by the Read Write Poem Staff
It’s getting late in the month, and finishing NaPoWriMo is going to take every bit of resourcefulness you have. Jill Crammond Wickham reminds us about the bits and pieces of poems we may be carrying around.
Today, before you start writing, you need to do some digging. Dig through your backpack, purse or desk drawer and find a scrap of poem written on an old envelope or bank deposit slip. Unearth an old journal or notebook.
Find a poem that you started, or perhaps one you abandoned. Read it through. Highlight the lines or phrases that please you. Do not cross anything out (yet)! You now have two choices: finish the poem or take the parts you like and begin a brand new piece.
If NaPoWriMo has you a little crazy, there is a third option: take the parts you don’t like and use them to inspire a new poem. 
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.
Lauds-Prime-Terce
This is a mash-up I’ve been kicking back & forth a few weeks now. Tonight, it’s time to pull it out of my pocket one more time, and kick the tires throughout the day…
This was an excuse for me to finish this poem lounging around my notes for months… it only needed a bit of polish and some lines, turns out!
Città al Fiume
poemsotherwise.blogspot.com/2010/04/crumple.html
Inspiration from across the river
I wrote a few lines a while back about the process by which I think of my poetry. I thought looking at how I develop the poem would make an interesting poem. I also wanted to put it in the context of a dream since I dream quite a bit and most of the times, I can’t make heads or tales out of the dream’s meaning or meaninglessness. This was somewhat an exploration into surrealism with my standard format of rhyme and meter. I think I finally put this one together this evening. Hope it works and you enjoy it.
Random Antithetical Thoughts
http://babblingonionbabylon.com/blog
Mark Lysgaard replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 1:34 am
try this link:
http://babblingoninbabylon.com/blog
Here’s mine: APPLICATION REJECTED
This one remained unfinished since 1997, until now – thanks Jill…
NaPoWriMo #26
My poem is at http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com
Haven’t had time to read any others yet, but my poem for today is at: http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com/
Here’s my day 26 poem, using Joseph’s prompt of first things heard
Hair. I used the lines “it’s a post-extinction burst” and “What shall I do with my hair?”
Off now to check my notebooks
Here’s mine.
http://melrosemusings.blogspot.com/2010/04/smack-napowrimo-day-26.html
vivienne Blake replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 5:10 am
Derrick, I agree with the poem and with the comments. Occasionally I feel that my grandchildren merit a “fessée” but restrain myself – my son and daughter are obviously of a more modern age!
As always with those prompts I have no source to dig into. It may be unusual for someone who participates in napowrimo to have no half finished writing in their purse or notebook, but here I am
So instead I am exploring a technique a friend of mine told me about. You pick a newspaper page and “cut out” or underline words or half phrases, then stitch them together like a blackmail letter. It makes for funny poems.
I used the BBC website for this one:
Newsflash
India’s cricket
targets the convoy of
policies like Nato membership
to try to activate a blowout preventer.
The intention is to
borrow the money from the financial markets,
No fresh decisions were taken.
vivienne Blake replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 5:14 am
A clever “found” poem. But Jaelle, WHY don’t you have a backlog of bits? Are you a very new poet? Or are you so conscientious that you finish everything you start? I have a Moleskine notebook by the bed and others in handbag, bathroom etc where I jot down those lovely found words or phrases from books, or just from the serendipity of my mind. Try it – most of my poetry comes from those.
Marie replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 7:58 am
I’m have the same situation, Jaelle. Every embarrassing poem I’ve ever written is posted here, as I’m a brand new “poet”. I’ll check out the newspaper for inspiration or try one of the previous prompts.
Marie replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 7:59 am
I mean, I HAVE the same situation…see? I’m illiterate!
Here’s a scrap of a riddle, in the form of a univocalic (it uses only one vowel).
“This lilting writing,
mimicking bright birds…”
Get all the clues to ‘Which writing is it?’ at http://www.gregoconnell.com
This one is from a scrap poem last year. Still needs more tweaking and still not finished.
‘Searching’
http://rallentanda.blogspot.com
Done kicking it around at Scrambled, Not Fried
Mine is called Exhibition
Took me a while to find a poem I had abandoned. Still not sure if it was worth resurrecting
http://ingeborgsblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-26-get-scrappy.html
“Obedience”
http://www.redbubble.com/people/nebsy/writing/5072762-napowrimo-26
Astronauts. I was a little off-prompt, but still a fun poem. Let me know what you think.
Good morning! Leave that Dunkin’ Donuts and let’s run away.
“Come with me, Shelby”
Read or listen here: http://jasoncrane.org/2010/04/26/poem-come-with-me-shelby/
Enjoy!
