challenge: a poem a day

i always feel a little disappointed with myself come November, thanks to one word: NaNoWriMo.

dunno what i'm talking about? well, November is officially known as National Novel Writing Month - or, in short, NaNoWriMo. the challenge goes out to aspiring writers from around the world to write an entire novel... in a month. and i always aim to take part... and i always fail.

it's sad, really.

and then my mom discovered that April is officially NaPoWriMo... that is, National Poem Writing Month. the challenge is for people from around the world to write a poem on every day of the month. um... hello. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

i'll be writing up a poem each day for the rest of April, so if you'd like to read 'em (and i'm warning you, they won't be masterpieces or anything) click here or on the button below here or on my side bar :)

on a side note, the name of my poem blog is Afrikaans for "laugh again" and comes from a short poem by Ingrid Jonker that is one of my absolute favourites - it goes like this:

Jou lag is 'n oopgebreekte granaat

Lag weer

dat ek kan hoor hoe lag die granate

since i only made the NaPoWriMo discovery (via my mom - thanks, Mama!) today, i've only written one poem so far (i'm writing my second after this blog post), so here's the day one poem:

how to begin?

like a new-born bud

tentatively

stretching out its fingers

finding word

by word?

or instead

jumping right in

dive-bombing the pool

of doubt

and just

writing page

after page

...after page?

either way, she knows

these words

will eventually be erased

in frustration

once they're read over

and thought to be lacking.

but perhaps not this time.

maybe the writer will instead

continue to

tip tap type

the thoughts that rush through her head

till

she pushes past caring

if a certain phrase conveys

just what she's feeling.

and when she reaches that stage

perhaps the metaphorical page

will take on a new meaning -- no longer

a platform for perfection but rather

a place for dreaming.

how freeing.