were artists, poets,
Musicians and beats.
School was a drag
We preferred the streets.
To the teachers
We brought despair
We had the smarts
We just didn’t care.
As time goes by
Some things don’t change
There’s in and there’s out
But with different names.
4/30 is up at http://www.ronniek.org/napowrimo!
Here’s an inside/out haiku inspired by an Easter basket –
http://theresebroderick.wordpress.com
Ieisha replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Therese,
This little haiku is so cool. It is such a clever thing it is actually adorable. Thank you!!
Therese Broderick replied:
April 4th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Thank you, Leisha!
The human eye blinks an average of 25 times per second.
That’s 25 photographs instilled in our mind, organized by our brain’s filling system.
Green, blue, gray, brown
Squinty, wide, narrow, stink–eye
An emotion for every color and shape
Capsized images are imprinted on the retina
With proper aperture controlled by the pupil
Still shots systematically filled within the optic nerve
Eye lids to direct the shutter speed
Lens adjusted, focus intact
Memories fabricated with each blink
Unlike digital photography, these images are inerasable
Treat your SLR cameras with care
One only receives a pair.
OK…this one was hard. #4 is up and posted here:
http://lotuspapillon12.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-430-soul-tending.html
please comment! THANK YOU!
My take on the prompt:
http://paperdreams-jgc.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-four-working-from-inside-out.html
http://just-somestuff.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4-at-edge-of-outerspace.html
done finally, a day late. i think i managed what was asked.
Namaste to you all.
xx
I’m still here, though I almost gave up today. Honestly, drafting a poem quickly doesn’t work for me. I need more time to let ideas percolate and to edit/revise my writing before posting. So, my hope with this is that I come up with a few ideas, which I can return to and improve later.
Here’s my link…looking in from the outside…
http://rrosenchang.blogspot.com.
I didn’t find this prompt particularly inspiring.
http://eyemachine.xanga.com/724776767/napowrimo/
Day 4 – the inside on the outside
http://lanijo.com/poetry/my-hearts-my-sleeve
http://kolokoli.blogspot.com/2010/04/inertia.html
not just yet – still mulling the prompt, turning it over in mind, inside out as it were.
My poem is posted here:
ragbone.wordpress.com
Union
http://nothinghypothetical.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/union/
Today’s effort–
http://alienfireworks.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-4-i-kind-of-combined-todays-prompts.html
My take on “inside-out”:
http://mayaganesan.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4.html
The prompt reminded me of something I had seen. My poem Ecstacy can be found at:
http://word-painting.blogspot.com/2010/04/ecstacy.html
So sorry that should read Ecstasy !
The Ocean Inside
My interpretation: http://metaphysicworld.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/inside/
This is a visual poem.
http://inthemindswell.blogspot.com/2010/04/tree.html
Inside Out:
http://redshoepoet.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-challege-4.html
Day four, my own poem
http://bygraceandfaith.tumblr.com/
Calm ocean splendor on my skin
Small aside the foaming tide
Dip and release
Aside the calm
Small aside the foaming tide
Cleanse the past with salty skin
Aside the calm
Ocean breeze through my hair
Small aside the foaming tide
Picking up orange shells
Aside the calm
Cleansing tide deep in sand
Picking up orange shells
Dip and release
Cleansing tide deep in sand
Calm ocean splendor on my skin
Posting later than I have been! All Eastered out. Oy!
Here it is:
http://caroleesherwood.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/napowrimo-4/
Just a haiku. Relaxed day, relaxed expectations: http://jasonriedy.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/napowrimo-4/
Now I need to catch up on reading other peoples’ wonderful work.
Here it is:
http://daily-yawp.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-4.html
Okay, I’m posting this, but I didn’t really give it enough time.
http://survivorscribe.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/day-71-day-4-napowrimo-inside-out/
I usually don’t rhyme, but it somehow happened this time. Please accept my apologies. I’m no rhymer.
http://web.me.com/susansonnen/Susan_Sonnens_musings/Blog/Entries/2010/4/4_NaPoWriMo%2C_Day_4.html
Sorry, the prompts really didn’t do much for me this weekend. I went with some haiku instead. Something is better than nothing.
Saturday haiku and Sunday haiku
The Exhibitionist
http://mmw113.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4-exhibitionist.html
http://wintermintfruit.blogspot.com/2010/04/office.html
Day 4, and I managed to keep with the prompt this time.~~
Great prompts so far, can’t wait to see more!
am i too late for the party. been joining along since the 1st. please advise. thanks.
After the Sudden Death of his Mother
Through the front door into a briar patch
and what feels like a snow drift around
the television. My organs itch.
Everything under my skin
is tense, thorn pricked. He
stands at the stove, oil popping
in the skillet like pebbles under car
tires. I can hear the thunder in his head,
his attempt to calm with a deluge
of vodka. Grilled cheese in the ocean
of alcohol in his stomach, a few words
tossed at me like the wind strips
the leaves from trees. Each night it
is the same cold, the same empty. No fires
that burn within me will ever warm him.
Poem 4 ~ “Out ~ Inside ~ Out” ~ http://treasures.edublogs.org/2010/04/04/readwritepoem-april-4/
Happy Easter!
See and Be Seen
Ugh!
http://comtngrl.livejournal.com/1668.html
here is my response to this weird prompt: inside-out
This is fun; I think the ball is rolling. Carving out time every day for this is definitely a challenge!
Here’s mine:
http://scriptophobe.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-4-inside-out.html
here is mine: http://teapartiesonneptune.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/inside-my-brain/
I forced this poem to fit, as such, not such a good fit, but I do like the poem!
http://www.musetomyeyes.blogspot.com
Once again, pushing the deadline…and possibly the bounds of good taste:
http://thegoodtypist.blogspot.com/2010/04/pixelated.html
This poem is about breathing, so it is sort of a literal take on inside out…http://jillypoet.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/napowrimo-4-and-i-owe-you-one/
Be the Air
A sonnet. I was really inspired!
Skin Sonnet
This is an untitled piece, combined with Poetic Asides’ Day 1 prompt about loneliness: http://redpetals04.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/napowrimo-prompt-4-inside-outlonely/
#4–
Inside Out
at:
http://www.shewrites.com/profile/NancyHatamiya
Exhausted after a busy holiday–here’s my start.
Heaven is the most painful
place on earth.
You don’t have to be a
mortician to tell that I
have died once or
twice,
and I’m in a waiting room
waiting for the God
in me to beckon me into
her office where
dreams are made
and goals are prescribed
and when you walk out
you’ve got something to do.
You don’t have to be a
pessimist to tell
that I was killed
by the softest touches
and sweetest words
extinguished,
because sometimes
death is better
than living a life
that isn’t even alive.
So I’m reading a magazine
of my past and trying to
imagine what the doctor
is going to say, how
to fix the mistakes
I’ve made
again, but she takes
her sweet time and
makes me wait
in the waiting room of
After-Unlife, to gain
some life, so that I
can learn
after re-
instatement of
breath which
I hold because-
“Miss, the results are in.”
Oh,
its my turn.
©2010 Nicole W.