POETRYisEVERYTHING

NaPoWriMo Pt. 4 Prompts, Events, Quotes

April 15, 2024

You will write if you will write without thinking of the result in terms of a result, but think of the writing in terms of discovery, which is to say that creation must take place between the pen and the paper, not before in a thought or afterwards in a recasting…It will come if it is there and if you will let it come.“–Gertrude Stein

Welcome to Part 4 of NaPoWriMo – the practice of writing a poem each every day of National Poetry Month (April). If you are just starting or have fallen behind — no matter, just try to develop the practice of writing something each and every day. Some of what you write will be awful… some will need work….some will need a little work. Challenge yourself to write a poem based on one or more of the suggestions you find on this blog! You can do the challenge daily as suggested. Of course as a Poet you can make your own rules!!!! Enjoy!

“Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations.”― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

To begin our next batch of prompts it’s another from the white hat wearing poet of Everett — Julie Robinett —

NaPoWriMo April 16th 2024 Prompt 16 — Dictionary Day prompt —

October 16^th is National Dictionary Day – (which is exactly half a year from April 16th!) But why wait until October? – write a dictionary-inspired poem TODAY! It could be a poem in which you include several random words from a dictionary; it could be a general ode to dictionaries; it could be a poem dedicated to your favorite dictionary. (You could also include a word entomology – the root of the word in latin or greek or….?– as part of your poem!!!

“I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.”
― Arthur Rimbaud

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

NaPoWriMo April 17th 2024 Prompt 17 — Current Events

Let a news story from the last few days inspire a poem. Any form, any style but definitely topical. News, Sports, Features, Op-Ed but make sure it’s current, topical, timely. Write your poem so we get the gist of what inspired it. Any Form, Any style, write it! Consider injecting humor and satire into the poem. Off you go….

The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
― Dylan Thomas

NaPoWriMo April 18th 2024 Prompt 18 Not a Poem about Spring — Oh yes… it’s a prompt from Julie Julie Julie……:

If you write most of your poems in April, you’ve probably written a lot of spring-themed poems. It’s time to give the other seasons some attention! Choose a season that is not spring; imagine yourself in that season, and write a poem related to your imaginings. It could be a poem about a winter storm. A summer harvest. A fall hike. (See if you can imagine yourself into a different season, and write about it!)

“In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.”― Terry Pratchett

NaPoWriMo April 19th 2024 Prompt 19 — I have a poem in the just published Anthology of Cat Poems – Purr and Yowl – featuring 101 poets and edited by David D. Horowitz. We are celebrating the book tonight in the Edmonds bookstore with a reading (details below) So consider yourself double dog dared (yes dog dared) to write at least one poem about a cat, domestic feline or wild….

NaPoWriMo April 20th 2024 Prompt 20 — Functional Poetry

I sometimes get to have lengthy conversations with artist. Recently a woman who works on sculptures was telling me about how she is making ‘functional’ sculpture. In her case a plate/bowl that looks like a landscape (isn’t a flat plate… isn’t a bowl either). Got me thinking. How about writing a functional poem. A poem that offers some useful advice… advice could be life advice, dating advice, marriage advice, or any sort of advice… a poem say with meter and rhyme that also offers some wisdom or common sense. Worth a try?

It’s possible that I will have more to juggle in the next couple of weeks so here’s a couple more prompts for Sunday and Monday.

NaPoWriMo April 21rst 2024 Prompt 21 — 21st Birthday

Write a poem about how you celebrated or wished you celebrated your 21st birthday. Or if you are under 21 a poem about celebrating your 21rst.

Oh yes…another fab suggestion from Everett Poet and resident, Julie Robinett:

NaPoWriMo April 22nd 2024 Prompt 22 — Well known Song-Writer/Musician

Choose a musician you like a lot, and create a poem made up of gathered lyrical bits, from their songs. (not complete lines…no more than part of three lines – less than four words each). Can we guess what song you are using? Will you tell us what song or songs or songwriter you are riffing on?

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
― Aldous Huxley

On Thursday April 18th I (Chris Jarmick) will be joining Holly J. Hunter Joannie Stangeland, Rick Clark and David D. Horowitz for a very special Poetry Night at the Edmonds Bookshop (in Edmonds, Wa.) to celebrate cats and poems about cats that are in the recently published superb anthology Purr and Yowl (edited by David H. and published by World Enough Writers (Lana Hechtman Ayers). Free.. More info here: 2024 poetry night!

Do you know Seattle Independent Bookstore Days begin on Saturday April 27th? There are 28 participating stores this year! We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of SIBD- YAY. You can visit 1 or 3 or all of the stores. Visiting 3 stores gets you a reward and visiting all 28 in a 10 day time period gives you an even bigger award. There’s a website about it here: https://www.seattlebookstoreday.com/

BookTree will participate once again.

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend. This is called WesternWashingtonPoets https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/ you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on. I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE. There is also a facebook page western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.

Keep Writing!!!

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
― Anton Chekhov

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posted in 30/30, Book Store, BookTree, Open Mic, Poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged Chris Jarmick, Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry, poetry is everything, Writing, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo Part 3 Prompts for April 10th – April 15 2024

April 9, 2024

“I need about one hundred fifty drafts of a poem to get it right, and fifty more to make it sound spontaneous.”― James Dickey

It’s time for more NaPoWriMo prompts. Join in and start writing each and every day of the month. Use the prompts to inspire and challenge you. Have fun!!! Post your first drafts if you dare and let me know where they are posted.

Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”― Annie Proulx

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”― Stephen King

NaPoWriMo April 10th 2024 Prompt 10 — Other Not Very Good Poems

Write a poem about some poems you just read in a book or a magazine that you didn’t like very much. The poem should be inspired by the poems you read that did NOT inspire you. Maybe these poems confused you. Maybe these poems were just dull in your opinion. You can grumble and complain about the poems… (yes more than one poem could be different authors, please) or you can combine the idea and subject of the poems you are NOT impressed with into your own original poem and mention something about the poems that you did not like.

NaPoWriMo April 11th 2024 Prompt 11 – Name Game

Don’t worry about writing a 1000 page memoir. Your name is not Barbra . . .” — CJJ

Write a poem about your name. You can use the history of your name, where the root of your name comes from and what it means, or you can make something up about what your name means. You can
write a poem about other people who have had your name and what they did. Write about your name… but not about
yourself. You can do a bit of research on first name etymology and history
right here: The Meaning and History of First Names – Behind the Name .

The Meaning and History of First Names – Behind the Name

“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.” — Maya Angelou

NaPoWriMo April 12th 2024 Prompt 12 Birthday Poet writing about Movies

It’s MY birthday. So this year here’s the challenging inspiring prompt for you and for me too!!! Take a poet that was born in the month of April and write a poem in his or her style about one or more movies that you really like.

Poets Born in April:

1 Edmond Rostand 1868
3 George Herbert 1593-1633
4 Edith Sodergran 1892
4 Maya Angelou 1928
5 Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837
7 William Wordsworth 1770
9 Charles-Pierre Baudelaire 1821-1867
10 George William Russell 1867-1935

10 Norman Dubie 1945 * Ordinary Mornings of a Coliseum,
13 Seamus Heaney 1939
16 Anatole France 1844-1924
16 Sir Kingsley Amis 1922
18 Etheridge Knight 1931-1991 22
18 Louise Gluck 1942
23 William Shakespeare 1564-1616
23 Edwin Markham 1852
23 Vladimir Nabokov 1899
24 Robert Penn Warren 1905
24 George Oppen 1908
25 Walter de la Mare 1873-1956
25 Jay Anthony Lukas 1933
25 Ted Kooser 1939 +
27 Cecil Day Lewis 1904 AKA Nicholas Blake
28 Carolyn Forche 1950

29 Yusef Komunyakaa 1947

29 Constantine Peter Cavafy 1863-1933
30 John Crowe Ransom 1888

30 Annie Dillard 1945

“I think, secretly, that my poems actually do rhyme. It’s just that the rhyme is what I would call ‘conceptual,’ that is, not made of sounds, but of ideas that accomplish what the sounds do in formal poetry: to connect elements that one wouldn’t have expected, and to make the reader or listener, even if just for a moment, feel the complexity and disorder of life, and at the same time what Wallace Stevens called the ‘obscurity of an order, a whole.”
― Matthew Zapruder

NaPoWriMo April 13th 2024 Prompt 13 — Scrabble Day! From Julie Robinett the white hat wearing poet from Everett: April 13^th is “National Scrabble Day.” Find a bag of those letter-tiles and randomly grab ten of them; then see how many words you can make, with those ten tiles. (Next, put as many as you want to, into a poem.) You don’t have to use only the words from the tiles, (you can add other words, too); but use the words from the Scrabble tiles to inspire the theme or direction of your poem.

NaPoWriMo April 14th 2024 Prompt 14 – Quote me!

Your 14th prompt is to be inspired by a quote or two or three. Choose your favorites, ones you have seen recently or …? You can write about the quote, you can re-purpose the quote into your own writing,you can expand the idea, the import of the quote. Honor one or more quotes and do give credit to the person whose quote or quotes have inspired your poem.

NaPoWriMo April 15th 2024 Prompt 15 — two syllable words

Julie with the white hat from Everett (Julie Robinett) wants you to work really hard today…. her challenge prompt is…. make a poem using only two-syllable words…

Challenge yourself to make a poem consisting only of two-syllable words! (Maybe very tricky? Enjoy!)

More Prompts to inspire and challenge are on the way!!!! Exercise, enjoy, share….

On Wednesday 4/10/24 — I (Chris Jarmick) will be one of three featured readers at C&P coffee in West Seattle part of Leopoldo’s long running Poetry Bridge Series. The scheduled features are Chris Jarmick, Arleen Williams and Bonnie Wolkenstein signups for Open Mic start at 6:45 pm reading 7 to 9pm. FREE You will find a post about this with more info on the Western Washington Poets Network Facebook Page.

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
― William Wordsworth

It is almost my (Chris Jarmick) birthday (on the 12th). I wish for my birthday that all who see this will walk into a local independent bookstore and spend $25. to $100. on books (or get some gift cards). If you are near Kirkland, Wa. please visit my bookstore.. BookTree at 609 Market St. Indie bookstores truly need your patronage and attention. Most are barely breaking even. Retail in all sectors is down. Bookstores will not survive unless the community they do business in supports them, talks about them and considers it is an important business to have in their neighborhood. Thank YOU! BookTree’s GoFundMe Page is Here.

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
― Sylvia Plath

Several months ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine and I started a brand new website and facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend. This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetwork.org Use the site to look up by area of Western Washington (city, town etc) or day of the month regularly scheduled meetings take place. I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE. There is also a facebook page western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
― Jack London

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me. The store has new and gently-used books. The website for the store is here at http://www.BookTreeKirkland.com.

