Day One

Hello, poets! Happy First Day of Na/GloPoWrimo 2021! I hope you’re ready to plunge into a world of similes, metaphors, line breaks, rhymes, meter, and all of the other tricks and turns of the poem-writing trade.

Our featured participant today is Namratha Varadhajaran of Namy Says So, who brings us a poem inspired by and Azetec sculpture and yesterday’s featured poetry reading!

And speaking of featured readings, today’s featured poetry reading is a live event that will take place tomorrow, April 2 at 3 p.m. eastern daylight time. It will feature the poet Monica de la Torre doing a close reading of César Vallejo’s poem “XXXVI,” which you can read in the original Spanish here, and in English translation here. You can find the registration link for the reading here.

And without further ado, our daily prompt (optional, as always)! Sometimes, writing poetry is a matter of getting outside of your own head, and learning to see the world in a new way. To an extent, you have to “derange” yourself – make the world strange, and see it as a stranger might. To help you do that, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem inspired by this animated version of “Seductive Fantasy” by Sun Ra and his Arkestra. If you don’t feel after watching it a little bit like the top of your head’s been taken off, and your thoughts given a good stir – well, maybe you are already living in a state of heightened poetic awareness!

Happy writing, everyone!