Ode to NaNoWriMo

This is me crossing the Spartan Race finish line, not looking as badass as I felt.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) scares me. As the start date, November first, approaches I find myself thinking the same things I thought as I approached the starting line for the Spartan race. Can I do this? Have I prepared enough? Both events are all about endurance. Anyone can sit down and type, but can you do it for thirty days straight? Can you dig deep and give voice to the story on your heart? Can you ignore the urge to compare yourself to others, ignore anyone that says you can’t do it (including you), and commit to writing 50,000 words?

I’m going to try. It might be 47,123 words of pure drivel, but that’s ok. It’s editable, revisable drivel. You know what’s not editable or revisable? A blank page.

So the starting line is in front of us. I have butterflies and I wonder if I have what it takes. If you’re feeling the same way I am, if you’re running this race with me, I have just one thing to say to you:

WE CAN DO THIS.

And on that note, here is a very silly Ode to NaNoWriMo:

I will write, I will write, I will write
To my greatest disdain or delight
harnessing thought,
and sculpting a plot,
throughout the day and at night

I will write, disregarding the clock
defending against writer’s block
confronted with doubt,
I’ll write my out
from between a hard place and rock

No facebook, no cable, no phone
as I work out my narrative tone
I sit undeterred
Writing word after word
All my plans I shall hereby postpone

Friends and loved ones please hear my plight
You may think that I’m not alright
but hold your appraise
for the next thirty days
as I write, and I write, and I write!

Are You Scared?

Are you scared of spiders
and all those things that bite
things that touch your toes
in the middle of the night
    
     things with twenty legs
     that wiggle as they're creeping
     things that find their way into
     your ears while you are sleeping

Are you scared of darkness
that makes all a mystery
distorting heaps of clothes
from what they're s'posed to be
    
     turning jackets into figures
     that hover by the door
     making sleeves look like monsters
     crawling from your drawer

Are you scared of the creature
that lives below your bed
do you shake with fear and
pull the covers o'er your head

     do you tuck your legs up
     so he can't reach your feet
     and make an airtight tent
     with your blanket and your sheet

Are you scared of aliens
from another galaxy
the kind that kidnap you
then erase your memory

     the ones that pull you in
     with their giant laser beams
     that see into your brain
     and visit you in dreams

Are you scared of the bumps
and the whispers and the scratching
are you scared of all the fears
night is busy hatching

     are you scared even though  
     your parents tell you not to cry
     if you're scared, I have a secret
     shhh...      so am I

Curious

Well I'm revising my novel and hope to start posting excerpts soon, but I took a little break to write a poem. I may change it, but here it is. For now I'll call it Curious...

Tell me where the wind begins

Show me where to go

Where breath of God meets atmosphere

And gives it strength to blow

Tell me how a fire starts

With nothing but a spark

Consuming all that touches it

and crafting light from dark

Tell me how the sun was born

And how it burns so bright

And why it sinks behind the world

When sky announces night

Tell me how I came to be

And how I got my name,

Why no two single snowflakes

Ever look the same

Tell me the reason we can’t touch

Some things that we feel

Like love and cold and does that mean

Those things aren’t just as real

Tell me where the wind begins

Show me where to go

Where breath of God meets atmosphere

I cannot wait to know

Monsters in the Park

Lets go be monsters in the park

With scaly finger tips

Grin with pointed teeth

Drool dripping from our lips

     Lets go be animals in a cage

     And growl at passersby

     Crane our necks and howl

     At the full moon in the sky

Lets go be giants in the city

Crushing buildings with our feet

Laugh at the ant-like people

Fleeing from the street

     Lets go be black cats in the night

     With eyes electric green

     Staring down pedestrians

     Menacing and mean

Lets go be witches in the woods

With long gray tangled curls

Concocting poison apples

To give to little girls

     Lets be tornados in a rage

     Tearing up the earth

     No corner left undamaged

     We'll get our money's worth

Lets lose it just this once

And let ourselves go mad

Lets put away the halo

And be a little bad

     Lets drop chaos like a bomb

     And let our screws come loose

     Lets get unfocussed, run amok

     And offer no excuse

Lets knock over everything

Bulldoze our enemies

Set off all the alarms

We'll do anything we please

     Lets go be zombies in the mist

     Clothes hanging off our bones

     Clawing out of shallow graves

     With tortured, hungry moans

Lets be deafening rolls of thunder

Torrential, beating rain

Flashes, streaks of lightening

A deadly hurricane

     Lets be ghouls, ghosts or reapers

     And read them their last rites

     Lets be Bigfoot, lets be Loch-ness

     We'll be anything that bites

Lets be ghostly apparitions

Visions in the hall

Hissing whispers in the silence

We'll terrify them all

     Lets be snipers in the dark

     Waging our own war

     Because if they are afraid

   They    can't    hurt    us    anymore