NaPoWriMo #19: Why A New Car Is More Dangerous Than An Old Girlfriend


Chevy Nova SS
Originally uploaded by bcostin

Day 20 is the real crunch time for the 30/30 challenge as far as I’m concerned. It feels like the time when my ideas are running dry and it feels like I’m stealing from myself. It also feels like a good time to dig into my own personal toolbox of writing prompts and see what I can find in there.

I’m thinking that the hardest part about writing poems is the actual mechanics of poetry: line breaks, distinct syntax, metaphor and simile. If I can’t find those things in the first three lines, I just start to give up. What to do? Write what comes to mind while telling my internal editor to go out and get me a burger. Most times this leads to me writing prose (a very dangerous prospect for me since I don’t claim to be a prose writer), then worry later about shaping the poem. I’ve written at least two good poems with this technique and credit Patricia Smith for first putting me onto it.

Here’s the story which will become a poem:

Why A New Car Is More Dangerous Than An Old Girlfriend

[Poem was here.]

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