Keep Writing!!!

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

©2024 Christopher J. Jarmick All Rights Reserved

Posted in 30/30, Book Store, BookTree, NaPoWriMo, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged challenges, Chris Jarmick, Independent BookStores, Jarmick, keep writing, Kirkland, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry, poetry is everything, Western Washington, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo & GloPoWriMo for April 27-31 2026!!!!

April 27, 2026

“‘A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.‘ — Salman Rushdie.

National Poetry Writing Month began April 1st and many celebrate by writing a poem each ever day of April. Some of us call it NaPoWriMo which stands for National Poetry Writing Month. It’s also now know as Global Poetry Writing Month or GloPoWriMo and also the 30/30 challenge (30 poems in 30 days).

Write at least one poem every day of April. I have been posting prompts regularly on this blog to inspire, challenge or amuse you. Be creative and write every day. Perhaps your scribbles will blossom into work worth editing, rewriting, keeping, sharing and perhaps publishing. Often the writing will be far from perfect but it begins a good habit and you don’t have to show anyone what you’re writing unless you choose to do so – as part of the creative writing process.

Why do this? 1. For yourself. 2. To develop a daily writing practice 3. To challenge yourself and have fun!!! I don’t have to tell you that now more than ever it’s important to be creative and support other artists and creators.

The NaPoWriMo project was kick-started by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. in the early 2000’s Read about her here. http://www.napowrimo.net/about/ 

Please share my posts on social media/email or your own blog and tell others to check out PIE (PoetryIsEverything).

I am posting multiple days of prompts because of my busy schedule running my bookstore. The idea is to use one prompt per day but of course feel free to be inspired and challenged in ways that work best for you and keeps you writing on a daily basis throughout poetry month.

If you are near Kirkland, Wa. Consider visiting my bookstore, BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, Wa 98033. We have new and gently-used books, author events, poetry events and more BookTree Kirkland is on facebook, Instagram, blusky and we have a website here.

“‘Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal, which the reader recognizes as his own.’ — Ezra Pound

“‘Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful“–‘Rita Dove.’

April 27

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 27^th

Epistrophe

Write an epistrophe poem. It is like the anaphora but uses one or more words at the end of successive clauses, phrases of sentenced. This oath is a great example:

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

April 28

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 28^th

Word Soup

The sixth word in the next (or top) paragraph of the book, magazine or newspaper article you are reading is now the first word of your poem for today (if the sixth word is an article like the.. and…to etc. then skip to the next word; I also give you permission to use the 5th or 7th word if it is much better than the 6th one). In the next paragraph choose either the 3rd, 5th, or 7th word. This word will be used in the 5th line of your poem.

The first line of your poem has one word The next has two words. The next three words. Go to at least 8 words (8 lines). And if inspired continue to 12 words. You could do several stanzas, of 8 lines or 12 lines if you wind up creating something that demands it. Try it it out…Happy writing.

‘A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.’— W.H. Auden

April 29

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 29^th

ABC

Today’s form is ABECEDARIAN (Alphabet poem–usually each line of the poem begins with the letter of the alphabet–The Psalm 118 in King James Bible consists of twenty two eight line stanzas each one beginning with a letter in the Hebrew alphabet). Write your poem the first letter of line 1 is A of 2 is B and onto Z….

April 30

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 30^th

-30-

30 was what journalists used to denote the end of what they were writing. They didn’t write END or Finish they wrote -30- It originated as a telegraph code. So write a poem about an ending that has no more than 5 syllables per line 5 to 8 lines long with a grand total of 30 syllables.

April 31

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 31rst (I know… you are saying.. wait… April 31st?)

Repurpose

For the first extra NaPoWriMo leap day look at poems you’ve written the last 30 days. Use lines from previous writes to make an entirely new poem at least 10 lines long.

“And poetry is plucking at the heartstrings, and making music with them.‘ —Dennis Gabor

EXTRA Prompts

Here’s a few extra prompts

Invent a non-existent ice cream flavor (two scoops of cacophony ice cream, please). In your poem describe what it looks and tastes like.

Ten items you put into a bag to either donate to someone else or take on a long walk with you (though not practical items like water/food etc.). Write about what you put in the bag.

The penny is being phased out in the U.S. You’ve just discovered something else you’ve taken granted is being phased out and will be no more. What is it? Write a poem about it.

Hungry for more? Write a poem which incorporates food names, without using them as food, like say ‘hotdog street’ is in the poem or a lemon sun or such. Can you list a dozen foods in a poem, can you include some interesting and specific foods too?

IOU write an IOU poem. The only vowels you can use are I and O and U. I would suggest using them in that order repeated throughout the poem if you can, try for eight lines. (suggested by Brendan McBreen in 2018).

If you choose to share or post your poems publicly please mention you were inspired by the prompt posted on the PoetryIsEverything blog by that Chris Jarmick guy who owns BookTree Bookstore in Kirkland, Wa. Drop a note to me letting me see what you’ve done and how brave you are being posting a first draft! Thanks.

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me. The store has new and gently-used books. First Saturdays of the month at BookTree we almost always have a free writing workshop @ 4:24 pm to 6pm followed by featured readings and open mic at 6:15 pm. The website for the store is here at http://www.BookTreeKirkland.com

Over two years ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine (and I) started a brand new website and Facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend. This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetwork . org https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/ you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on. I encourage you to attend several readings –especially during poetry month. Most readings are FREE! The Facebook group (same name) which all can join offers up to the minute reminders of readings/workshops/open mics and other gatherings in the Western Washington community from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and roughly from the Cascades west.

There are currently three Western Washington Poets Network anthologies that have been edited and published by Griffith H. Williams’ East Point West Press as limited-edition letterpress collections created on a century old Chandler and Price letterpress. They are Examined Life (2024), Surviving Interesting Times (2025) and Open Book (2026). Currently there are several readings scheduled involving the latest anthology and a gathering of the community is scheduled for the first Saturday of September (September 5th @ 5pm) at BookTree in Kirkland with readings from all three anthologies.

Do you know Seattle Independent Bookstore Days begins on Saturday April 25th, 2026? There are 33 participating stores in the Seattle area this year! If you visit 5 or more stores you will receive a reward. If you visit all 33 participating store in a 10 day time period you’ll get an even bigger award and a Champion Card too!!! Saturday April 25th to Monday May 4th! There’s a website about it here: https://www.seattlebookstoreday.com/

BookTree will participate once again.

May 2nd – First Saturday @! BookTree Featured Reading/Open Mic @ 6:15 pm — No Workshop because of Independent Bookstore Days. Jed Meyers -music and poetry plus Christopher J. Jarmick with Alex Smith and Jed Meyers – poetry & live music plus Open Mic

May 5th– First Tuesday Duvall Poetry Featured Reading/Open Mic 6:30 to 7pm sign ups 7pm Open Mic and Feature: Christopher J. Jarmick The venue is located at Duvall Train Depot- 26227 NE Stephens St Duvall, WA 98019 Duvall Poetry Night Website here https://duvallpoetry.weebly.com/upcoming-readers.html

Saturday May 9 @ BookTree Multi-Author Event 4:25 to 6:30 pm Author Event Network (AEN) Literary Reading

Denise Frisino, Terrel Lefferts, Jeanne Matthews, AR Scanlan, Genet Simone, and David D. Horowitz, w/open mic BookTree Kirkland, 609 Market Street, Kirkland, WA

May 16, 7:00 p.m. (sign ups at 6:45pm) Tsuga Poetry Group @ Willard Special WWPN* Anthology Open Book Reading plus limited open mic. Signup at 6:45 pm

David Post and Griffith H. Williams hosts a special evening of poets reading from the just published Open Book Anthology (*Western Washington Poets Network . Org) Willard Art and Frame, 10101 Main Street, Bothell

June 6th First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic with

Frederick Livingston (born in Olympia, Wa. currently living in Ireland).

Support Indie Bookstores! Do NOT shop for books online at Amazon. If you shop online for books use Bookshop.Org and specify BookTree or another indie bookshop that is a member of the American Booksellers Association. Why? Because bookshop.org supports indie bookstores. Look into it yourself Thank YOU for supporting as you are able all small independently owned and operated small businesses which are usually locally owned and operated. You support local communities, towns, and counties by supporting small businesses that pay taxes and fees to operate their businesses. It matters. So again, Thank YOU for thinking about it and if possible doing something about it.

Keep Writing!!!

“‘Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.’ –Edgar Allan Poe.

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“‘Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.’ Robert Frost

Posted in 30/30, Book signings, Book Store, BookTree, NaPoWriMo, Open Mic, poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged Chris Jarmick, Keep Writing!!!, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, poetry is everything, Seattle Independent Bookstore Days, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo prompts April 20 to 27, 2026

April 19, 2026

“‘A poem is never finished, only abandoned.’ but repetition is the soul of poetry.” Paul Valéry

National Poetry Writing Month begins April 1st celebrate it by writing a poem each ever day of April. Some of us call it NaPoWriMo which stands for National Poetry Writing Month. It’s also now know as Global Poetry Writing Month or GloPoWriMo and also the 30/30 challenge (30 poems in 30 days).

The idea is write at least one poem every day of April. I will post prompts regularly on this blog to inspire, challenge or amuse you. Be creative and write every day. Perhaps your scribbles will blossom into work worth editing, rewriting, keeping, sharing and perhaps publishing. Often the writing will be far from perfect but it begins a good habit and you don’t have to show anyone what you’re writing unless you choose to do so – as part of the creative writing process.

The NaPoWriMo project was kick-started by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. in the early 2000’s Read about her here.

Please share my posts on social media/email or your own blog and tell others to check out PIE (PoetryIsEverything).

If you are near Kirkland, Wa. Consider visiting my bookstore, BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, Wa 98033. We have new and gently-used books, author events, poetry events and more BookTree Kirkland is on facebook, Instagram, blusky and we have a website here.

“‘Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.’ —Thomas Gray

April 20

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 20th

It has been suggested by the one and only Julie Robinett of Everett, Wa.

Magnet

Write a poem related to magnets and/or magnetism. You can go anywhere with this! Write about the stuff stuck to your fridge (with magnets), or write about a science experiment you remember doing (involving magnets); or you can research the history of magnets — or even go for the figurative, and write about a magnetic personality!

April 21

‘Poetry is the deification of reality.‘ — Edith Sitwell.“

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 21rst

Souvenir

What souvenir you have held onto captures a special moment – that concert ticket, a stuffed animal, a poster, etc. What item in your junk draw is there because you can’t throw it away? Write a poem about it…perhaps not from your perspective but from the perspective of someone else or from the object itself.

