NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. It coincides with the National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada. Usually it would form part of my Texas Tour, but this year, unlike 2020, & 2021 being cancelled, due to the pandemic,  I did them as a standalone project, using my time and experiences as a community volunteer and looking at what could have been poems about another missed journey. This year a back injury cause me to postpone my tour, so it’s another standalone project, hopefully the inspiration will still be there.

A Poem a day for April 2022

 

01.04.22 – 1) April first the day of the fool, but as a rule

I would normally have been away, in Texas USA

My annual tour, poetry festivals, open mics and more

Writing and delighting audiences with my reciting

Capturing my tours moments in time in my own unique rhyme

But it was not to be, I’m stuck with a back injury

Travel ban lifted on Nov 8, I couldn’t wait

But my hopes took a dive on October 25

Without doubt my back was out

Come Spring I really felt dejected it hadn’t healed as expected

So still I sit and yearn to one day return

 

02.04.22 – 2) I’d have written more poems on my Annual tour

From dawn till dusk I would find time to write

Inspiration on tap for this travelling chap

Write what I like and share it at an open mic

 

03.04.22 – 3) I decided to go to Poetry on the Moor, the die was cast,

I hoped my back would last and not flare up en-route as in the past

Only six but of styles quite a mix

We read round as the day got older and slowly got colder

The Nicky said one more round then homeward bound

I’m heading home thinking an afternoon well spent, I  really was glad I went

 

04.04.22 – 4) Yesterday we were on the moor having a blast

For others it was a time to pray and fast

I’d forgot that Ramadan began yesterday

I thought it was today

But I’ll soon make amends, before today ends

I’ll have wished a belated Ramadan Mubarak

On facebook to all my Muslim Brothers and friends

 

05.04.22 – 5 Day five comes alive, I awaken soon medication taken

Almost smile feeling better than I have done on a while

Not too sore but I’ve been here before

When it seemed in vain as I had a flare up again

Today I’m hoping for the best, get the parcels out then rest

Then to the swimming baths, a new regime embracing

But it didn’t happen, it was closed due to horse racing

Still not too much sorrow if I can finish early I’ll be there tomorrow

 

06.04.22 – 6) Another day and again the time to capture the day’s events in rhyme

But how much can you write about, taking food parcels out

Or how much rhyme can you rend? about an injury on the mend

Exercise, therapy and more, to get it back to how it was before

Of the day take stock, hope you don’t get a mental block

When you’ve done your roam and are back home

Evening meal then see how I feel 

Put my favourite music on and to the rhythm sway,

Hoping inspiration comes my way

Or simply relaxing, don’t let it be over taxing,

Even taking, a break when my back again begins to ache

My paperwork’s completed, unwanted texts deleted 

So for now I’ll let the music play and tomorrows’ another day

 

07.04.22 – 7) Can hear the rain on my window pain

Morning comes creeping I’m having trouble sleeping

Still three hours to go a look at the clock told me so

Back to sleep but it’s not long before I’m awake again once more listening to the rain

Finally it’s time to begin my day, rise, medication, shower, breakfast then away

Through the wind and rain delivering food parcels again

But this morning only four, so have a rest before there’s more 

But no more came today, so to the baths I’m away

 

08.04.22 – 8) Friday it’s a sunny day the weekend’s just a day away

Get today done, do my best and look forward to a weekends rest

So out with the parcels once again back feeling good, very little pain

Later when things were going like a song it seemed something had gone wrong

Had my excercises been in vain, there was a return of the pain

So I tried, gentle exercise with heat applied

Hoped it would go away, then called it a day

 

09.04.22 – 9) No rest today as I had to be away

Parcels to be delivered come what may

Referrals came in last night so once more I alight

Once more they’re done nice and steady, then back and get Mondays ready

Got them done fine, now the wekend’s mine

Open mic tomorrow should be a blast, I’ll be hoping my back will last

 

10.04.22 – 10) When your brains foggy

Inspiration doesn’t work

Just do a Haiku

 

11) Open mic Kath told me where and said she’d love to see me there

Back playing up but I’m hoping to go let my poetry flow

In the main it was a fund raiser for the Ukraine

I needed to be there my experiences to share

Of a different time in an East European clime

An opportunity heaven sent so off I went

Hoping for the best that my back would stand the test

Played my part reciting from the heart

Poems from my experience the sadness and the joys when I did Aid Convoys

What I learned, the respect I earned, some thought wow, when I said how

My caring earning me, the Bosnian Army shirt I was wearing

I listened to most, of the event before my back started giving up the ghost

Sad to say I had to be away, not quite mad cos’ it was a great time I had

For a good cause, be poems be serious or a joke, how great to recite with like minded folk

