NaPoWriMo: Challenge Accepted
Updated: May 3, 2021
April is National Poetry Month, or so say my favorite family on the West Coast. I've chosen to accept a challenge from these fantabulous cousins, Josh A. Cagan and Kayla Cagan - both remarkable writers in their respective genres - to pen a poem per day in April (it's currently 2021). This year's National Poetry Month they've picked a rather specific topic as a guide: all poetry must be based on a Giallo film title.
If you don't already know (I didn't...), Giallo films are horror/slasher/B-ish movies, of European origin, most of which are in Italian or Spanish. Disclaimer: I have not watched a single of these movies yet, although Josh offers me personalized suggestions as well as remarkable written accounts daily on his instagram. Nonetheless, the only requirement for this poetry challenge is that it have something to do with a Giallo film TITLE, and not necessarily the movie content. Which, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, is in my best interest.
I've had a blast with this daily writing assignment. It gives me something to look forward to: researching a film title, reading Josh's daily synopsis regarding various films that his oh-so-awesome wife, Kayla, uses as the basis for her poetry in the challenge, and then I put on page what flows from my fingers. Now that I'm just over half-way through the month of April, I love that my brain is flexing and stretching its muscles; that I get to play with the rhythm and music of language; and the noodling with words sourced from a sensitive or silly or odd place in my brain. I surprise myself again and again: sometimes pondering what it is about language that intrigues me so, other times a little embarrassed by how bad my poetry is. On occasion, I'm pleasantly surprised, too.
I'm sharing the sixteen (16) I've written so far, and will follow up with the latter 14 poems here at the end of the month. I also post them daily to Instagram @hayleykamis.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy writing them. And if not, that's cool, too.
(this is really #3...)
(and this one is really #10...I never said I was good at math...)
