A Round-Up Of All Things NaPoWriMo.

Having been done with NaPoWriMo for the year, I have to admit: I am quite free today. I have absolutely nothing to do. After a month of writing every single day, sitting around idly today feels like an awful waste of time. I have kept up with all things work, and caught up with my latest crochet commission, which means I have nothing but free time, which is rather inconvenient to me. I could be catching up on my massive backlog of books on my TBR list, but I doubt I have the attention span to focus on starting a new book.

So, I have decided to do a round-up of all my favourite poems from this year’s NaPoWriMo season. I’ll be honest, there are quite a few poems that I liked reading, and of course, I always love seeing more people take part every year. A lot of people couldn’t really keep up with all 30 days because we’re all adults with adult jobs now, but they still managed to write a poem or two. After all, isn’t that what the spirit of poetry is all about?

Anyway, now for the real reason we’re here! These are some of my favourite picks from NaPoWriMo 2024. Some of them are by my closest friends, and others are ones I came across through this blog, which was a welcome surprise if you ask me.

Here it goes:

1 – The Jasmine – Amour Infini

This poem puts together beautifully how the memory of a smell can leave a lasting impression. The poem talks about missing a loved one while being away from home. I personally love the way Anupriya puts her emotions in poetry. Reading her poems truly puts you in her shoes and makes you experience the poem in a manner that most poems fail to achieve. I have been reading poems written by her for a few years now, and I can tell you that I feel nothing but proud to call her one of my best friends. You can read ‘The Jasmine’ here.

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2 – Free Fall – Kittu’s Modern Mixtape

Another personal favourite is this beautiful poem written by another one of my best friends, Kriti. The poem is deep and introspective, which is very much her style of writing, and it only keeps getting better with time. The poem talks about the heavy feeling that a lot of us go through on certain bad days, but it also clings on to slivers of hope, upon a closer glance. It definitely isn’t a poem that you’d want to miss out on. Kriti has also been participating in NaPoWriMo with me for the last few years, and I love how poetry is another thing we share. Read ‘Free Fall’ here.

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3 – When The Parrot Unlocks His Cage – Katie Staten

I discovered Katie’s blog via WordPress and I immediately loved the poetry on her page. This one in particular, based off of this year’s NaPoWriMo prompts really takes the cake, in my opinion. If you have the time, I would highly suggest you go check out Katie’s page because I know you’ll fall in love with the poetry there, just like I did. For now, check out ‘When The Parrot Unlocks His Cage’ here!

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4 – The Grocery Store – Witchery Of Words

I think the poet of this blog prefers to stay anonymous about their identity, but I’ve known them since college, and they’ve always had a wonderful perspective of the world around us. So when they started publishing their poems on Instagram, I was blown away by how beautiful all of it was. I would highly suggest that you go check out the page @witcheryofwords on Instagram, as well as this poem titled ‘The Grocery Store’, which talks about finding respite in the mundane.

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5 – A blue door – Empty Verse

Mayuri has always written some of the most wonderful poetry I have ever read, in the years that I’ve followed her blog here through WordPress. I loved this abecedarian poem titled ‘A blue door’ especially because of its rhythm, despite it being a free verse. The more you read it, the more vividly the poem paints you a picture that will remain etched in your mind. I cannot suggest Mayuri’s poems enough! If you’ve got the time, you absolutely should give her works a read.

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So, that was my poetry round-up from this year’s NaPoWriMo. I sometimes think if I were an immortal, it would give me more time to read every piece of literature that ever exists and indulge in more art than is possible in my one, short lifetime. But it makes me so happy to read the works that my fellow writers keep putting out there into the world. It makes the world a lot better to live in.

Until next time,
Cheerio! Xx

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Featured Image by Lilly Rum on Unsplash