Create Art Podcast

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Last but not least, here’s our optional prompt for the day. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem based on the “Proust Questionnaire,” a set of questions drawn from Victorian-era parlor games, and adapted by modern interviewers. You could choose to answer the whole questionnaire, and then write a poem based on your answers, answer just a few, or just write a poem that’s based on the questions. You could even write a poem in the form of an entirely new Proust Questionnaire.   

How I Want To Die 

25 April 24 

That depends on when you ask me 

The typical high schooler trying to escape their history 

Then a gun to the head 

If you are asking the spiked haired, leather jacket wearing, dangling earrings punk rock 18-year-old 

In a blaze of glory 

If you are asking the morose warrior poet smoking weed 13 times a day 

He’d want to go out sleeping and continue the deep sleep of death 

If you are asking the Avant garde grad student with a boulder on his shoulder 

Slicing of the wrists comes to mind 

If you ask the homeless philosopher 

Then a bottle of pills seems about right 

If you are asking the man who left Chicago and all his friends for what he called love 

Then a bomb strapped to his chest over a bridge carrying thousands of travelers 

But if you ask me today 

At home 

In my bed 

With my loved ones in the next room 

No tears 

No sadness 

I’d rather be left as the traveler I am 

As my spirit animal demands 

A few words of encouragement spoken to me 

From someone I respect 

A send-off into the other lands 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Finally, our (optional) prompt for the day is another one pulled from our 2016 archives. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that begins with a line from another poem (not necessarily the first one), but then goes elsewhere with it. This will work best if you just start with a line of poetry you remember, but without looking up the whole original poem. Or you could find a poem that you haven’t read before and then use a line that interests you. The idea is for the original to furnish the backdrop for your work, but without influencing you so much that you feel as if you are just rewriting the original! For example, you could begin, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” or “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” or “I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster,” or “they persevere in swimming where they like.” Really, any poem will do to provide your starter line – just so long as it gives you the scope to explore. 

Said The Shotgun To The Head (Kimo Style) 

24 April 24 

I can taste the metal in my mouth from a double barrel 

Don’t worry, I am not being kidnapped or robbed 

I have done it to myself 

My finger is not on the trigger 

I won’t write the story of my life 

On a blood and brain spattered wall 

For too long I have thought this was the way to end things 

And I felt good that it would be in my hands 

And not someone else’s  

I felt in control that I could end things 

Anytime I wanted to  

Anytime it got too deep 

But now I have too much to live for 

And I don’t want to have those I love 

Seeing the ending of this movie 

I have relied on the pain that comes with carrying a shotgun in my mouth 

And I am tired of the taste 

I have enough metal in my mouth 

With fillings that crack my teeth 

With porcelain crowns that feel off 

With the drilling that it took to put them there 

I am putting the shotgun down 

In front of a crowd 

Hoping they never need to feel the need  

To shove a weapon in their mouth 

My mouth spits wisdom 

And hope 

And encouragement 

And maybe a better path 

The shotgun is unloaded 

And I hope you can now put yours down 

But if you need to aim it at my head to feel better 

You’ll need to look me in the eye 

And I haven’t met many who can 

And if you do decide to pull the trigger 

Then you will 

What can I do 

But at least I am not holding a shotgun to my head anymore 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

And now for our (optional) prompt. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem about, or involving, a superhero, taking your inspiration from these four poems in which Lucille Clifton addresses Clark Kent/Superman.

Right Bicep  

23 April 24 

The embodiment of vengeance sitting on a throne of the bones of the souls he has damned 

Is embedded on my right bicep 

Part of the right arm of justice 

That I use to correct the wrongs 

That have occurred 

He sits there with a face so dour 

He sits there looking exhausted 

He sits and views all the work left to be done 

It never ends 

This world isn’t fair 

As I teach my children 

But there are those in this world 

That come in after the tragedies 

To make sure they never happen again 

I put you there 

Because I have always desired to be  

An instrument that can dispassionately dole out vengeance 

But I find my emotions take hold 

And I cannot damn another soul for their wrongs 

I am not the judge, jury and punisher 

So, you will have to sit on my arm 

Until I can burn out the emotions 

And one day be like you 

Without a heart 

Without a soul 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

And now for our (optional) prompt! Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that repeats or focuses on a single color. Some examples for you – Diane Wakoski’s “Blue Monday,” Walter de la Mare’s “Silver,” and Dorothea Lasky’s “Red Rum.”