April 22

“The unsaid, for me, exerts great power...”― Louise Glück

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 22^nd

NYC-born poet Louise Glück born this day in 1942), author of Wild Iris (1992), which won the Pulitzer Prize. In 2003, Glück was named the 12th US Poet Laureate. She died in October of 2023. She wrote about wrote effectively about disappointment, rejection, loss, isolation, betrayal and more sometimes with a magical spiritual tone.

“The master said you must write what you see / But what I see does not move me / The master answered Change what you see.” – Louise Glück

Louise Glück

Write a poem invoking, mirroring Glück’s style and themes. More about her and some poems here.

April 23

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 23^rd

It has been suggested by the one and only Julie Robinett of Everett, Wa

Iconic Characters

Write about a popular character, (for example, GUMBY!) . . . or Spiderman, or Kermit the Frog, or any other character — (you get to pick!) You can write a poem about that character, or a poem from that character’s perspective. Bonus points: write a poem which includes a dialogue between two characters) — (if Gumby and Spiderman got together, what would they talk about?)

April 24

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 24^th

It’s National Bucket List Day

Write a poem that includes several things that would be on your bucket list.

April 25

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 25^th

Happy National Independent Bookstore Day!!! The last Saturday in April is Independent Bookstore Day – celebrated in many cities and regions across the country. In the Seattle area we celebrate for 10 days and several indie bookstores throughout the area participate…read about it here if you would like.

Independent Bookstore

Write a poem about independent bookstores. Write about one in particular or about several. Perhaps the poem can be written from the viewpoint of an indie bookstore – what kind of character would such a creature be? Perhaps write a poem that damns the indie bookstore (either seriously or satirically). In my poetry collection: Not Aloud (2015) I have a poem about independent bookstores.

April 26

“It seems to me that the desire to make art produces an ongoing experience of longing, a restlessness sometimes, but not inevitably, played out romantically, or sexually. Always there seems something ahead, the next poem or story, visible, at least, apprehensible, but unreachable. To perceive it at all is to be haunted by it; some sound, some tone, becomes a torment — the poem embodying that sound seems to exist somewhere already finished. It’s like a lighthouse, except that, as one swims towards it, it backs away.” – Louise Glück

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 26^th

Favorite Book of Poetry

Pick one of your favorite collections of poetry. Rewrite a few of the lines you like, use at least three poem titles in your poem, use the first name of the poet in your poem.

April 27

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 27^th

Epistolatory

Write an epistolatory poem (i.e. a poem in the form of a letter or if you must an email). It could be about something significant or a tiny moment that you would want to tell someone about – maybe someone who is no longer with us.

Next time—More Prompts to be posted on or about Monday April 27th!!! Check back soon!

Over two years ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine (and I) started a brand new website and Facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend. This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetwork.org you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on. I encourage you to attend several readings –especially during poetry month. Most readings are FREE! The Facebook group (same name) which all can join offers up to the minute reminders of readings/workshops/open mics and other gatherings in the Western Washington community from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and roughly from the Cascades west.

Do you know Seattle Independent Bookstore Days begins on Saturday April 25th, 2026? There are 33 participating stores in the Seattle area this year! If you visit 5 or more stores you will receive a reward. If you visit all 33 participating store in a 10 day time period you’ll get an even bigger award and a Champion Card too!!! Saturday April 25th to Monday May 4th! There’s a website about it here: BookTree will participate once again.

May 2nd – First Saturday @! BookTree Featured Reading/Open Mic @ 6:15 pm — No Workshop because of Independent Bookstore Days. Jed Meyers -music and poetry plus Christopher J. Jarmick with Alex Smith and Jed Meyers – poetry & live music plus Open Mic

May 5^th– First Tuesday Duvall Poetry Featured Reading/Open Mic 6:30 to 7pm sign ups

7pm Open Mic and Feature: Christopher J. Jarmick The venue is located at Duvall Train Depot- 26227 NE Stephens St Duvall, WA 98019 Duvall Poetry Night Website here

Saturday May 9 @ BookTree Multi-Author Event 4:25 to 6:30 pm

Author Event Network (AEN) Literary Reading

Denise Frisino, Terrel Lefferts, Jeanne Matthews, AR Scanlan, Genet Simone, and David D. Horowitz, w/open mic BookTree Kirkland, 609 Market Street, Kirkland, WA

May 16, 7:00 p.m. (sign ups at 6:45pm) Tsuga Poetry Group @ Willard

Special WWPN* Anthology Open Book Reading plus limited open mic. Signup at 6:45 pm

David Post and Griffith H. Williams hosts a special evening of poets reading from the just published Open Book Anthology (*Western Washington Poets Network . Org)

Willard Art and Frame, 10101 Main Street, Bothell

June 6th First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic with

Frederick Livingston (born in Olympia, Wa. currently living in Ireland). Workshop @ 4:24 pm followed by Reading/Open Mic @ 6:15pm

Keep Writing!!!

“‘Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.’ —Edgar Allan Poe.

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posted in 30/30, NaPoWriMo, Open Mic, poetry, Poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged BookTree Kirkland, Chris Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, poetry, poetry is everything, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo GloPoWriMo 2026 April 13 to 20, 2026 Prompts

April 12, 2026

‘Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.‘ —Leonard Cohen

Jump right in and start writing! National Poetry Writing Month began on April 1st. We celebrate it by writing a poem every day in April. It’s called NaPoWriMo and GloPoWriMo as in National or Global Writing Month. I post prompts for every day of the month to inspire, challenge and/or amuse you. Perhaps the first draft you write will be worth rewriting, editing, keeping, sharing and perhaps publishing.

Please share my posts on social media/email or your own blog and tell others to check out PIE (PoetryIsEverything). I post multiple days of prompts because of my busy schedule running my bookstore. If you are near Kirkland, Wa. Consider visiting BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, Wa 98033. We have new and gently-used books, author events, poetry events and more BookTree Kirkland is on facebook, Instagram, blusky and we have a website here. www.booktreekirkland.com

Some of the prompts I’m sharing have been thought up by my friend and fellow poet who lives in Everett (and is known for wearing a big white hat!). Her name is Julie Robinet.

“‘Poetry is the opening and closing of a door.’ – Carl Sandburg.

April 13

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 13th.

“I can’t think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people’s understanding of what’s going on in the world.” ― Seamus Heaney

“Since when,” he asked,

“Are the first line and last line of any poem

Where the poem begins and ends?” ― Seamus Heaney

Happy Birthday to Irish Poet and 1995 Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney born April 13, 1939 (d. 2013 (1939 to 2013) Honor him with your poem today.

“All I know is a door into the dark” ― Seamus Heaney

Let a few of his poems, or a few of the quotes on this page become part of the poem you write today.

“Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests; snug as a gun.” ― Seamus Heaney

“I rhyme

To see myself,

to set the darkness echoing.” ― Seamus Heaney

April 14

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 14th.

Ekphrastic

Write an Ekphrastic poem. This means you should write a poem inspired by a piece of art or sculpture (you could expand this to include music, movies etc. but let’s not do that for today’s prompt unless you absolutely insist). The poem can reflect your reaction to a work of art, it can be a poetic description/reflection of the art through the prism of your sensibilities. You could be wildly creative with this and have a conversation with the work of art. What’s important is that the work of art should inspire and be part of what you write. Can you make the object lively before the reader’s eye? Let others know what art work inspired your poem (if it is not obvious) and you might include a picture or a link to a picture of the artwork. Many say one of the best examples of an ekphrastic poem is John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn (read it here). https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44477/ode-on-a-grecian-urn

April 15

“This is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher.” – Albert Einstein, on filing tax returns.

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 15th.

It’s National Rubber Erasure Day as well as National Tax Day! So good thing that on April 15, 1770 – Joseph Priestly found a vegetable gum to remove pencil marks. He called this substance “rubber.”

Erasure

Create an erasure poem. Use a page of text from a book, a newspaper, or long letter, or corporate report or something else. You’ll be erasing or crossing out most of the text creating a poem from what is left. Don’t use anymore than 4 words in a row from the text. So you can use one word, two words, or 4 words that will create a coherent, interesting poem.

Learn more about the erasure or blackout poem and see some examples at Poets.org. Erasure Poem at Poets.Org.

April 16

‘The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.’ —Cocteau.”

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 16^th

Put On A Happy Face!

There’s a lot going on in the world, in your life, in the lives of people you know that can be upsetting, difficult, and challenging . Write about something dark but write about it in an extremely optimistic way. Be two-faced and write an upbeat happy poem about something tragic. Do you hate a politician or a current event? Thank that politician or make the current event into something positive. You don’t have to be sincere, just overly optimistic and upbeat in the tone of your poem.

April 17

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 17^th

Advertising.

Think of some popular advertising slogans. Use a few of them in whole or part in the poem you create today. You can make up product names or switch things around, or pack the poem with slogan after slogan. It’s Poetry Country, pardner, plop plop fizz fizz what a poem it is!!! (Easy…right?).

Have fun!!!

April 18

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 18^th

Book Titles

Incorporate at least 10 classic book titles in a Ten line poem

To Kill a Mockingbird humanely call Catcher in the Rye Pest Control

ask for the Eye in the Sky special…

You get the idea.

April 19

“A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.’ E.M. Forster.

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 19^th

You’re into WHAT?

Write a poem about what someone considers healthy or something people enjoy doing that you do not enjoy at all – (eating mangoes, camping, marathon running, exercising in a gym) and also write about something you truly enjoy doing that others might think is not a good thing to do (eating ice cream, going to a truck show, sky diving, collecting stamps or coins, swimming for miles in the ocean etc).

April 20

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 20^th

It has been suggested by the one and only Julie Robinett of Everett, Wa.

Magnet

Next time—More Prompts to be posted on or about Monday April 20th!!! Check back soon!

“‘Poetry is the art of understatement,‘” Robert Frost

BookTree will participate once again.

Thursday, April 16th Poetry Reading in Edmonds — 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Mary Eliza Crane, Alexander R. Smith, Kristen McHenry, Robinson Bolkum, and David Post

Edmonds Bookshop, 111 Fifth Avenue South, Edmonds, WA

Saturday May 9 @ BookTree Multi-Author Event 4:25 to 6:30 pm

Author Event Network (AEN) Literary Reading

Denise Frisino, Terrel Lefferts, Jeanne Matthews, AR Scanlan, Genet Simone, and David D. Horowitz, w/open mic

BookTree Kirkland, 609 Market Street, Kirkland, WA

May 16, 7:00 p.m. (sign ups at 6:45pm) Tsuga Poetry Group @ Willard

Special WWPN* Anthology Open Book Reading plus limited open mic. Signup at 6:45 pm

David Post and Griffith H. Williams hosts a special evening of poets reading from the just published Open Book Anthology (*Western Washington Poets Network . Org)

Willard Art and Frame, 10101 Main Street, Bothell

June 6th First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic with

Frederick Livingston (born in Olympia, Wa. currently living in Ireland).

