Aprés NaPo Bar & Grill

[Tom]

Greetings, NaPoers.  

The numbers are in for this year's celebration.  In 30 days we had 21 poets who wrote and posted 406 poems, 1,095 total posts, covering 97 pages.  These numbers are all up significantly over last year, when we had 14 poets who wrote and posted 271 poems, 709 total posts, covering 71 pages.  

Of the 406 NaPo poems posted, a good percentage were marvelico, excellente, and/or tremendoso.  404 of the poems were damn good or better.  Only 3 sucked.  Up from 2 which sucked last year.  

 

[Tom]

Please please please give feedback on how to do this better next year!

Thoughts you might wan to comment on:

Was the one massive thread sufficiently wieldy?  Or too unwieldy?  If we are to do one massive thread for all of the poems next year, how can the damn instructions be improved?

Should each poet get one thread to hold all their own poems?  [This is what is done at Poetry Free For All]

Should there be more hydration stations along the way?  

Should there be occasional bins of similes and metaphor dispensers?

Should there be a separate thread for the chat part of this?

 Other thoughts?

Come on, chip in!

 

[Tracy Mitchell]

I run out of adjectives Mark,

So pleased I am that you have materialized.  You present an enchanting 30-grouping of quads.  Certainly not CepianQuatro as the metre is not at all constipated, but free-form, free flowing, freewheeling.  

These verses contain all of the best of what I look for in your writing.  There are scorpions of civility, mercury spiders, and lives as liquid assets.  There is the goodwill / of sun and rain. . . .  shadows speeding swiftly by starlight, and a blue vision of frozen ice, razor green as the grasping sea.

There is your gentle humor and observation - Cursive, and heartbreaking remembrance - Birthdays.  You present the near-koans - Cycle, Rebellion, and drama - Ogre 1&2 and Weld.  
And don’t think the last title was lost on me.

Cheers, Mark.  

A very worthy NaPo, even if a day’s dalliance as hinted. 


 

[Colm Roe]

Welcome back Tracy
It's hard to know what way to do it.
If there are 20 + poets there wouldn't be room for them all on one page.
What about one thread for the poems and a separate thread for comments?

[Tom]

Hi Colm,

I think the more writers we have participating, the more it makes sense for each writer to have one personal thread for the posting of his/her own poems.  Several participants expressed the desire to be able to see a writer's collection of poems for the month -- case in point, 30 Ways to Die should be grouped together, in my view.  As should the Thirty Triolets.  Other poems as well make easier finding if grouped by author.  Just my opinion.

Here is PFFA's NaPo:

http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/forumdisp ... WriMo-2019

This is only linked for the example.  They have about 35-40 participating writers each year.  I did NaPo there about 6 years ago and I recognize most of the writers are still there for NaPo.  In my opinion, it is the only site on the net which exceeds  TTB's NaPo celebration.  And who knows, we are growing so fast. 

And seriously -- hydration stations.  

[Gyppo]

Thinking about next year:

In previous years I've rather enjoyed the somewhat 'shambolic' nature of the NAPO thread.  It's a bit like wandering a beach and finding stray starfish or pretty coloured glass pebbles when you least expect them.  But this year, with more players, it was definitely a bit crowded there.  Therefore, as someone who is 'a bit more organised than most people would think', I have to second the idea of individual threads next year.

It would make it easier to follow a particular person whose poems, or style, you enjoy.  Also easier to check back on your own if someone comments and asks a question to which you don't have an immediate answer.  I don't know about others, but by the time I'm a third of the way through my earlier offerings have been mentally buried under new stuff jostling for space in my mind.  (Which is one reason why I keep paper copies of my own work in a folder, for a quick check back.)

It would also make it easier to ignore - at least temporarily - anyone whose offerings habitually 'don't float your boat' (DFYB).  For example, any of the more 'formal' poets who revel in following strict forms may wish to avoid my output.

DFYB poetry often repays closer study later, but not during the cut and thrust of one a day NAPO month.

Final thought:  Anyone who hasn't seriously tested the search and 'advanced search' tools on here might find it worth playing with them for a while.  Just using the poet's name can overwhelm you with results, but a memorable line or phrase produces a more manageable list, sometimes just a single hit

The cold logic of search engines may offend your 'poetic soul', but think of it as a useful second language which helps you home in on a single voice in the crowded chatter of a bar.

Gyppo

[Lecram06]

I wish you all a plentiful harvest of poems. Reading such varied forms further stimulates me to experiment. It is the world of sensory experiences expressed in imagery that you all expressed  in poetry that stays with me. Merci. Marcel, aka, lecram6.

[ajduclos]

Such a pleasure, and an honor, to be with you all for NaPo 2019.  And I'm happy to have returned from my travels, or should I say travails.

Gyppo - are you the bartender?  Could you pull me an IPA, please?  This Frenchman would be forever in your debt.

As to next years format... I was early on a believer in the one thread for each writer, and that is probably the best way to go.
 
Yet another thought has sprung loose - how would a separate thread for each day of the month work?  All poet's work for each day in a separate thread, including the comments for all that day's efforts...  just a thought... 
 
I still lean to a thread for each writer.

You are all great - thanks for letting me in.
  
There's a song developing - hopefully I'll be able to share it with you all.

Aj  

[Tracy Mitchell]

Aimé --  what a treat to have you participating.  You bring a music and spirit to your craft.  

PoetryForum/PigPen does as you suggest -- one thread for each day of April.  Their twist is that there is a poetry prompt for each day to which the writers respond.  I've done NaPo there twice and it is fun.  

I think the idea of one thread per day for everyone to post in is very workable.  I don't much think the poetry prompt idea is a good fit for TTB.

For your info, Gyppo tends to turn scarce between Aprils, but I would be honored to get you an IPA. 

I look forward to seeing you around the boards.

Cheers.

T

[Dave]

Hey poets and drinkers. My take on it is as follows. On the one hand, if it ain't broke don't fix it. The very format we had this year made it easy for new Voices to join in, get a feel for the place and the poems and maybe work off inhibitions. Secondly, i could detect a lot of cross pollinating as ideas were picked up and reworked. Moreover there is a strong feel of forward movement and encouragement. Those who were posting outside the main thread psychologically felt less involved and accessible for some reason.

Natrually individual threads make it easier to follow a particular writer, which is good on the one hand but not exaactly the point on the other. It requires more chopping and changing of thread. For one's own writing it might work better.

I am not in favour of a thread a day as it is bitty and I certainly don#t want prompts, as I can get those fro myself. I don't respond well to prompts. It's a bit like listening to the radio - which I hate - because I prefweer to choose my own music.

Once again thanks to everyone, it was and sstill si quite a ride. I would be disappointed it people only came for NAPO. Poeting alone is as bad as drinking alone. Whose round is it?