Jason
http://mothersparrow.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/1453/
I am thankful for this prompt. My inspiration is waning fast.
http://poiesis3.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-26-walcott-spoke-to-me.html
redshoeartist replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Lori this was beautiful.
I found one stanza to a poem I started after the earthquake in Haiti and finally found some inspiration:
The Reason for Earthquakes- Perhaps
Mine is here: http://stiletto.crisopeya.eu/2010/04/26/napowrimo-26-get-scrappy/
Maybe I should keep on working on it!
Have a nice day!
starting from a phrase that’s been rattling in my head – The Department of Good Morning
http://novaheart.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/poem-42610-the-department-of-good-morning/
a scrappy poem
Daughter’s scrapbook
I keep intending to be deep and serious, then going silly instead: http://poemblaze.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/rwp-napowrimo-26/
Thanks for the impetus to take this free write I’d started months ago and write the poem.
http://memali.posterous.com/2630
Combined prompts again. A piece of art I liked and found at Google AND a few poem fragments from a poem I HATE combined to make something new. And a new poem starter, couple septolets.
My poems for today are on my Facebook page and here: http://dash30dash.ning.com/profiles/blogs/napowrimo-day-26-poems-writing
Keep writing…. just a few more days of NaPoWrimo 2010 left….. c’mon
Salvaged from the scrapyard ‘NH4 Slices Through My Garden’- http://umaathreya.blogsome.com/2010/04/26/nh4-slices-through-my-garden/
Okay, I’m tired and it’s starting to show. This prompt let me dig around the poetry compost bin and do a little recycling:
More Things I Know About Poets
http://jdmackenzie.blogspot.com/2010/04/more-things-i-know-about-poets.html
I wrote a line I axed on one of the early nano poems, so wrote from there
Skinhead
It’s a permanent silt on his neck, a shade
from cloud before it gave up the rain,
the blue of the swallow pinpricked into his skin covers soft flesh of vowels once gulped down, the stringy saliva of tendons stick out
that attached each cry to his gut.
No one sits next to the skinhead on the bus,
the serrated dot tattoos between his knuckles make his fists seem torn out meat.
In late summer, the inky swallow on his neck
seems embarrased,its chest burnt to red,
A man thinks of common birds jumping
into paint pots, peels off the top layer of skin
and holds it to the light, pale as dead angels,
soft as feathers shed in flight.
I think I’m starting to lose it.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978198541
Took 3 reject poems and merged them and cut stuff…kinda odd but that’s Monday for ya!
Weather
I am drifting on your current
while walking around carefully
battling low atmospheric pressure
I gather myself inward
slowly disappearing
becoming you
arms reaching
high above my head
Coriolis effect has begun
nothing can stop me
This one’s off-prompt, but wow, this is the first time I’ve gotten one written AND posted during the time constraint of my lunch hour. I hope you will enjoy Just dandy (aka “The lion’s mane”).
I recycled two poems. I am getting tired and it is starting to show … Thanks for the prompt Jill.
http://flaubert-poetrywithme.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-rainy-evening.html
Off prompt today, since I have no old scraps around, but it’s an old problem.
“Snooze Button” at http://1965footprints.blogspot.com
I really appreciate this prompt – it gave me a chance to wrestle with my elephants again.
Goodbye to Elephants
http://www.synecdochicstuff.blogspot.com/
Thanks for giving me the chance to dig out an old fragment and finally make something of it!
“Hidden in Plain Sight”
http://www.cathymcguire.com/poetry.htm
This was fun….
http://juliejordanscott.typepad.com/jjspoetry/2010/04/poem-the-birth-of-a-new-idea-napowrimo-26-.html
Susan Sonnen replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I’m sorry , Julie, I’m just trying to get my link to post and thought I’d try it in a reply. It’s not working on its own.
http://web.me.com/susansonnen/Susan_Sonnens_musings/Blog/Entries/2010/4/26_NaPoWriMo%2C_Day_26.html
try #6:
http://web.me.com/susansonnen/Susan_Sonnens_musings/Blog/Entries/2010/4/26_NaPoWriMo%2C_Day_26.html
Susan Sonnen replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Yes! It finally went through!!!
pamela sayers replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Susan,
Powerful prose poem.
redshoeartist replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Wow…so much said in such a short time. I love it
I have two for this prompt:
Greeting
Next one is in the next comment.
And here’s the second one:
Box
Why Sundays Are for Heathens:
http://yearofthebooks.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/poem-a-day-day-26/
I found a line I didn’t like before. http://rhiannonproblematising.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/napowrimo-26-sights-of-spring/
Off prompt today. Mostly because I already mined my best lines in a couple of other works this month. Here is something untitled.
