Welcome to day 1 of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), April 2014!

Are you ready for a poem a day for the next 30 days? Some will be long, short, dark, serious, disturbing, silly, funny, stupid, oh-I-get-its or WTFs, but always original, and created as we go.

If my poems this month are effective, feel free to let me know. If they are not, shut the heck up! Who needs more critics!

We kick off NaPoWriMo 2014 with an ancient poetic form, but one that’s new to me. It’s called the tanka. It’s a five-line, 31-syllable (5/7/5/7/7) poetic form from 7th century Japan.

It resembles a single unbroken line divided into five lines. The 3rd line is usually a pivot between subjects. A successful tanka is short but emotionally charged.

Here is my submission for day 1, and my first tanka ever written:

– – – –

Oso

From mud dreams I stir
Rescued from smells of death I
Climb from limbs to limbs
Push what’s beneath my reach to
Awaken a new nightmare

– – – –