The Color of High School 

21 April 24 

I remember the scene shop in the theater where other students were tagging the walls with Rush, I was blasting out UB40’s Red Red Wine 

I’d sing that song till my throat turned red 

Feeling the words touch my soul every time 

Filling me with hope that I would find a love worthy of that song 

Drinking the apple wine Night Train with its dark red label 

When at my lowest points I’d scrawl on my notebooks our mascot the J-Hawk 

With a gun pointed at his head 

And the pale blood of loneliness and teen angst splattered against an indicated wall 

No one saw these depictions 

Which is probably for the best 

The walls of some of the hallways glowed when we lost power 

A high school built initially to be a prison had few windows 

At least that is how the story went 

The stoners and the underground kids flicked their lighters 

And we found our way to the blazing exit signs that always had power 

The crimson letters guiding us to safety 

At the D Door 

Where smoking was tolerated 

I’d see teachers and students monkey fuck each other 

To light their cancer sticks and cowboy killers 

And the rhythmic dull red glow of the embers matched their breathing 

My high school was a vampire's paradise 

Gym uniforms, sport uniforms, the carpeted triangle 

All reflected their devilish desire for blood 

There was blood at every fight 

There was blood on the hands of every bully 

There was blood every month from the girls who were having their first menstruation 

There was dried blood on the suicide kids cuts and scars 

There was blood on the M-80's I lit and flushed down the toilet 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Our optional prompt for the day challenges you to write a poem that recounts a historical event. In writing your poem, you could draw on your memory, encyclopedias, history books, or primary documents. If you’re interested in a little research, you might find interesting this collection of letters written during the American Civil War, or this collection of primary documents concerning South Sea voyages. Or perhaps you might find something of interest in digging through Europeana, an online clearinghouse of digitized materials from cultural institutions across Europe.

Inspiration for this poem came from Ronald Regan Radio Address

Crate Digging 

20 April 24 

A package had been sent it me 

The shape familiar 

Just over 12 inches square 

So carefully I opened it 

And found placed with care 

A record sleeve with no picture 

And the only writing on it was Ronald Regan 1961 

I opened it and found the familiar shape of a 12-inch record with no label 

So, I took off the record I had played last 

Something by Miles Davis or john Coltrane 

And put this new, mysterious record on the platter 

Recovering from the demon rum and weed 

That my jazz obsession claimed on me 

I pressed the play button 

And the tone arm raised,  

Moved over to the starting groove 

And set down as delicately as a mother placing her newborn baby down for a nap 

I sat back into my easy chair 

As the sound of Ronald Regan’s voice came over my speakers 

There was no music 

Just his voice droning on and on 

He told me the horros of socialized medicine 

And how that would destroy my savings 

How it would cost me my livelihood 

How it was unamerican 

How my son, he must not have read my FBI file 

Would not be able to decide where they would go to school 

Or what type of job they would have 

And I sat there transfixed on his words 

They seemed so wise 

He would never betray me 

How can I, in my sunset years, face my children and my children’s children 

And tell them what it's like to be free 

When socialism, draped in liberalism, takes over our country 

I am hoping that Trump's bible gets to me before I die and go to hell 

Because I didn’t read his holy word 

By the way I take a size 10.5 wide Donnie 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Last but not least, here’s today’s optional prompt. This one comes from the poet and fiction writer Todd Dillard, who provided this idea on his twitter account a few months ago. The idea is to write a poem in which two things have a fight. Two very unlikely things, if you can manage it. Like, maybe a comb and a spatula. Or a daffodil and a bag of potato chips. Or perhaps your two things could be linked somehow – like a rock and a hard place – and be utterly sick of being so joined. The possibilities are endless!

Two Sides Same Coin 

22 April 24 

The coffee-stained steno note pad decided one day to crawl from under the dust of neglect and seek out the cell phone 

Its wire binding was loose and its companion the bic pen had been lost after never coming back from getting cigarettes 

The pad of paper felt neglected, its blue lines fading 

Where once my innermost thoughts filled its pages 

Now were curling up unused and unwanted 

The pad scrapped along the floor 

Leaving a scratch in the flooring 

And it saw the endless stairs up to my room 

Sighed deeply and found a way to the top by standing on end and grasping for the next step 

My cell phone was communicating and noting my breaths and snores as I slept 

Plugged in and cared for like a king 

It slept just a mere foot from the bed 

Unaware of what was coming up from the basement 

The blue light and the life-giving electricity flowing through its circuits 

Years ago, I had abandoned one of my oldest friends 

And determined that due to low light 

And spilled drinks 

And the fact that i couldn’t see the words I had inscribed 

I would switch to reading my poetry off my phone as I had seen younger poets do 

It was easier to flip through apps on a phone 

Versus flipping through pages of steno note pads 

Sometimes I would bring the wrong one 

Other times due to clumsiness I would spill my coffee and the liquid would seep into the pages 