Support Indie Bookstores! Do NOT shop for books online at Amazon. If you shop online for books use Bookshop.Org and specify BookTree or another indie bookshop that is a member of the American Booksellers Association. Why? Because bookshop.org supports indie bookstores. Look into it yourself Thank YOU for supporting as you are able all small independently owned and operated small businesses which are usually locally owned and operated. You support local communities, towns, and counties by supporting small businesses that pay taxes and fees to operate their businesses. It matters. So again, Thank YOU for thinking about it and if possible doing something about it.

Keep Writing!!!

“‘Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.’ Carl Sandburg

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posted in 30/30, BookTree, NaPoWriMo, Open Mic, poetry, Poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged Chris Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo 2026 April 6 to 13th Prompts

April 6, 2026

‘Poetry is eternal graffiti in the heart of everyone.’ –Lawrence Ferlinghetti

National Poetry Writing Month began on April 1^st. We celebrate it by writing a poem every day in April. It’s called NaPoWriMo and GloPoWriMo as in National or Global Writing Month.

I post prompts for every day of the month to inspire, challenge and/or amuse you. Perhaps the first draft you write will be worth rewriting, editing, keeping, sharing and perhaps publishing.

Please share my posts on social media/email or your own blog and tell others to check out PIE (PoetryIsEverything). I post multiple days of prompts because of my busy schedule running my bookstore. If you are near Kirkland, Wa. Consider visiting BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, Wa 98033. We have new and gently-used books, author events, poetry events and more BookTree Kirkland is on facebook, Instagram, blusky and we have a website here – BookTree www.booktreekirkland.com

Some of the prompts I’m sharing have been thought up by my friend and fellow poet who lives in Everett (and is known for wearing a big white hat!). Her name is Julie Robinet.

‘Poetry is language surprised in the act of changing into meaning.‘ —Stanley Kunitz.

April 6

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing – George Bernard Shaw

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 6th

Sounds

Write a poem that focuses on sounds. The first word should be a sound “Splash, KaBOOM, ting, whispers, crinkle, plop… you get the idea. Used at least 10 sound words and make your poem at least 10 lines long.

April 7

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 7th.

The Septolet is short form of poetry Write two different types of Septolets today. (Sep-toe-lay) 1- 14 words – 7 lines 2- 7 lines 16 syllables.

Septolet 1: Total of 14 words in 7 lines, no line should have more than three words. The poem should relate to one subject, object, thought or feeling. The first four lines create a coherent picture or thought, the last three lines create another. Each could stand separately, but both are related.

Septolet 2: Line 1 has one syllable, Line 2 has two, Line 3 has 3, Line 4 has 4 syllables, space, Line 5 has 3, Line 6 has 2, Line 7 has one syllable. Poem should relate to one thought, feeling, object, place.

Example:

Formal Septolet Informal Septolet

One 1 syllable “This

Second 2 syllables is easy

Or perhaps 3 syllables anyone can do

Four ticking bombs 4 syllables it,”

Blank space

Reminder 3 syllables said

That you’re 2 syllables tightrope walker.

Late 1 syllable “but don’t look down!”

(14 words. 4 words maximum on one line.)

If you are wondering…who invented the Septolet? Do not know. It is a variation on the work of Georffrey Chaucer who pioneered a stanza form with seven lines but his was known as a rhyme royal.

April 8

“‘A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.’ —Robert Frost

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 8th. It was suggested by the one and only Julie Robinett of Everett, Wa.

Hot Chocolate!

Write a poem about hot chocolate! — (here we are, not far past the edge of spring, but can you conjure up a cozy winter evening?) — use the image of hot chocolate to step back in time — (or to look ahead, to next winter’s hot chocolatey evenings!) She says: “You should sip from a mug of hot chocolate, whilst writing your poem!”

April 9

“Don’t scorn your life just because it’s not dramatic, or it’s impoverished, or it looks dull, or it’s workaday. Don’t scorn it. It is where poetry is taking place if you’ve got the sensitivity to see it, if your eyes are open.” ― Philip Levine

The poet Philip Levine had a practice of writing the 9 syllable line which is a syllable off from what the ear is used to hearing which is the the more common English 10-syllable line. 9 syllable lines give the poem an unusual bearing and forward momentum. It’s a little more difficult than you’d think to write 9 syllable lines (5 or 10 feels natural).

So write a 10 line or longer poem consisting of 9 syllable lines. Levine would often write about the blue collar life, often in Detroit and often about the drudgery and the dignity of manual labor. One of his best known collections is What Work Is. Levine died in 2015.

“Oh, yes, let’s bless the imagination. It gives us the myths we live by. Let’s bless the visionary power of the human— the only animal that’s got it—, bless the exact image of your father dead and mine dead, bless the images that stalk the corners of our sight and will not let go.”― Philip Levine

April 10

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 10th.

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.’ —Wordsworth.

TEN

Find and pick up a book! Make sure it has lots of words on page 10 (or choose a different book). Create a word list in the following way—use the 10^th word that is 5 letters or longer. This will be the title of your poem. Go to the 10^th sentence and write down the longest word in that sentence. This will be the first word of your poem. Compile a list of 10 more words that are 4 or more letters. Count 10 words from the last one you picked and the next 4 or 5 letter word is the one you write down. Use all of these words in your poem. You don’t have to use them in order, just make sure that you use these words in your poem which should be 10 lines long and try to make each line as close to 10 syllables as possible.

April 11

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 11th.

It’s NATIONAL EIGHT TRACK TAPE DAY Popular from the mid sixties until the early 80’s eight track tapes though fazed out by late 1982 and gone completely by late 1988. They were created in 1964 by Bill Lear of the Lear Jet Corporation along with Ampex, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Motorola, and RCA and also were known as Stereo 8 with the first player available in 1965. Ford introduced factory and dealer installed options to buyer on three 1966 car models, Thunderbird, Mustang and Lincoln. Ford offered them as an upgrade option on all their cars in 1967, the remained available until the 1980s.

Obsolete

Write a poem about an obsolete technology. You can choose the Eight Track or other once popular technologies or innovations (VHS, floppy discs, answering machines…etc). Perhaps create an ODE to the Eight Track or a good riddance to the floppy disc poem.

12 lines or more. Can you make each line have either 8 words or 8 syllables in remembrance of the Eight Track? Have fun.

April 12th

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 12th.

Movie Connection

It’s my birthday. I love movies. I love books, music, art and poetry too. Find an actor (TV and/or Movies – living or dead) who has the same first name, or middle name, or last name as you do. Find a movie or TV show this person has been in. If you haven’t seen it and can’t watch it, imagine what happens in the movie and the part he or she plays in the movie. Write a poem that connects in some way to this movie or tv show but does not follow the plot or action of this movie or TV Show (if you haven’t seen it, and you’re making it up it will probably differ enough from the plot or action). Write a poem at least 12 lines long with the actor’s last name as the title. (I’m Christopher so I might choose Walken, or Reeve, or Pratt)

April 13

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 13th.

“I can’t think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people’s understanding of what’s going on in the world.” ― Seamus Heaney

Happy Birthday to Irish Poet and 1995 Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney born April 13, 1939 (d. 2013 (1939 to 2013) Honor him with your poem today.

“Since when,” he asked,”Are the first line and last line of any poem where the poem begins and ends?”― Seamus Heaney

“All I know is a door into the dark” ― Seamus Heaney

Let a few of his poems, or a few of the quotes on this page become part of the poem you write today.

“Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests; snug as a gun.” ― Seamus Heaney

“I rhyme

to see myself,

to set the darkness echoing.”

― Seamus Heaney

Next time—More Prompts to be posted on or about Monday April 13th!!! Check back soon!

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me. The store has new and gently-used books. First Saturdays of the month at BookTree we almost always have a free writing workshop @ 4:24 pm to 6pm followed by featured readings and open mic at 6:15 pm. The website for the store is here at http://www.BookTreeKirkland.com

Over two years ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine (and I) started a brand new website and Facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend. This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetwork . org https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/ you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on. I encourage you to attend several readings –especially during poetry month. Most readings are FREE! The Facebook group (same name) which all can join offers up to the minute reminders of readings/workshops/open mics and other gatherings in the Western Washington community from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and roughly from the Cascades west.

BookTree will participate once again.

Wednesday, April 8^th Poetry Reading in West Seattle @ C & P Coffee at 6 pm

Featured Readers: Christopher J. Jarmick, Priscilla Long & Bethany Reid plus Open Mic

C & P Coffee 5612 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98136

Thursday, April 16^th Poetry Reading in Edmonds — 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Mary Eliza Crane, Alexander R. Smith, Kristen McHenry, Robinson Bolkum, and David Post

Edmonds Bookshop, 111 Fifth Avenue South, Edmonds, WA

May 2nd – First Saturday @! BookTree Featured Reading/Open Mic @ 6:15 pm — No Workshop because of Independent Bookstore Days. Jed Meyers -music and poetry plus Christopher J. Jarmick with Alex Smith and Jed Meyers – poetry & live music plus Open Mic

Saturday May 9 @ BookTree Multi-Author Event 4:25 to 6:30 pm

Author Event Network (AEN) Literary Reading

Saturday, May 9, 2026, 4:25 – 6:30 p.m.

Denise Frisino, Terrel Lefferts, Jeanne Matthews, AR Scanlan, Genet Simone, and David D. Horowitz, w/open mic

BookTree Kirkland, 609 Market Street, Kirkland, WA

May 16, 7:00 p.m. (sign ups at 6:45pm) Tsuga Poetry Group @ Willard

Special WWPN* Anthology Open Book Reading plus limited open mic. Signup at 6:45 pm

David Post and Griffith H. Williams hosts a special evening of poets reading from the just published Open Book Anthology (*Western Washington Poets Network . Org)

Willard Art and Frame, 10101 Main Street, Bothell

June 6th First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic with

Frederick Livingston (born in Olympia, Wa. currently living in Ireland).

Keep Writing!!!

“I believe the poem is a sacramental act, pure devotion to whatever may be revealed only through the music of intuition. The dance of the intellect, the dance of wild imagination, illuminates what cannot otherwise be known.” ― Sam Hamill

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posted in 30/30, BookTree, NaPoWriMo, Open Mic, poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged BookTree Bookstore, Chris Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry is everything, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo – GloPoWriMo April 1 2026 Start those Engines!!!

