NaPoWriMo 2018 - Day 16

The craft resource from napowrimo.net today was one encouraging you not to focus too much on the "craft" of writing poetry. As Maureen sums it up:

"Thinking hard thoughts about word choice, line breaks, sound, and structure can help to make a poem better, but too much emphasis on perfection can breed stale, airless verse."

If I'm quite honest, most of the time, I don't think too much about those things - I often defer to free-verse. And while that can produce nice poems - perhaps coarse and unrefined, yet straightforward - I think for me, it's just laziness. My poems are hit-or-miss and sometimes focusing on the form really forces me to think about it more and sometimes, I think, has a good result.

I guess maybe it comes down to this: don't over-think your poetry, but don't under-think it either.

Anyway I digress. Today's prompt (see link above), was to write a poem that features play. I tried to do so in both the shape of the poem itself (it makes one of my nephews' names - can you see it?) and the content. Hope you enjoy!

Note: I'm not sure how this will show up in other views because the shape is not really embedded, so I suspect for best viewing purposes you'll want a computer browser.

Another Note: This was a pain to do and I probably won't do it again, but it was kinda fun. Tell me what you think :)

Last note: Read it as normal: from left to right. It might be a bit confusing and if so, I apologize (perhaps this should have been my approach to the comfort zone poem).

Without further ado:


Toddlers at Play

The world                   is                  still            a                    mystery    to a toddler.
Everything                  is               strange        and               new.           A fresh
perspective.               Play             is how        they        explore            the
world. A                    purse           can be         a toy.    First                   the
zipper. Now              what's            inside?      Dump it                          out.
Does this key            open              this            tic-tac                             container? Is
this a maraca?           Do                 these         two   connect?              Can I have
your pen?                    If                I blow         does      this                    make
a sound? Oh!               You           booped        my             nose!            That's
funny! My turn!              Now       you!               Can                    I           have that?
I do not understand       toddler games            but                      it's        fun to play along.