I meant to do this yesterday, but the day got away from me—and now this one has, too, so I’ll try to keep fairly brief.
I’ve lost track of how many years in a row I’ve done NaPo; in 2021, I did something slightly different—writing a sonnet corona over the course of the month, rather than a full 30 poems—but I think that still counts. Maybe it’s just recency bias, but this and last year have felt particularly difficult, to me. I was dealing with somewhat stressful work situations both times, and I think last year in particular the process of doing NaPo really helped me to identify and work through those feelings and realise that I needed to quit my job (I ended up lasting until the beginning of August, but I was digging tunnels the whole time). Still, I seem to be finding it increasingly difficult to feel inspired. I’m wondering whether I need to take a year off, or maybe switch to doing monthly or weekly poetry challenges instead of concentrating it all in April and barely writing poetry at all for the rest of the year.
That said, when looking back over the month’s poems for my cento, there were a few I really liked—and would never have written if it hadn’t been for NaPo. My favourites of the month:
I also want to give honourable mentions to days 21 and 28; they’re not my favourites results-wise, but they were two of the most challenging to write.
So… I’ll give some thought as to whether I want to approach NaPo differently next year, or skip it entirely, or replace it with a different poetry practice. In the meantime, thanks for reading!
Panicky in the UK 