Woohoo made it through week one of National Writing Poetry Month (NaPoWriMo)! I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far. Although it is challenging to share poems I think I otherwise would have left as unpublished drafts, putting myself out there has allowed me to connect more with others. I’ve also loved seeing all the different ways everyone responds to the prompts, definitely inspiring. I am forever grateful for all the great interactions I’ve had so far by participating in this challenge!

Anyway, today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is: Write out a list of all of your different layers of identity. These are all ways you could be described or lenses you could be viewed through. Now divide all of those things into lists of what makes you feel powerful and what makes you feel vulnerable. Now write a poem in which one of the identities from the first list contends or talks with an identity from the second list.

I liked today’s prompt. In writing my lists, I realized that much of what makes me feel “powerful” also makes me feel “vulnerable” and vice versa. Anyway here’s my drafty draft take on the prompt, focusing mostly on my “identities” as an editor at work and as a generally anxious person:

I edit, I type, I rewrite,
I catch, typos that almost look wright right,
Passive voice,
Wrong word choice,
Misconnections,
Bad directions,
Out-of-order sections,
Too long of lines,
and phrases used too many times.

They say
I “have an eye for error,”
“A skilled repairer,” I “make thoughts clearer,”
“A revisor of letters,” I “make drafts better,”
“A great communicator, translator, parer…”

But my doubts are always greater,
Did I make the right call?
Did I improve anything at all?
As my stomach fills with knots,
I’ll wish, I could put a period to my thoughts.