NaPoWriMo

April is National Poetry Writing Month, affectionately known as NaPoWriMo. It’s a time when people of poetic persuasion are encouraged to write “30 poems in 30 days.”

You may recall that in November I celebrated my own version of [No] NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). And that was good for me.

This month, rather than writing 30 new poems in 30 days, I am going to recycle some (not 30) poems I have already written. This will be National Poetry Recycling Month for me—NaPoReMo, if you will.

Ah, poetry

I do like poetry. I like the economy of words, and the strong images, and the rhythms and rhymes and alliterations.

But, truth be told, it’s hard to know what to do with a poem after you’ve written it. It’s a language that not many people speak anymore.

That’s the beauty of having a blog—if I want to post my poetry, I can! I can launch it into the world and see if it flies. If it does, wonderful! If it doesn’t, it can simply land back here in the nest, unharmed.

NaPoReMo

So I’ll start my NaPoReMo with a “cheater’s poem.” (It feels like cheating because it’s a poem based on another poem, commonly known as Psalm 124.) It’s not my favorite poem, but I wrote it as an exercise during a study of the Psalms, and I found that the act of writing poetry helped me identify with the original poet as well as learn some truth about God in my own life.

My Psalm 124

If God had not been on my side—sing it with me!—
If God had not been on my side when people lied about me,

I could have lost my job, (or my mind)

I could have been swallowed up by my own anger,

I might have become consumed with the idea of getting revenge.

And what kind of life would that have been?

 

Thank you, God, for blessing me
with joy
and confidence
and kindnesses when I need them.

I owe my life (and all my living) to You.