This continues an abandoned project of making poems from pieces of my wildflower guide so it sort of satisfies the prompt…
http://daily-yawp.blogspot.com/
I used the scraps of three different poems:
They Say, Times 3
Governmental Consume
http://mmw113.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-26-governmental-consume.html
Glad I got that off my chest.
Mar Walker replied:
April 26th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
consommé whoops.
Two poem again today? Will I be able to turn this off come May?
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978198835
NaPoWriMo #26 “get crappy” prompt:
http://timkeeton.wordpress.com
Mine is from a fragment from 13th July, 2004.
“Green dress,
Red hair, high heels;
Anomaly in this sweltering
heat,”
Here is what I came up with. Enjoy!
Tim Keeton
Poet/Wizard/Teller-of-tales
“Roll the Dice”:
http://caraholman.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/2010-napowrimo-26/
Waldorf Astoria Minnesota
http://herwordsbloomed.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-26-get-scrappy.html
we’re clear these are just drafts we’re tossing around here, right? oh, my!
http://caroleesherwood.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/napowrimo-26-the-poem/
I wrote off prompt today:
http://healingforthehealthy.blogspot.com/2010/04/apocalypse.html
just in time here’s this
Beach Running
Running in soft sand, my footsteps
Sink back a little bit each time my
Foot hits the ground. I could run
Much faster on a solid surface, like
Concrete. But I love this world of
Sun and water, the smell of fish and
Sun tan oil and hot dogs and popcorn.
All day the sand has been heated by
The summer sun that blazes down
Upon this world, this almost private
Vacation spot of sand and shallow
Water, a long, soft beach for children
To dig their own, private oceans, for
Lovers to declare themselves citizens
Of a newly discovered country.
This is the place I choose to run, not
Very fast, just a steady trot which might
suggest that I knew what I was doing,
an athlete in training, perhaps as I
resembled the beach ball players whom
I sometimes joined.
I was careful to avoid the lovers
Curled together on blankets, I leapt over
Moats and castles with a single bound, I
Watched out for the very young engrossed
In moving a pile of sand from one spot to
Another.
What country was I running to?
Some safe shelter for singles? Oh, fool
That I am, all I’ve done is worked up a
Sweat, a failed façade, The tide is
Coming in again, each wave leaves a
Scallop a little higher than the last.
Already my footprints are being washed
Away, already the people I have raced
Past have forgotten I was ever there.
A poem dervied originally from fragments… Euphrates/Tigris
Well, there was a reason it was abandoned before, but here it is, reworked. It still needs even more work, but I’m too mentally tired to think about it anymore. I just wonder how I’ll get through these last few days…???
http://rrosenchang.blogspot.com
I mixed a couple and came up with the blue trollop’s wares
I took a bunch of tweets & threw them in a pot.
this is what I got –
http://another2doors.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/fern-seed/
Poem started last August and never finished. About sitting in student union at Oregon State University.
http://lanijo.com/poetry/student-union
Day 26, Portrait of the Lady as a Pea-Bug Husk: http://thekitchenbitchponders.blogspot.com/2010/04/national-poetry-writing-month-day_26.html
Off prompt today for Metaphor Here:
http://pamelavillars.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/april-26-10-metaphor-here/
So, I took this scrap and made a haiku. It’s all I’ve got in me today, apparently, but I kind of like it.
http://freckledwriter.blogspot.com/2010/04/wrong-way.html
Still didn’t quite work, but it’s better than it was. At least the general thought is there now!
http://www.shicho.net/words/?p=1151
Okay, the first line is the rescue. I’m not sure it’s right, still, but it’s a line that’s been knocking around in my head for a long time. One day I hope to do it justice!
http://just-somestuff.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-26-possession.html
I used the words Negotiated Order from an earlier poem and created this one. Enjoy!
http://systematicweasel.blogspot.com/2010/04/negotiated-order-4-25-2010-poem-day.html
Unrequited love…
http://redshoepoet.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-challege-26.html
http://marcieaf.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-26.html
I’ve got these people kicking around in my head. I’m trying to flesh them out and let them loose to think their own thoughts.
http://avniously.blogspot.com/2010/04/public-statement.html
Thanks for the push!
http://jasonriedy.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/hunting-morels/
The two lines that were scraps were “deeper than darkenss” and “the blank space between your stanzas.”
I created a bop poem called “Dear Poetry”: http://goo.gl/fb/v88Cv
Here’s the first part of something: http://disorder1313.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/transliteration-of-catullus-xxxiv-part-one/
Been a long day and didn’t know where to dig so I wrote about trying.
http://sheiladeethdrabbles.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-napowrimo-26.html