March 30, 2026

When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. — John Fitzgerald Kennedy

National Poetry Writing Month begins April 1^st and what better way to celebrate it than by writing a poem each ever day of April. Some of us call it NaPoWriMo which stands for National Poetry Writing Month. It’s also now known as Global Poetry Writing Month or GloPoWriMo and also the 30/30 challenge (30 poems in 30 days).

The NaPoWriMo project was kick-started by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. in the early 2000’s Read about it here. http://www.napowrimo.net/about/

Please share my posts on social media/email or your own blog and tell others to check out PIE (PoetryIsEverything).

“Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads.‘ —Marianne Moore.

This year’s posts are dedicated to my dear friend Vicki Teel Cox (and her husband, Larry) who enthusiastically supported and cheered on my writing/poetry/NaPoWriMo/bookstore efforts over the years. Vicki left us last year and she is fondly remembered and very much missed. She was a rare very special warm friend who was quick with encouraging words.

“Isn’t it appropriate that the month of the tax begins with April Fool’s Day and ends with cries of May Day!” – Robert Knauerhase

April 1

Happy 1rst day of NaPoWriMo and GloPoWriMo. Happy April Fool’s Day. Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem to write on April 1rst.

Unusual omens, signs, superstitions

People consider horoscopes, reading tea leaves, tarot, numerology, palmistry as ways to interpret, guide, or predict. For your poem today use some of the things you encounter as signs that reveal something to you. A particular stop sign, someone wearing a colored scarf, a sign in the grocery store. Write about it and turn into a poem at least 12 lines in length.

“I write in my notebook with the intention of stimulating good conversation, hoping that it will also be of use to some fellow traveler. But perhaps my notes are mere drunken chatter, the incoherent babbling of a dreamer. If so, read them as such.” ― Sam Hamill, The Poetry of Zen

April 2

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 2^nd.

STIR

The title of my next collection of poetry due out later in the year from MoonPath Press will be STIR. So write a poem today that uses the word Stir prominently. It could be about something that upsets you (stirs you up) or it could be about mixing something (like ingredients in a recipe) or it could be about being moved or touched in a good way or an awkward or uncomfortable way. Write your poem.

April 3

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” ― Jane Goodall

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 3rd.

It’s Jane Goodall’s birthday (1934 to 2025 ) She would have been 92.

Animal

Many Indigenous people’s believe they have a spirit animal. An animal whose characteristics are part of who they are. Do YOU have a spirit animal? Jane Goodall was famous for her work with chimpanzees and she was an advocate for environmental and animal rights. So write a poem about a favorite animal, perhaps your spirit animal and in your poem remember to advocate in some way for this animal’s rights.

Learn more about Goddall’s work here and maybe even donate if you can!

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”― Jane Goodall

April 4

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”—Maya-Angelou

Happy Birthday novelist-poet Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014) Missouri-born (Akansas-raised).

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 4th.

Be inspired by Angelou’s poem: Still I Rise and write a poem that informs/inspires how someone you knew (or yourself) deals with adversity.

Read the Still I Rise poem here.

April 5

‘The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say—but what we are unable to say.” —Anaïs Nin

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 5th.

Word!

Use one word that repeats at the end of every other line of the poem. Make it begin as the last word on the 2^nd line of your poem. Your poem should be at least 10 lines long.

April 6

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing – George Bernard Shaw

Here’s the prompt/challenge for the poem you should write on April 6th.

Sounds

I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged…I had poems which were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out. – Erica Jong

Next time—More Prompts to be posted on or about Monday April 6^th!!! Check back soon!

Over two years ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine (and I) started a brand new website and Facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend. This is called WesternWashingtonPoetsNetwork . org https ://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/ you can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on. I encourage you to attend several readings –especially during poetry month. Most readings are FREE! The Facebook group (same name) which all can join offers up to the minute reminders of readings/workshops/open mics and other gatherings in the Western Washington community from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and roughly from the Cascades west.

There are currently three Western Washington Poets Network anthologies that have been edited and published by Griffith H. Williams’ East Point West Press as limited-edition letterpress collections created on a century old Chandler and Price letterpress. They are Examined Life (2024), Surviving Interesting Times (2025) and Open Book (2026). Currently there are several readings scheduled involving the latest anthology and a gathering of the community is scheduled for the first Saturday of September (September 5^th @ 5pm) at BookTree in Kirkland with readings from all three anthologies.

April 4th – First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic – Michael Magee and Priscilla Long;

Free Writing Workshop at 4:24 pm led by Priscilla and Michael including: Poetry on Love and Grief” 4 Lines Later, the 4 beat line, 4 line stanza in poetry AND ‘writing the list’.

*PIE Reading & Open Mic at 6:15 pm

Priscilla will be reading from “Cartographies of Home” (MoonPath Press, 2026) and Michael from “Crowed” (2026).

*PIE= Poetry Is Everything

Bios

Priscilla Long is a Seattle-based writer of poetry, fiction, history, science, and memoir, and a longtime independent teacher of writing. She is author of at least eight books including her lates Cartographies of Home (MoonPath Press 2026), a book on a book on thriving while aging, “Dancing with the Muse in Old Age.” Poetry collections include, “Holy Magic” (MoonPath Press) and “Crossing Over: Poems” (University of New Mexico Press). She was the 2020 winter of MoonPath Press’s Sally Albiso Poetry Book Award.

Michael Magee is a poet and playwright whose poems and plays have been published and produced here and in England. His most recent book is Crowed (MoonPath Press 2026). Previous books include “Shiny Things” and others. His work appears in Verse Daily and other places. He lives in the Tacoma area.

Do you know Seattle Independent Bookstore Days begins on Saturday April 25th, 2026? There are 33 participating stores in the Seattle area this year! If you visit 5 or more stores you will receive a reward. If you visit all 33 participating store in a 10 day time period you’ll get an even bigger award and a Champion Card too!!! Saturday April 25th to Monday May 4th! There’s a website about it here: https://www.seattlebookstoreday.com/

BookTree will participate once again.

May 2nd – First Saturday @! BookTree Featured Reading/Open Mic @ 6:15 pm — No Workshop because of Independent Bookstore Days. Jed Meyers -music and poetry plus Christopher J. Jarmick with Alex Smith and Jed Meyers – poetry & live music plus Open Mic

June 6th First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic with Frederick Livingston (born in Olympia, Wa. currently living in Ireland).

Support Indie Bookstores! Do NOT shop for books online at Amazon. If you shop online for books use Bookshop.Org https://bookshop.org/ and specify BookTree or another indie bookshop that is a member of the American Booksellers Association. Why? Because bookshop.org supports indie bookstores. Look into it yourself Thank YOU for supporting as you are able all small independently owned and operated small businesses which are usually locally owned and operated. You support local communities, towns, and counties by supporting small businesses that pay taxes and fees to operate their businesses. It matters. So again, Thank YOU for thinking about it and if possible doing something about it.

Keep Writing!!!

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), ‘I make’, poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

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Poetry is Everything

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Posted in 30/30, BookTree, Free Workshop, NaPoWriMo, Open Mic, Poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged BookTree Kirkland, Chris Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry is everything, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

Welcome to NaPoWriMo 2026

March 26, 2026

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”― Louis L’Amour

NaPoWriMo and GloPoWriMo officially commences on April 1, 2026.

National Poetry Writing Month is what NaPoWriMo stands for. It happens every April which is National Poetry Month. The idea is write at least one poem every day of April. I will post prompts regularly on this blog to inspire, challenge or amuse you.

Starting March 30th I’ll encourage you to participate in the write-a-poem each and every day of April as part of the National/Global Poetry Writing Month challenge NaPo/Glo/WriMo. The idea is to be creative and write every day. Some of your writings will blossom into work worth editing, rewriting, keeping, sharing and perhaps publishing. Other writings will be like an imperfect awkward jumping jack, it begins a good habit and no one needs to see it unless you choose to share the process.

Why? Now more than ever being creative in artistic endeavors and supporting other artists and creators could NOT be more important.

The NaPoWriMo project was kick-started by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. in Here. http://www.napowrimo.net/about/ Maureen started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April, and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.

There will be daily prompts posted here. They are suggestions… The prompt challenge is to keep you writing every day but also to perhaps do something a little bit different than what you might do left to your own devices.

If you want to share and post your imperfect efforts feel free to do so.

Please share my posts and tell others to check out PIE (PoetryIsEverything).

If you are near Kirkland, Wa. Consider visiting my bookstore, BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, Wa 98033. BookTree Kirkland is on facebook, Instagram, blusky and we have a website.

If you want to support BookTree do not order online from Amazon…do not go to bookstores that are owned by British hedge funds (B&N) or corporations. Support your locally owned and operated independent bookstores. If you want to order books online do so through Bookshop.org and specify BookTree or another indie bookshop that is a member of the American Booksellers Association. Why? Because bookshop.org supports indie bookstores. Look into it yourself and thank you. Sincerely Thank YOU for supporting as you are able all small independently owned and operated small businesses which are usually locally owned and operated. You support local communities, towns, and counties by supporting small businesses that pay taxes and fees to operate their businesses. It matters. So again, Thank YOU for thinking about it and if possible doing something about it.

Oh back to poetry….

A good way to start thinking about writing a poem every day this month is to read and re-read the following words by Ray Bradbury:

“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”

― Ray Bradbury

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”― Sylvia Plath

Look for the next post and several prompts to begin this year’s NaPoWriMo on March 30th, 2026.

Do you know Seattle Independent Bookstore Days begins on Saturday April 25^th, 2026? There are 33 participating stores in the Seattle area this year! If you visit 5 or more stores you will receive a reward. If you visit all 33 participating store in a 10 day time period you’ll get an even bigger award and a Champion Card too!!! There’s a website about it here: https://www.seattlebookstoreday.com/

BookTree will participate once again.

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Kirkland, Washington please drop into BookTree at 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 and say Hi or talk books and poetry with me. The store has new and gently-used books. First Saturdays of the month at BookTree we almost always have a free writing workshop @ 4:24 pm to 6pm followed by featured readings and open mic at 6:15 pm. The website for the store is here at http://www.BookTreeKirkland.com  

Over two years ago, some friends and acquaintances of mine (and I) started a brand new website and Facebook site to help people living or visiting Western Washington to find various readings and open mics to attend. This is called WesternWashingtonPoets https://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/ You can look up by area, by day of the month, what regularly scheduled readings are going on. I encourage you to attend several readings –especially during poetry month. Most readings are FREE! The Facebook group (same name – which all can join) offers up to the minute reminders of readings/workshops/open mics and other gatherings in the Western Washington community from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and roughly from the Cascades west.

I encourage you to attend several readings… especially during poetry month…. many readings are FREE. There is also a facebook page western washington poets network you can join and get up to the minute reminders of things going on.