Low light at most readings made it impossible to see 

The steno climbed the last stair 

And made its way into the bedroom 

Sighing again, it saw me peacefully asleep 

Dreaming of the next poem I was to write 

And finally save the dark-haired barista  

And live my gothic fantasy 

The steno pad had one final climb to make 

And that was to the top of the altar that the cell phone called home 

When suddenly my sleeping body turned over and my arm knocked the phone to the floor 

The steno saw their opportunity and sprang into action 

Stabbing the cell phone with the wire binding in various spots 

Trying to hit the reset hole or short out the circuit board 

The phone laid on the ground, a chip had fallen out of the side 

With no way to defend itself it laid there 

Taking the stabbing attacks without a murmur 

The steno pad found the right hole that would erase the cell phones memory 

And thrust itself deep 

Only to find that when it did, the electricity that gave life to the cell phone 

Traveled through the wire to the page and lit it aflame 

The fire caught onto the blanket and the wooden bed frame 

And the three of us perished that night 

As the words were lost 

And my dreams of saving this world were dashed 

By the jealousy of a steno pad 

And the convivence of the cell phone light 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Finally, here’s our prompt – optional, as always! This one comes to us from Moist Poetry Journal, which posted this prompt by K-Ming Chang a while back:

What are you haunted by, or what haunts you? Write a poem responding to this question. Then change the word haunt to hunt

Haunted, Hunted By 

19 April 24 

I saw the look on her face 

The horror of almost losing her life 

I heard the way she tried to speak but no words formed 

When the words did come forth 

She sounded like the 4-year-olds she would never know 

I felt the leathery skin 

Tissue paper thin, veins easily seen but not easily pierced 

I smelled the stains on her fingers 

And the ashtray breath when she kissed my cheek 

Her heart had given out 

She was initially unable to speak 

The one who was so protective of me 

Was now the one that I protected 

Her dead body with makeup on that she would never wear 

I said goodbye to that corpse knowing there was nothing there 

Walking back from the park 

At the start of the pandemic 

My left side turned off 

From shoulder to toe there was nothing there 

Walking between my two children 

Each one holding me up 

On the left was my child who reminded me of the mother I lost 

On my right was the child that reminded me of my fury and anxiety 

They got me home without incident 

And I laid on the couch 

Unable to tell my wife what I was feeling 

Worse yet, unable to tell her what I wasn’t feeling 

I didn’t end up in a pine box that day 

My speech has slowed a bit, halts from time to time 

I can hear it, but no one else notices 

I can feel the oblivion coming but no one else listens 

I quiet myself in preparation 

The end will be lonely 

Even if I am surrounded by my loved ones 

I will be unable to say it is time 

I make plans to leave a sign for when it’s time to die 

Wanting to be braver, as an example 

But feeling that creeping doom just a step behind 

Laying on my back in a hospital 

With people mourning my loss 

Is not how I want to go out 

Is not how I want to face the reaper when they come 

I always wanted it to be a fight that would make the gods notice 

Explosions and gnashing of teeth 

But a quiet death hunts me 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

And now for our (optional) prompt! Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem in which the speaker expresses the desire to be someone or something else, and explains why. Two possible models for you: Natasha Rao’s “In my next life let me be a tomato,” and Randall Jarrell’s “The Woman at the Washington Zoo.”

The Name Tattooed on My Arm 

18 April 24 

Looking down at my right arm 

Seeing the skull and the fu-man-chu  

With a fedora and sunglasses 

And the name scrawled there 

Is the person I wanted to be 

I gave him a name 

And a tortured history 

And a dismal future 

Just on the right side of destitution 

He was my voice for decades 

When I didn’t know what to be 

He sat there under my skin 

As a reminder 

As a warning 

That I may become him one day 

Parts of me desired that ending 

It was so poetic 

So romantic 

He'd be someone I’d give up my sweet ass to in a heartbeat if he’d have me 

He was dark and dangerous 

Mysterious and stoic 

Nothing could touch him 

Feelings could not sway him 

He was comfortable in his own skin 

He is the things I am not 

I created this phantom 

To fight the nightmares 

To fight my weaknesses 

Naturally he doesn’t have any 

He was my hero 

Like Bukowski or Kerouac 

Until I became a father 

And thought that if he tried to date my daughters 

He’d be carried out in a pine box 

I so wanted to be him 

But he is not real 

He is not sustainable 

He would not be able to do what I do 

Live the life I live 

Be a father 

Be a partner 

Be supportive 

He is selfish 

He is all the bad qualities that I don’t need 

And yet 

At times I want to be him 

This tattoo on my arm 

This mark I gave myself 

This Frankenstein's monster I created 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