 

11.04.22 – 12)  And so the start of another week there’ll be people who seek

Help if we are able to put food on their table

When they’re feeling forgotten and alone, through no fault of their own

Stuck in a rut with benefits cut having to fight for what is their right

 

12.04.22 – 13) Thought things were improving but all in vain

As I suddenly developed a stomach muscle strain

Parcels there weren’t that many, if any

Mike took the first couple away

I did a the rest in the morning then called it a day

Home and have a rest and hopefully I’m back tomorrow at my best

 

13.04.22 – 14) Today something pleasing, my back problem seems to be easing

Not too sore but I’ve been there before, hopes in vain, it flared up again

So I’ll just keep hoping that  I can keep coping

Things working out, have to get my pulled stomach muscle sorted out

One day I will tell at last my back is well

 

14.04.22 -15) Easter now one day away, tomorrow is Good Friday

And this morning had hardly come alive, I was done by 9:25

Just regulars to do, only a few. Thought I’d take a 30 minutes break

Relax, smile shut my eyes for a while

Wishing I could have stopped longer, but the call for help was much stronger

A text comes in another one, ring the  client to get it done

No reply but so as not to fail, I leave a voice mail

No time for slacking, back to do some packing

Four for tomorrow and one for today but it seems they’re still away

But I don’t see red, just send a text saying they can have it tomorrow instead

 

15.04.22- 16) Good Friday, Jerusalem, Passover gone, something else was going on

Acuused of secition and tried, Jesus was sentenced to be crucified

Carrying his cross as his journey to Calvary unfurled

Like he was taking on the sins of the world

Some mocked and jeered, others cried on the day that Jesus died

It all seemed beyond belief crucified like a common thief

I think of that day and I find, a question comes into my mind

Would I have mocked and jeered or would I have cried

If I’d  been there on the day they Jesus died

 

16.04.22 – 17) I reflected on what we commemorated  yesterday

What would it have been like today

Would it have made the news, experts giving their views

Would we see it all on Morning TV, what would the tabloids headlines be

People meet in cafes, shops pubs, on the street

People agog at comments on chat group and blog

What would they say, would it have the same significance of the Ukraine today

Or atrocities of the past people persecuted for their beliefs, living in fear

Forced to flee, the life of a refugee,

Always on the roam looking for somewhere to call home

Have we not learned the lessons of yesteryear

I’m wondering if now was then what would people say

Would they believe Jesus would rise on the third day

 

17.04.22 – 18) What would the third day, have been like had it happened today

Would it be manic, would we awake to scenes of panic?

Woken by the police helicopter swooping low?

Road blocks going town couldn’t get in or out of town

No one could get in or out not even a mouse

As they searched house to house

Worried officials seen at the place where his body had been

Realising it wasn’t a game and on whose shoulders could they place the blame

While the plot thickens, runnibg riund like headless chickens

And what of the two women who discovered he’d gone

Would they be believed when they told of A young man who said

“He’s not here, why seek the living among the dead?”

And finding he too had gone, when in Jesus’s resting place they looked upon

Spreading the news as with joy they said “Jesus has risen from the dead”.

Imagine the scenes on the news, social media experts giving their views

While  in the back ground officials and others running round

Worried looks on their faces, no time for airs and graces

Throughout the world as the third day begun

Would others believe God’s beloved son

That what he had said,  on the third day, he did rise from the dead

 

18.04.22 – 19) Rise look out the window see the sun, Easter Monday has begun

Yesterday for the kids, the Easter Bunny had been, for me today it’s the same routine

Parcels packed yesterday after church, didn’t want to be left in the lurch.

Soon they’re loaded delivered and I’m back, a few more to pack.

Got packing off to a fine art, great when I want an early start

Not long and they’re ready to go, but not until tomorrow

Later another request comes in, one’s delivered and I’m away

Home to do this poem for today  

 

19.04.22 – 20) Tuesday and we find soon Easter will be behind

Moving forward through Spring wondering what Summer will bring

Hopefully soon in the main, an end to the war in the Ukraine

Not only there but countries at war anywhere

And for now it’s breakfast over and away I run, and get today’s food parcels done

 

20.04.22 – 21)  Day twenty, ten more to go, how much longer will the poetry flow

Still well on he way to a poem a day, something to write about

Even if it’s just taking the food parcels out

To where they’re needed, showing requests for help are heeded

Or change tack, and write about my back a bit more and how it’s not as bad as before

Told the physio on line, it was going fine,

She thought it was swell and was was glad it was going well

Then two poems which will be seen, in a Retired Firefighters magazine

And tell about two guys I knew well

 

