NaPoWriMo 2013: Five Favorites

There are just a few hours left in NaPoWriMo 2013 — that is, National Poetry Writing Month, which asks participants to write a poem every day in April — and hundreds of resident WordPress poets are pressing “Publish” on their final stanzas and sighing with relief and satisfaction.

We’ve loved reading all the verse that floated across our Readers this month, whether from brand-new bloggers committed to the 30-day challenge, long-time poets, or non-poet bloggers who were inspired to try something new. We learned about new-to-us poetic forms, we were moved, we looked at familiar topics in a new light.

Here are five of our favorite sites, from WordPress poets new and old:

Tychogirl isn’t just a poet, she’s an astropoet. We’re intrigued by her astronomy-focused work, and by her “redacted poems” — poems created by taking an existing page of text and blacking out all but the words she chooses to focus on:

“We Separate,” by Tychogirl.

Using astronomy texts and data for her redacted poems gives them additional depth and places her work in a historical context. We were excited to see her participating in NaPoWriMo, and continue looking forward to her daily doses of interplanetary free verse.

Poets are often depicted as as lone scribblers, sitting in solitude, reaching for the perfect metaphor as the candle burns down and drips wax onto a half-empty sheet of paper. Everyday Poetry turned that archetype on its head — its five contributors banded together to support one another through the NaPoWriMo challenge. We loved getting five new poems each day with a single click, as well as the subtle way they invited our participation both with their blog, NaPoWriMo, and poetry generally:

While we rejoiced in the proliferation of poetry-focused blogs, we also enjoyed watching non-poetry blogs explore new forms of expression. Rooktopia covers everything from comic books to pop culture to sports with a bit of poetry in the mix, but was fully dedicated to the NaPoWriMo challenge. Looking for a long-form poems on love, poem made entirely of cheese puns, or inspirational post on the craft and process of writing poetry? They’re all in here. we relished the way this part-time poet dove into NaPoWriMo and explored different topics and forms.

Since mid-2012, blogger Dawn Whitehead has been doing exactly what her title promises: publishing an original poem and original piece of artwork, every day.

Original pastel on handmade paper, Day Two Hundred and Eighty.

It was fascinating tuning in each day to see one new idea explored in both text and image. Her sharp digital drawings and moody pastels are perfectly paired with her poems, each adding new dimensions to the other.

Another WordPress.com newcomer for NaPoWriMo, we appreciated this no-frills focus on the poetry. A simple theme, minimal information about the blogger, and basic titles help the poems themselves command all the attention — and they’re worth it.

There are thousands of other poetry blogs; we wish we could highlight more! If you have a favorite site for poetry or found a great new NaPoWriMo blog this month, please share. You can also browse all registered NaPoWriMo participants’ sites on the NaPoWriMo site, and find great pieces every day under the Reader’s “Poetry” topic.

Congrats to all the bloggers who took up the NaPoWriMo gauntlet! We hope it helped kickstart your creative juices, and look forward to a lot more beautiful verse.