Last but not least, here’s our optional prompt for the day. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that is inspired by a piece of music, and that shares its title with that piece of music. Need an example? Here’s A. Van Jordan’s “Que Sera Sera” and Adrian Matejka’s “Soave Sia Il Vento.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W-o5Y_GunU

Jupiter The Bringer of Jollity 

17 April 24 

To be born as the father of the gods was born 

In such a similar way 

Brings us both to level ground 

I can only imagine that these were the sounds 

Echoing through the universe to mark both of our births 

When the members of the orchestra reach that point of the crash 

I am transported to that fateful day 

After the birth, the horns come in 

And coddle the youngster 

Making them warm and feel comforted 

The safest place in the world 

The march of time starts 

The fun times of youth are sprinkled here and there 

With the sounds of flutes and triangles 

The first challenge is encountered 

And the refrain returns of warmth and comfort 

The march picks up 

The pace quickens 

And the birth of our progeny happens 

All is silent 

And the process begins again 

And the pace slows back down 

And we enjoy the moments 

Basking in the pride we feel 

Trying to make these moments last forever 

We get to encounter what our predecessors felt when they held us 

The march slows as our bodies age 

The greatest things happen 

And we instead of watching our growth  

We watch theirs 

And then the begin the process 

And we as grandparents are doubly blessed 

We see the process happen again  

And again if we are lucky 

And we look to see the process happen one more time 

To establish our place in eternity 

As we march towards oblivion 

With our head held high 

The bellows of the tubas mark our last breaths 

And we die 

At the birth of the next generation 

And then there is utter silence for us 

But a promise for those who come after 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.

Welcome, art enthusiasts and wordsmiths alike, to another episode of Create Art Podcast! We are diving headfirst into the enchanting world of poetry as we celebrate National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). This annual event, which takes place every April, encourages poets and aspiring writers around the globe to embrace their creativity and commit to writing a poem each day for the entire month.

The Beauty of National Poetry Writing Month:

NaPoWriMo, similar to its prose-centric counterpart National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is a celebration of the written word and the boundless creativity that can flow when one dedicates themselves to a daily practice. Poets of all levels of expertise are invited to take part, from seasoned wordsmiths to those just dipping their toes into the vast ocean of verse.

Create Art Podcast has always been a haven for artists to share their creative processes, and NaPoWriMo offers a unique opportunity for poets to reflect on their craft. With a daily commitment to producing poetry, participants discover new facets of their writing style, experiment with various forms, and explore uncharted emotional territories.

here’s today’s (optional) prompt, taken from our 2016 archives. Today, we challenge you to write a poem in which you closely describe an object or place, and then end with a much more abstract line that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do with that object or place, but which, of course, really does. The “surprise” ending to this James Wright poem is a good illustration of the effect we’re hoping you’ll achieve. An abstract, philosophical kind of statement closing out a poem that is otherwise intensely focused on physical, sensory details.

Winning 

16 April 24 

Awakened by a child's nightmare 

The rest of the morning wrecked with thoughts that won’t stop 

Remembering almost 16 years ago 

Sleeping on a beanbag 

Forgetting the name of the company I worked for 

Remembering how I used to roll my own cigarettes 

Smelling the encrusted tobacco on my yellowing fingers 

Buying my first house and worrying about how to pay for it 

The kid behind these eyes 

With spiked hair and a ponytail 

Modified mullet 

Dangling earrings 

Wearing a real leather jacket with chains 

Always afraid of the dark 

And the secrets it holds 

Finding a tribe in the places that god hated 

That same tribe dispersed throughout the big sky country 

Listening to an old guy singing songs badly, on purpose 

These thoughts come back as I hold my babies 

I am a man 

Not wanting to uphold the easy definition 

These thoughts come through at 6:34 AM EDT 

While a television plays the news of the world 

And the fan cools the air 

Moving it from one end of the room to the other 

A child with pink eye, a child with anxiety 

Two cats prowl the grounds 

One with a single clouded eye, the other with diabetes 

A snoring wife, whose dreams I am not allowed to see 

A half-painted picture by numbers facing away from me 

Photo Negatives is not how you should live your life 

To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

• Email: [email protected]
• YouTube Channel: Create Art Podcast YT Channel
• IG: @createartpodcast
• Twitter: @createartpod

timothybrien.substack.com

If you have found value in this podcast, please share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see.

Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.

I am trying to utilize YouTube more, so make sure to check out my YouTube Channel to see me doing the episodes right in front of you.