NaPoWriMo 2026 Discussion Thread

[Woof]

I hadn't heard of the etheree form before I saw yours but I think I'll have to give it a try sometime this month.

Whoop! I will get everyone writing etherees if I can

@Riddley Walker --your whole series here is so clever!

Have to agree. I feel like I've been invited on some wonderful serialised literary who's who.

Me too. I also like "Dear Genie". I have a genie poem somewhere. Now I have to go find it.

I'd love to read it if you do.

It's nice to remember why I should love the internet. All of us from around the world (I assume? Although probably N.American heavy? I'm in the UK) creating our art together and sparking ideas and memories... I'm deeply hippy when you scratch the surface

 

[Woof]

Welcome to the mess @Lillacmess

@Tallyfire I'm enjoying finding what inspiration I may from the prompts, but usually by the time they drop I'm a day ahead, responses running a day behind.

Whereabouts are you @defaux? I'm terrible with time zones.

 

[defaux]

Whereabouts are you @defaux? I'm terrible with time zones.

Australia. Unless there's someone here from New Zealand, I'm probably closest to the dateline frontier.

 

[Socks Fox]

Sometimes it surprises me how deep my brain can go. That was a juggernaut piece and it is just the beginning.

 

[Tallyfire]

April 5th:

The Roman poet Catullus wrote a famous two-line poem:

Odi et amo: quare id faciam fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

Here’s an English translation.

I hate and I love. Why do I do this, you ask?
I don’t know, but I feel it happening and am tortured.

I thought about this poem the other day when I read a social media post collecting sentences from Charles Darwin’s letters, including:

“Oh my God how do I hate species & varieties.”

“I am very tired, very stomachy & hate nearly the whole world.”

“I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything.”

“I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees.”

“I am languid & bedeviled & hate writing & hate everybody.”

I must confess, the idea of being so grumpy that you have come to hate clover and bees is highly amusing to me. Today, your challenge is to take a page from Catullus and Darwin, and write a poem in which you talk about disliking something – particularly something utterly innocuous, like clover. Be over the top! Be a bit silly and overdramatic.

 

[Tallyfire]

"Petrichor" made its way into at least two poems yesterday. It's a lovely word.

I enjoy reading all the different takes and voices. It's quite different from NaNo, where you usually don't share.

 

[Woof]

"Petrichor" made its way into at least two poems yesterday. It's a lovely word.

It's got such a strong sense of place about it hasn't it?

I enjoy reading all the different takes and voices. It's quite different from NaNo, where you usually don't share

Agree. It feels nourishing.

I'm struggling a bit today though. Full of malteser bunnies, roast dinner and spring. Not a day I want to think about things I hate, even stupidly.

 

[defaux]

"Petrichor" made its way into at least two poems yesterday. It's a lovely word.

Sadly, it invokes only longing... I already did a weather theme in the Tanka, I won't do another just yet.

I enjoy reading all the different takes and voices. It's quite different from NaNo, where you usually don't share.

Indeed, the variety we are seeing is amazing.

 

[Tallyfire]

April 6th:

This one takes its inspiration from Yentl van Stokkum’s poem, “It’s the Warmest Summer on Record Babe,” which blends casual, almost blasé phrasing with surreal events like getting advice from a bumblebee. In your poem today, try writing with a breezy, conversational tone, while including at least one thing that could only happen in a dream.

Looking forward to seeing what comes of this one...