April 4^th – First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic – Michael Magee and Priscilla Long;

Free Writing Workshop at 4:24 pm led by Priscilla and Michael including: Poetry on Love and Grief” 4 Lines Later, the 4 beat line, 4 line stanza in poetry AND ‘writing the list’.

*PIE Reading & Open Mic at 6:15 pm Priscilla will be reading from “Cartographies of Home” (MoonPath Press, 2026) and Michael from “Crowed” (2026).

*PIE= Poetry Is Everything

Bios

May 2^nd – First Saturday @! BookTree Featured Reading/Open Mic @ 6:15 pm — No Workshop because of Independent Bookstore Days. Jed Meyers -music and poetry plus Christopher J. Jarmick with Alex Smith and Jed Meyers – poetry & live music plus Open Mic

June 6^th First Saturday @ BookTree Workshop/Reading/Open Mic with Frederick Livingston (born in Olympia, Wa. currently living in Ireland).

Keep Writing!!!

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ― Anton Chekhov

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

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Poetry is Everything

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Posted in 30/30, BookTree, NaPoWriMo | Tagged BookTree Kirkland, NaPoWriMo, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo NaGloWriMo April 2025 –Prompts #24 to 31

April 23, 2025

This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. Then come close to Nature. Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose…—Rainer Maria Wilke

Still time just begin the challenge today to write a poem each and every day of April honoring National Poetry Month. See previous posts on this blog for additional information.

I am posting several prompts all at once because I have limited time. They are meant to be used as daily prompt challenges to keep you writing a poem a day for every day in April. This one covers the last week of NaPoWriMo prompts for 2025. I’ve also listed a few upcoming readings. Saturday April 26th begins Seattle Independent Bookstore Days. If you like indie bookstores, remember to support them and consider being part of the celebration.

Keep writing!!!

“The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible” ―Vladimir Nabokov

Prompt for April 24, 2025

TRIOLET — A triolet is a French single-stanza poem of eight lines using this rhyme scheme: ABAAABAB; But…. You only have unique lines. The first line is repeated as the 4^th and 7^th line and the 2^nd line is also the very last line of the poem. An example of the triolet poem:

We Poets

By LuAnn Kennedy (1984– )

We poets are so very strange!

We write and write and lose our minds!

Emotions flow in quite a range;

We poets are so very strange!

We’re happy. Then, we quickly change;

To make a world it takes all kinds.

We poets are so very strange!

We write and write and lose our minds!

“Cram your head with characters and stories. Abuse your library privileges. Never stop looking at the world, and never stop reading to find out what sense other people have made of it. If people give you a hard time and tell you to get your nose out of a book, tell them you’re working. Tell them it’s research. Tell them to pipe down and leave you alone.”

―Jennifer Weiner

Prompt for April 25, 2025

Happy Birthday Ted!!! Ted Kooser world renowned American Poet was born today in 1939.

Find a Ted Kooser poem you like and in your original poem only use the 4 letter or longer words from the Kooser poem…don’t quote any lines just use the words and create a brand new poem from the Kooser Poem. Your poem should be 8 lines or more. You can use any 1, 2 or 3 letter words you need but all the other words should be from the Kooser poem.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. . . Luke 8: 17 So write!!!!

Prompt for April 26, 2025

Happy INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY

On the last Saturday in April, many cities celebrate Independent Bookstore Day! BookTree in Kirkland is part of the Seattle Independent BookStore day that starts on April 26^th and continues for 10 days. It involves 29 bookstores throughout Western Washington including stores in Burien, Edmonds, Poulsbo, West Seattle, Bremerton, Mercer Island, Kirkland, Redmond, Kingston, Shoreline, and Bainbridge Island too. It started in Southern California in 2014, expanded to many cities in 2015. Celebrate Independent Bookstores! Book fanatics who complete the challenge of visiting all of the participating stores will receive a Bookstore Day Champion Stamp Card, good for a one-time 25% discount at each participating store and valid until April 24, 2026. People who visit at least five participating stores during the ten-day period will receive a single 25%-off coupon, good at any of the participating stores. April 26 to May 5, 2025.

Today’s Prompt

Write a poem that involves a bookstore and also mentions titles of books but not as titles of books . Your poem should include : 1 current best-seller; 1 frequently banned book, 1 book of poetry (of course), 1 biography, 1 cookbook and 1 reference book. Again… they should be part of the poem but not as a book title. Example: The special Howl drink offered by bartender Huckleberry Finn was served in a glass so elegant you’d kill a mockingbird to own one.

“The current wave of book banning sweeping the country has created a chilling effect on our education system and the purchasing of books in our libraries, the effects of which will be seen for decades even if we somehow get it under control in the next year. This is a huge movement that has been in the works for a while. It is well funded and well coordinated. It is about marginalizing and erasing cultures and groups of people, it is about defunding public institutions, it is about dumbing down society for a more easily led population, and it is about using libraries for political gain. At the end of the day, the pro-censorship movement is about privatizing education and privatizing libraries for a group of people who are seeking to line their pockets. And to achieve those goals, otherwise well-meaning people have been enlisted in a social movement that goes against everything America stands for. That’s the really sad and tragic thing.”― Amanda Jones

“So okay― there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want.” ―Stephen King

Prompt for April 27, 2025

Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you.

So let’s be fearless today. Let’s reach back to the first 4 poems we wrote for NaPoWriMo this year.

Write down the 2^nd line, from Poem 1 , 3^rd, line from Poem 2, 4^th,from Poem 3 and 5^th line from Poem 4 on a piece of paper.

Do this even before you’ve read the full prompt for today.

Got them written down?

Here we go….

The last line you wrote down (line from 5 from poem 4) becomes the 2^nd line of your new poem.

The 3^rd line you wrote down (line 4 from Poem 3) becomes the 4^th line of your new poem

The 2nd line you wrote down (line 3 from Poem 2) becomes the 5^th OR the 6^th line of your new poem.

The 1^st line you wrote down (line 2 from Poem 1) becomes the 6^th, 7^th or very last line of your new poem.

Write a few new lines and you are done!

Crrrrrazy.

Prompt for April 28, 2025

Can you write a 28 word poem without repeating any of the words? Consider yourself challenged to do so today!

Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls.”– Voltaire

“Writing a poem is discovering”—Robert Frost

Prompt for April 29, 2025

Today’s form is ABECEDARIAN (Alphabet poem–usually each line of the poem begins with the letter of the alphabet–( Psalm 118 in the King James Bible consists of twenty two eight line stanzas each one beginning with a letter in the Hebrew alphabet)

This is an example I wrote many years ago for this prompt—

Abecedarian Vacation

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Anacortes ferry que; adventure

Begins, jammin’ with the Stones

‘Cause we’re on vacation baby

Don’t Call, Don’t E-mail, we’re outta town

Easy days, high teas ahead

Fun in the sun–even should it rain

Going all the way

Have an extra dessert or two

Ice Cream however (allergies) is forbidden

Just my baby and me

Keeping the peace

Looking at the harbor

Making eyes at the horizon

Not going to work, sleeping late

Open hearted sing-a-longs

Pablo’s has a table with our name on it

Quesadillas not on the menu

Roast Lamb, black cod, red wine–we’ll see

Spinnaker Pub, perhaps something new

Take a long stroll, have a drink

Under the Empress’ watchful eye

Victoria Gardens spring to April life

wandering lovers in our

Xanada, Xanadu

You say let’s go feed the animals at the

zoo, maybe open a cage or two

And then we’ll

Be saying see you soon again

Canada, see you soon again.

Prompt for April 30, 2025

Write an Ekphrastic Poem. This is a poem based on another art form usually a poem written about a painting or work of art. Ode to a Grecian Urn is one of the most famous examples of this.

On Saturday May 3^rd at BookTree in Kirkland our Free Writing Workshop will delve into this in a fun unique way (see below for details…and consider joining us to write another one and maybe bring the one you write today to read at our open mic).

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Prompt for April 31, 2025 aka EXTRA….Aka May 1. . .

Can you write a poem with at least 30 words without using E or O? Can’t or Wnt?

“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. We build this place with the sand of memories; these castles are our memories and inventiveness made tangible. So part of us believes that when the tide starts coming in, we won’t really have lost anything, because actually only a symbol of it was there in the sand. Another part of us thinks we’ll figure out a way to divert the ocean. This is what separates artists from ordinary people: the belief, deep in our hearts, that if we build our castles well enough, somehow the ocean won’t wash them away. I think this is a wonderful kind of person to be.” ―Anne Lamott Bird-by-Bird

If you are in Western Washington State (or planning on visiting) and interested in poetry, or spoken word… absolutely visit the Western Washington Poets Network (also on Facebook and Blusky) at https://www.westernwashingtonpoetsnetwork.org/about-wwpn

You will learn about many readings, workshops and more throughout the Western part of Washington State . It is a free resource. You can look up readings by day of the month, by city and community and more.

Upcoming Readings:

BookTree — 609 Market St. Kirkland Wa. 98033

Sat. May 3rd — Uwe Arendt & k Workshop, Reading Open Mic.

WE WEAR THE MASK writing workshop Persona poetry & artwork 4:24 to 6pm

Reading – 6:15 pm Michael Magee (his new collection Shiny Things!) followed by Open Mic

For the workshop — the concept of “masks” and how they serve as metaphors both for poetry and as images in painting. Also, how their symbolic nature leads to: personification, projection, personae as they provide a way of addressing ourselves as the viewer/reader inhabits them.

Uwe Arendt is known as a multi discipline artist. His brilliant and colorful abstractions of nature and his strikingly powerful and emotional portraits define his talents.

Michael Magee is a poet and playwright whose poems and plays have been published and produced here and in England. His most recent book “Shiny Things” has just been published by MoonPath Press. His work appears in Verse Daily and he was recently interviewed on BookNook and Sound Poetry and on MoonPath Press’ Zoom Readings.

Wednesday May 7^th — West Seattle C&P Coffee Poetry Bridge Reading –6pm

C&P Coffee 5612 California Ave. West Seattle 98136

Featured Readers- Chris Jarmick (me) , Lew Jones, and Mary White

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”

― Richard Bach

An original from me from 2009. . .

Inspired by Random Words of Nature from 5 Poets – NapoWriMo # 22

By Christopher J. Jarmick

The Inspirations:

Sea of the brine of life! Sea of unshovelled and always-ready graves!

Howler and scooper of storms! Capricious and dainty sea!

— Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass 46, Somg of Myself.

“king of the black cranes”

arises on a white landscape “….

the crown turns

and the eye

drilled clear through his head

turns

it is north everywhere

come out he says

— beginning from Carrier of Ladders by W.S. Merwin

sharp eroded towers of bluffs/

like windmills tilted,

‘los molinos’ of earth, abandoned

—-Starting from San Francisco Lawrence Ferlinghetti

A fresh spiderweb

Billowing

Like a spinnaker

Across the open window

….

