Poetry Prompt for April 5, 2023

Create Art Podcast

History of National Poetry Writing Month

National Poetry Writing Month (also known as NaPoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.

This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.

My History with National Poetry Writing Month

I started writing poetry in 1988 after I had been exposed to T.S. Elliot in my honors English class in high school. In 1992 I started reading my poetry publicly at Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. While living in Rockford Illinois I published my first book of poetry Throwing Yourself at the Ground and Missing in 2007 followed by Postcards From Someone You Don't Know in 2008 Wisdom From the Sack in 2010 and Shaving Crop Circles In My Chest Hair in 2017. You can get copies of all of these books in my merch section. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.

What I am doing differently for Poetry Month

For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.

Todays Poetry Prompt

No Prompt just write

Todays Poem

Perspective

9 Jan 2023, 2103

Mancave

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

It was the 2nd anniversary of those who send thoughts and prayers to gunshot victims

And storm the Capitol

And go to church on Sunday

And say they are patriots

And call people who jump when they hear a familiar crack in the air triggered snowflake libtards

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

That teacher was in critical condition

That teacher was forgotten because of a football player who almost died on the field

The shooting didn’t make the front page of a major newspaper

The prayers all went to the millionaire athlete

That teacher was probably underpaid

Probably skipped a few meals to provide supplies

For the kids in her class

Probably never handled a handgun themself

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

The metal detectors were off that day

The ones that children, Fucking Children had to walk through without protest

Without thought as to why they had to

As the lawgivers in congress celebrated the removal and requirement

Of having to pass through the same detectors

That their lackeys' actions caused to make the detectors necessary

That’s true patriotism right there folks

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

And now they are in custody

And now they are given around-the-clock attention

And the question is where does a 6-year-old gets a handgun

And who taught the child to fire it

And who taught the child to use it in anger

And who taught the child

Who do we hold responsible

Who pays for the trauma of the ensuing lockdown

Where kids accept what they are told

Pretend you are dead, be quiet, and don’t move

No matter how many shots are fired stay down

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

A 74-year-old man-child in his Florida resort

Who instigated a riot

Who stole top secret documents

Who’s crimes have been revealed time and time again

Sips his Diet Coke and munches on his big macs

Inflames the weak-minded

Love the ignorant

Love the children, as long as they satisfy his carnal needs

He walks free

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

How many days have gone by

How many other teachers have been shot or assaulted

How many other insurrections in other countries need to happen to satiate old men’s pride

I stand here, doing all I can not to cry

Here I stand a witness to a 14-year-old boy in a faraway land

Being shot and strapped to the front of a jeep

Paraded in front of his village as a warning

Did it happen on January 6th, I can’t remember

Should we just accept this horrid portrayal of groundhogs' day

And relive another shooting every day

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

And on January 13th my children must practice their lockdown drill

So that some inbred small dick asshat can clutch lustfully to his second amendment

An amendment he probably doesn’t know by heart

An amendment that doesn’t say what he thinks it says

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

A 6-year-old shot their teacher on January 6th

Let it sink in, let it permeate your brain

A 6-year-old shot their teacher

A 6-year-old shot

A 6-year-old

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