We’re at the end of April and I’m honestly not quite sure where the month has gone. With the start of May comes the end of NaPoWriMo and I must say, I’m sad to see this challenge reach its final day, even if I did run out of steam over the last few days.

For those of you who are blissfully unaware of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). April is the month where insane poets like myself undertake the challenge to write thirty poems in thirty days. A lot of us share these poems on our blogs or social media platforms, and it’s a great opportunity to seek out fellow writers who share the obsession of poetry.

This year I wanted to write a poem for each of the optional prompts that NaPoWriMo provided. As it stands, I have two poems still left to write as I missed the last four days and I decided that I’d still have a go at writing poems for those last four poems over the first few days of May. However, if you count up the total number of poems that I wrote during April, I did hit the target of thirty. In fact I wrote thirty-nine poems during April. Therefore I’m not too annoyed at myself that I didn’t write a poem for each of the NaPoWriMo prompts within those thirty days. In fact I’m pretty proud of myself.

So, while I reveling in my thirty-nine poems, I wanted to take a moment and look at some of the other poets who took part in this challenge. A couple of weeks ago I invited anyone taking part in NaPoWriMo to join a guest post series on this blog for May. I had six volunteers and the first of those will go online tomorrow evening.

The premise for the guest posts is simple. The poets just need to say a bit about themselves, share the poem they’re most proud of from the month, and then tell us about what NaPoWriMo meant to them.

For me, NaPoWriMo is about challenging myself to write poems in a style that I might not normally use. That’s why I try and stick to the prompts. Every year I look at those prompts and turn my nose up. Then I go away and force myself to write something for them. Some days I hate it, but it can lead to some interesting poems that I wouldn’t have otherwise written. This year wasn’t any different.

As for my favorite poem from NaPoWriMo 2018, I think it would have to be the first one I wrote. My response to the early bird prompt, Letters To Nowhere. I think I spent the rest of April chasing the same feeling that I got from writing this piece but never quite managed to grasp it again. So, that it what I will leave you with. My first, and favorite poem from NaPoWriMo 2018. I hope you enjoy it.

Letters To Nowhere

There are no postmarks for lost corners,

you can’t address an envelope

to the shadows between the pavements slabs

where you slipped from reach

days before I noticed you were gone.

When my hand closed around thin air

I could feel a chord pulling down,

yanking through my chest

into some deeper part of me,

where everything lost collects

and vanishes all at once.

The weight of your ghost became a stone

knocking against my ribs

like the second hand on a clock

forever stuck in turning circles

coming back to the starting mark

over and over again

until no one comes to wind it.

I still turn the covers of my bed,

expecting to find you inside some nights.

Pressed between the sheets

as if you’d been there all along

simply waiting for me to come back.

It is almost too easy to dream.