The little master

Sailing by

On a thread of milk.

–Wish me luck – Leonard Cohen – Book of Longing

And the way the conifers

hold new cones to the light for the blessing,

a festive right, and sing the oceanic chant the wind

transcribes for them!

— From Celebration by Denise Levertov

The Poem from Inspirations of 5 Poets

The great bowl of blue above

dwarfing insignificant tall spring green

bright pines

standing mostly erect

thrusting toward sky.

The calm glass of lake

revealing shadow of Heron

perched on ruin of dock.

Waiting.

The ragged sleeping

volcano

not unlike

roots of downed redwood giant

sprinkled with white beard

fading into clouds.

Water sipping at

small worn stones

on the edges of its

horizons.

Still for a moment,

as if shy.

Tireless ants

in formation

up one side of blade of grass

then down the other.

— 4/21/09 Christopher J. Jarmick

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

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Poetry is Everything

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Christopher J. Jarmick is the owner of BookTree bookstore (in Kirkland, Wa.), a writer, poet and very active in the Western Washington Poetry community. His books include:Not Aloud (2015 MoonPath Press) Ignition: Poem Starters, Septolets, Statements & Double Dog Dares. (2010)

Posted in 30/30, Book signings, Book Store, BookTree, Free Workshop, NaPoWriMo, poetry, Poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged BookTree Kirkland, Chris Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry, poetry is everything, Readings and Events, Writing, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo NaGloWriMo April 2025 –Prompts #19 to 23

April 18, 2025

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.” ― Anne Lamott

Still time to catch-up or just begin the challenge today to write a poem each and every day of April honoring National Poetry Month. See previous posts for additional information.

I am posting several prompts all at once because I have limited time. They are meant to be used as daily prompt challenges to keep you writing a poem a day for every day in April.

Keep writing!!!

Prompt for April 19, 2025

A Nonnet : has nine lines

The first line has 9 syllables, the second 8 syllables, the third 7 syllables until the ninth line which has one syllable.

Should have an iambic meter (stress every other syllable) baDAbaDAbaDA or BAdaBAdaBAda etc.

Prompt for April 20, 2025

ANAPHORA is the repetition of a word or series of word or expressions used several times within a clause or paragraph.

In poetry it may be a few words that you use at the beginning of each line that makes a poem into a sort of meditation or mantra, it might sound like a slogan “Yes We Can” or ‘We Will Fight ‘ for example. The repetition can also be used more subtlety within the poem. Examples include Shakespeare’s sonnet 66 or Gwendolyn Brooks’ We Real Cool! , or Out of the Cradle Rocking by Walt Whitman.

Any style any length.. write an Anaphora poem.

“Was not writing poetry a secret transaction, a voice answering a voice?”
― Virginia-Woolf

Prompt for April 21, 2025

Build a 6 -word – word list from a book you are reading.

Choose the 21^st 4 letter word at the start of the book, then the first 5 letter word on page 21, then the first 4 letter word on page 25, then the first 5 letter or longer word on page 210, find a 3 or 4 letter word followed by a 5 or 6 letter word on page 250 (or on the last 2 pages of the book if less than 250 pages and write them both down. Write a poem 8 lines or less with these 6 words.

Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement . . . says heaven and earth in one word . . . speaks of himself and his predicament as though for the first time. –Christopher-Fry

Prompt for April 22, 2025

Create a 10 line poem or longer using lines or phrases made up of quotes from 2 or more deceased Washington State Poets such as Raymond Carver, Richard Hugo, Theodore Roethke, Carolyn Kizer, David Wagoner, Sam Hamill, or. . .

Prompt for April 23, 2025

Happy NATIONAL TALK LIKE SHAKESPEARE DAY

On April 23rd each year, National Talk Like Shakespeare Day encourages us to speak like the Bard and the characters in his plays.

Today borrow some phrases and words that William Shakespeare (April 1564-April 23, 1616) is credited with inventing. Use five or more phrases and 10 or more words in the poem you write today. Perhaps write in iambic pentameter as an extra challenge!

I could send you on a wild good chase, make you a laughing stock or make you wait with bated breath, for goodness sake to find some of these phrases. Oh come now, let’s not fight fire with fire, come what may we’ll give you the naked truth, snatch you from the jaws of death and put you in a pickle by making your hair stand on end and set your teeth on end wondering what some words or phrases might be.

What’s done is done. Wear your heart on your sleeve and you may be a sorry sight, but the world is your oyster. You’ve seen better days so time to send you packing! The games afoot you son of a bitch—good riddance. It’s all Greek to you anyway.

And as a rose by any other name might tell you there are many more….

And some words first put in print by Shakespeare include: Accessible, lustrous, accommodation, madcap, arch-villain, assassination, auspicious, misquote, bacheolorship, barefaced, monumental, baseless, moonbeam, belongings, never-ending, to besmirch, newsmonger, noiseless, bloodstained, candle holder, catlike, characterless, overgrowth, pedantical, countless, courtship, to petition

critical, cruelhearted, pious, dauntless, prayerbook, priceless, day’s work, dewdrop, puppy-dog, quarrelsome,radiance, reclusive, epileptic, eyeball, scuffle, foppish, spectacled,full-grown, stillborn, go-between, hostile,

unpolluted, upstairs, invitation, unsolicited, invulnerable, unvarnished,

jaded, useful, useless, laughable, well-behaved, leapfrog, well-educated

lewdster, zany and many many more.

Shakespeare wrote 37 plays that we know about.

Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically —Jean-Cocteau

An extra NaPoWriMo write…..

Not a Secret Poem

By Christopher J. Jarmick

Why do we listen more carefully

To secrets whispered ?

Is too much ever revealed?

Do we really love the company

of misery or reach for the remote to

turn it off, bury our head in an escape?

Do we hope to learn something not known,

not quite proper, forbidden?

In a few days… Seattle Independent Bookstore Days will begin. It’s a time to enjoy dozens of local independent bookstores throughout Western Washington (and also discover some wonderful communities too). BookTree has been part of it since 2017. Hope if you are in the area you’ll be part of it. More info here: https://www.seattlebookstoreday.com/

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” ― Stephen King

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posted in 30/30, Book Store, BookTree, NaPoWriMo, poetry, Poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged BookTree Kirkland, Chris Jarmick, Jarmick, literature, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem, Poem a day, poems, poetry, poetry is everything, Writing, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo NaGloWriMo April 2025 –Prompts #13 to 18

April 12, 2025

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.” ― Graham Green

Still time to catch-up or just begin the challenge today to write a poem each and every day of April honoring National Poetry Month. See previous posts for additional information. Yes there is an overlap with the last post.

I am posting several prompts all at once because I have limited time. Must stay ahead. They are meant to be used as daily prompt challenges to keep you writing a poem a day for every day in April.

“I want to write because I have the urge to excel in one medium of translation and expression of life. I can’t be satisfied with the colossal job of merely living. Oh, no, I must order life in sonnets and sestinas and provide a verbal reflector for my 60-watt lighted head.” ―Sylvia Plath

Keep writing!!!

“For it would seem – her case proved it – that we write, not with the fingers, but with the whole person. The nerve which controls the pen winds itself about every fibre of our being, threads the heart, pierces the liver.” ―Virginia Woolf

Prompt for April 12, 2025

National Record Store Day

Every 3^rd Saturday of April since 2007 has been the day to celebrate the independent retail record store. A day to celebrate your love not just of the music but the art of record covers and music styles. There are special releases that come out this day. There may be only around 1,400 indie record stores and most of them are in bigger cities –but it’s a good day to celebrate them and the culture of records from cylinder discs to vinyl to CDs and even digital.

It’s also my birthday so my personal prompt will be to conjure up some favorite songs and artists and create some sort of poem that I’ll write on the 12^th involving phrases, titles artists that have meant a lot to me… maybe Ella and Cat, and Beatles and Talking Heads and Van and Dylan, Monk, the Band, Tom Waits, Bowie, Jack, and some newer folks too….. who knows what I’ll come up with… what will YOU write? Enjoy!

Prompt for April 13, 2025

Happy NATIONAL SCRABBLE DAY!!!

Originally this famous game was called Lexico by it’s inventor Alfred Mosher Butts – an amateur artis and unemployed architect who developed the game during the depression. It’s name was changed to Criss-Cross Words and then in 1948 it was trademarked as Scrabble! So today use several 2 word and 10 word or more words that would be useful to know and use in a game of scrabble.

Some two letter words like: OF, IN, BY,QI, HE, AM, SH, DE, ID, KI, EW . . .

Longer words like: ABJOINTING, ABLUTOMANE, ABRANCHIAL, ABROGATIVE

ABROGATORS,ABSCINDING,ABSCONDERS, ABSEILINGS . . .

Maybe a poem about appreciating language, word origins or…..???? Write ON!

Prompt for April 14, 2025

Happy National Look Up at the Sky Day

Let today’s work be inspired by what’s up above, sky, clouds, stars, planets, birds, drones, planes, kites, tree limbs. Look up and write…..

“the writing of some

men

is like a vast bridge

that carries you

over

the many things

that claw and tear. ―Charles Bukowski

Prompt for April 15, 2025

A palinode or palinody is an ode in which the writer retracts a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem. The first recorded use of a palinode is in a poem by Stesichorus in the 7th century BC. where he retracts his earlier statement that the Trojan War was all the fault of Helen.

The word comes from the Greek παλιν (“palin”, meaning ‘again’) and ωδη (“song”); the Latin equivalent “recantation” is an exact calque (“re-” meaning ‘again’ and “cant-” meaning ‘sing’).

It can also be a recantation of a defamatory statement .

another Example:

Chaucer’s Retraction is one example of a palinode.

Late in his life, Gelett Burgess wrote this of his famous “Purple Cow”:

Ah, yes! I wrote the purple cow,

I’m sorry now I wrote it!

But I can tell you anyhow,

I’ll kill you if you quote it!

Prompt for April 16, 2025

A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley. One of his best known is this (from 1905):

Sir Christopher Wren

Went to dine with some men

He said, “If anyone calls,

Say I’m designing Saint Paul’s.”

A clerihew is biographical and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of view; it pokes fun often at famous people.

It has four lines of irregular length and metre (for comic effect)

The rhyme structure is AABB; the subject matter and wording are often humorously contrived in order to achieve a rhyme

The first line contains, and may consist solely of, the subject’s name.

(The unbalanced meter can also be seen as a parody of the eulogy form).

Write a couple…. (here’s one…)

VP. J.D. Vance

Is an unfortunate contrivance.

