April is significant for poets, because it is National Poetry Writing Month, or NaPoWriMo. Writing poems throughout the month of April first began as a blog post in the United States in 2003, but quickly caught on in several countries, and has now become an annual tradition for poets all over the world to celebrate Poetry Month by writing a poem each day, based on different prompts.
For Ashrita Damera, an IIT Madras student, NaPoWriMo is a month-long party, “Last year, I celebrated quite privately but this year, I’ve committed to a more consistent approach, joining in on the collective energy of the poetry community. There are many prompts on ‘Poems India’ and the ‘Escapril’ Instagram accounts. Even with end-semester exams around the corner, writing helps me make sense of my feelings. Writing kickstarts my productivity,” she says.
While the Instagram poetry marathon is largely seen as a festival, it also offers space to get to know oneself better: “If I listen to myself, and hold space for myself, not in an individualistic way but in the larger context of things, people and the world, it becomes my unexpected and central source of inspiration. Over this month of writing, I realised that the source of inspiration is always from within, even if something external triggers you to write. The source is always you, your interpretation of the world, thoughts, feelings, and experiences. I also stuck to one set of prompts from Alipore Post,” says Maya Karthikeyan, a city-based social development researcher.
Here’s your chance to scroll through the different one-word or phrase-long prompts, pick up your pen or pencil, again, or for the first time and create something. “A word, a phrase, a haiku, a longer poem, a rant, anything to start with is all that’s needed. Poetry is art, and therefore, must be free in its spirit too,” says Chandni M., who has been writing poetry for years, and started writing to the NaPoWriMo prompts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“One of life’s greatest joys is poetry,” says Maya, “I don’t make enough effort to keep it at the centre of my life, but this poetry writing month reminded me of how important it is for me to constantly stay in touch with reading or writing poetry.”