21.04.22 – 22) Day begun, rise get ready and get the food parcels done

Got a feeling something wasn’t right, it wasn’t I’d forgot to take my medication last night

No too much dismay , this mornings taken and on with the day

Nise and steady some parcels will be ready

Should go right, I packed most of them last night

More packed just so,  finishing touches to the rest then it’s time to go

Parcels done this morning, then I had a thought

We were milk and tinned tomatoes short

No need for sorrow, fimnnish them off tomorrow

So from day begun to food parcels done, now it’s time to rest in the sun   

 

22.04.22 – 23) Day 22, eight more to go to the end of NaPoWriMo

Eight more of taking the time to capture daily events in rhyme

Could be about the weather, rain or sun, or about what I’ve done

Or  family away to make the most of a week on Yorkshire Coast

When it’s over I can maybe take stock and think ‘at least it’s cleard my mental block’.

 

23.04.22 – 24) Today’s St Georges Day family went away yesterday

Using the time to take a well earned break

Perhaps it’s fitting that I’m left house sitting

I can rest and chill as is my will  in the main

Cos’ next week there’ll be food parcels to go out again

And when my family get back to town,

Hopefully they’ll see I haven’t burnt the house down

 

24.04.22 – 25) St George’s Day Yesterday Sunday today

Less than a week to go, to the end of NaPoWriMo

If I’ve managed to do a poem a day, I can feel proud

When I post them on my blog on Write Out Loud

And after April there’s more

On May 1st the second of this years Poetry on The Moor

The ideal way to celebrate May Day

 

25.04.22 – 26) Once again I’m up and away another food parcel delivery day

Regular clients there’s three, I’m wondering how many more there’ll be

Packed yesterday to save time today

Soon loaded and all goes fine I’m done for 20 past 9

Time to spare so while I’m there I’ll pack tomorrows so my time is not in vain

I can make a good start again

Then home and paper work goes fine, washer stopped so get the washing on the line

After lunch Kath let’s me know, she’s at the unit so I can nip up and show

Our powerpoint presentation showing what we do, we can tell and show we do it well

But before we get chance to look in comes another two

Soon they’re done and I’m back, things now on track

So give the presentation a view, a few amendments to make it just so,

Then that’s it it’s good to go

 

26.04.22 – 27 Woke up again with very little twinges and pain

I’m hoping there’ll soon be no more but I’ve been here before

Things were going well then it was “Oh Hell” not much fun, it was back to square one  

Again my hopes collapsed as I relapsed.

Hopefully not today as I make my way

To the food bank for the parcels I packed for today

It went fine I was done for 20 past 9

Tommorrows packed in part, makes for an easier start

In the afternoon another comes in suggesting tomorrow ,

But I think nay, so I’m away, soon it’s packed, delivered and home I run

I’m thinking ‘another job well done’.

 

27.04.22 – 28) I rise to face another April day knowing May is only four days away

Soon no more will I have to think of a daily score

But for now to the food bank I head to get the parcelsout so the needy can be fed.

How I spend my time and capture it in rhyme

 

28..4.22 – 29) Not at the food bank today,  but things’ll go right

We have a volunteer to deliver the parcels I packed last night

Something else for me to do, family matters to attend to

But when I get home on the afternoon, I ‘ll take an exercise break

Ger my exercise routine on track se if time at the baths improves my back

The discomfort’s still there, sometimes I wonder if I’m getting anywhere

The pack some food parcels tomorrow so I can start the day right

Then home for tea and another food bank tonight

 

29.04.22 – 30) Friday April 29 look out the window to bright sunshine

Family making the most of a week at the coast

A break to seek, been cold all week

But they rung me to say they had a good view of Filey Bay

And the apartment they said was the best yet ideal for them and Milo our family pet

Todays the day they’re heading home, while I’m out on my food parcel roam

I find I’ve delivered ten and it’s then I decide to call it a day

Home to the family and a well deserved takeaway

Spirits up I thinking how great it’ll be to see out little pup

Cos’ while he’s been away, I’ve missed him like crazy every day

 

30.04.22 – 31) Today’s April’s last day, tomorrow is the 1st of May

NaPoWriMo over for another year this is today’s final score

Tomorrow it’s Poetry on Baildon Moor

Too far to bike it but still there’s no venue like it

Reciting out poetic bounty amid the beauty of God’s own County

But for now away I run, packing to be done

A late referral comes in it sorted the rest of the day’s mine

So I can compose more and finish off this rhyme

And hope that next next year every NaPoWriMo score

Will be written on a long awaited Texas Poetry Tour