I want to offer some hope.

But good heavens, we must believe the Pope! – Christopher J. Jarmick

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

― Pablo Picasso

Prompt for April 17, 2025

NATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY

Observed annually on April 17, National Haiku Poetry Day encourages all to try their hand Haiku poetry is a form of Japanese poetry that is non-rhyming and usually consists of 3 lines . It roughly has 5 character/word symbols, 7 character word symbols, and 5 character word symbols. Incorrectly this is often taught as 5, 7, 5 syllables… Usually there is an element of nature (season word)…. Look up Matsuo Basho as a starting point. Be as formal or informal as you want. Write 2 to 3 Haiku…. (there’s a reading of Haiku in Redmond Wa on the 17^th… see below).

Prompt for April 18, 2025

Another short form is the TANAGA – it’s a pretty easy Philippine-based form often written in Tagalog –but we’ll do it in English.

The Tanaga is made up of four lines with seven syllables in each line using an AA BB rhyme scheme.

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” ― Joan Didion

“Only a mediocre person is always at his best. ” ― W Somerset Maugham

READINGS….. April 17^th!!!!

Note- Thursday April 17^th 1rst Poetry in the Park at Meadowbook Pond in NE Seattle Reading of 2025 Season 1 1:30 to 1 pm

All Open Mic The Pond is in the park across from the Meadowbrook Community Center on 35th Ave NE. PLEASE enter the park at the crosswalk on 35th!

Park in the Community Center lot and walk across the street..

This is an independent community/neighbhor project that began during COVID. In an effort to break ISOLATION due to the restrictions imposed at the time. The project’s success was palpable form the very beginning. The Meadowbrook pond provides the perfect setting for the voice of the poets to merge with the subtle sounds of the pond as the blue herons fly in and the falcon screams above the canopy, where yellow butterflies land on your lap and the words of the poets provide that which is the sound of their selves through words. The City does not provide funding, only the public venue at the reflecting wall across the pond.

Hope to see some of you there. All ages are welcome!

Here are the dates: April 17th, May 1, 15, 29 June 12, 26 July 10, 24 August 7, 21 September 4, 18 Time: 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

The Pond is accross the Meadowbrook Community Center on 35th Ave NE. PLEASE enter the park at the crosswalk on 35th!

Park in the Community Center lot and walk across the street..

Thursday April 17^th Redmond, Wa 6 pm

Reading in Redmond featuring Haiku… Treat yourself to some superb Haiku craftsman at SoulFood Coffee House and Emporium 15748 Redmond Way, Redmond, WA 98052 6 pm. Featured Readers Michael Dylan Welch and Curtis Manley plus open mic.

“I have spent a good many years since―too many, I think―being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”
―Stephen King

There is truth in failure. No one is perfect, everyone has failed at something. If you avoid repeating your failures all of the time, you’ll have some success. –Christopher J Jarmick

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posted in 30/30, Book Store, BookTree, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, prompts, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged BookTree, BookTree Kirkland, Chris Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry, poetry is everything, Writing, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

NaPoWriMo NaGloWriMo April 2025 –Prompts # 8 to 12

April 7, 2025

“You can make anything by writing.” ―C. S. Lewis

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
― Franz-Kafka

Still time to catch-up or just begin the challenge today to write a poem each and every day for the rest of April honoring National Poetry Month. See previous posts for additional information.

I am posting several prompts all at once because I have limited time. They are meant to be used as daily prompt challenges to keep you writing a poem a day for every day in April.

Keep writing!!!

Congratulations to Derek Sheffield who will be our new Washington State Poet Laureate!!! https://www.arts.wa.gov/2025/04/01/derek-sheffield-named-2023-2025-washington-state-poet-laureate/

Some upcoming readings are also listed below. Get out and enjoy

a reading LIVE…..

Prompt for April 8, 2025

Banned Word Poem — Guidelines derived from an executive order have led to Government Websites being scrubbed of various words and the National Science Administration has suggested certain word use may flag reports and grant requests unfavorably. Supposedly there is no ‘official censorship’ but still stuff that is banning words and restricting language use is definitely taking place. So write about it. Use banned words, reflect on this meaning in the poem you write on Tuesday, April 8^th. More information is available in many places and PEN has posted about it too! https://pen.org/banned-words-list/

Prompt for April 9, 2025

Happy National Name Yourself Day !

What if you had a different name than the one you have? What if you had an interesting nickname. It could be something really unconventional as a name or nick name. Write a poem about the experience of having this name… maybe waking up and discovering others are calling you a different name than the one you have. A little story poem perhaps. Write it see what happens!

Prompt for April 10, 2025

Happy National Farm Animals Day! Every year on April 10^th some extra awareness is given to the humane care of farm animals…additional attentions is given to finding home for abandoned and abused farm animals. Figure out how YOU can write a poem about farm animals or incorporate several farm animals into your writing today. Old McDonald has a humane farm…..

Prompt for April 11, 2025

Since it is also Bat Appreciation Week –April 6-12, 2025 (First Full Week of April) andBe Kind to Spiders Week so there’s a poem or two there that needs to be written wouldn’t you say? Well if it is April 11^th…. It’s time to write about Bats and Spiders… Weave a web of words that soars….

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” ―John Steinbeck

Prompt for April 12, 2025

National Record Store Day

Prompt for April 13, 2025

Happy NATIONAL SCRABBLE DAY!!!

Some two letter words like: OF, IN, BY,QI, HE, AM, SH, DE, ID, KI, EW . . .

Longer words like: ABJOINTING, ABLUTOMANE, ABRANCHIAL, ABROGATIVE

ABROGATORS,ABSCINDING,ABSCONDERS, ABSEILINGS . . .

Maybe a poem about appreciating language, word origins or…..???? Write ON!

Prompt for April 14, 2025

Happy National Look Up at the Sky Day

Let today’s work be inspired by what’s up above, sky, clouds, stars, planets, birds, drones, planes, kites, tree limbs. Look up and write…..

BookTree presents a special Book Club discussion event. We are reading the book Hold Strong (an superbly written historical novel set during World War 2) by Robert Dugoni. Every second Tuesday of the month our bookclub meets. This is a special one because on Tuesday April 8^th…at 6:30 pm… Author Robert Dugoni will be joining us for a discussion of the book and to personalize and sign copies of the book too.

An upcoming reading:

Thursday April 10th Ballard, Wa. 6 pm

It’s About Time Reading #426 Plant a BookTree with Christopher Jarmick, Tina Schumann, Peter Ludwin & Sophia Kouidou-Giles

6pm to 7:30 pm

Event by Peggy Sturdivant and It’s About Time Writers Reading Series

Ballard Branch of The Seattle Public Library

Duration: 1 hr 30 min

Christopher Jarmick, Tina Schumann, Peter Ludwin & Sophia Kouidou-Giles share their work. Plus three-minute open mic sign-up, night of event.

Christopher J. Jarmick owns BookTree bookstore in Kirkland, Wa. (since 2016). In previous lives he was an L.A. based producer/screenwriter, editor and director of documentaries, journalist and more. He has curated readings and special events for nearly 30 years. His latest collection of poetry is Not Aloud (2015 MoonPath Press), His mystery novel is The Glass Cocoon . Recently poems have appeared in anthologies: I Sing the Salmon Home (winner of the 2024 Wa. State Book Award for Poetry – Empty Bowl Press -2023), Purr and Yowl (World Enough Writers – 2023), several issues of the ‘zine Spread ; The Examined Life -(East Point West Press 2024) and others. Please mention the WesternWashington PoetsNetwork . org which lists approximately 82 readings, open mics and more throughout the region.

Tina Schumann: is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Boneyard Heresies, winner of the 2023 Moon City Press Poetry Award (Missouri State University); Praising the Paradox (Red Hen Press) a finalist in the National Poetry Series, and the Julie Suk Award among others; Requiem. A Patrimony of Fugues, winner of the Diode Editions Chapbook Competition and As If (Parlor City Press) winner of the Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize. She is editor of the IPPY-award winning anthology Two Countries. U.S. Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents (Red Hen). Schumann’s work received the American Poet Prize from The American Poetry Journal, runner-up status in the 2023 annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize from The Missouri Review and finalist status in the 2013 Terrain.org annual poetry contest. Her work has received honorable mentions in The Atlantic, Crab Creek Review and The Allen Ginsberg Editors; Choice Award. Her poems have appeared in publications since 1999, including The American Journal of Poetry, Ascent, Catamaran, Cimarron Review, Diode, Hunger Mountain, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Missouri Review, Nimrod, Parabola, Palabra, Paterson Literary Review, Poetry Daily, Rattle, Verse Daily, and read on NPR&; The Writer’s Almanac.

Peter Ludwin:

A world traveler who has journeyed by canoe to visit remote Indian families in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador, hiked in the Peruvian Andes, thumbed for rides in Greece, bargained for goods in the markets of Marrakech and Istanbul and survived debilitating illness in China and Tibet, he is also accomplished on acoustic blues guitar and autoharp.

In 2016 MoonPath Press published his third book, Gone to Gold Mountain, which

was nominated for a Washington State Book Award, and The Before Columbus Foundation also nominated it for an American Book Award. His new book, An Altar of Tides, inhabits various parts of his beloved Pacific Northwest. Winner of the 2024 Trail to Table Editors’ Award in Poetry, it was published by Trail to Table Books, an environmental imprint of Wandering Aengus Press. Ludwin attributes the lion’s share of his success to the fourteen years he was a participant in the weeklong San Miguel Poetry Week in fabled San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, A resident of Kent, Washington, his website is http://www.peterludwin.com.

Sophia Kouidou-Giles, born in Greece and living in the Pacific Northwest, writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Her work, original and translated texts, has been published in literary journals and anthologies. She has translated theatrical monologs and short stories, and published her memoir, Sophia’s Return: Uncovering My Mother’s Past, in both Greek and English. Based on Greek mythology, An Unexpected Ally: A Greek Tale of Love, Revenge, and Redemption, her novella, was published in 2023 with a sequel, Circle of Peace: A Greek Tale of Perse’s Great Hall, due in print March 2025.

“Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.” ― Herman Hesse

BookTree Kirkland Website Link here…

The root of the word Poetry is from the Greek ποιέω (poieō), “‘I

make’”). , poiesis, meaning a “making” or ‘creation’

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-=-

Poetry is Everything

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Posted in 30/30, Book signings, Book Store, BookTree, Free Workshop, NaLoPoMo, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, prompts, Readings and Events, Writing, writing prompts | Tagged Chris Jarmick, Jarmick, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a day, poetry, poetry is everything, Writing, writing exercises, writing prompts | Leave a Comment »

POETRYisEVERYTHING

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Happy National Name Yourself Day !

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