[David Anthony]

Great that you're writing on PFFA. It used to be a savage place, but I think has mellowed now. I'm proud that my poem on Picks of the Litter has had more views than any other.

[Gail White]

Alas, I have never been equal to a poem-a-day challenge of any kind. The most I do for Poetry Month is subscribe to the daily poem from Knopf.

[Ann Drysdale]

I don't. Although I do love a deadline in principle, I find that stuff produced in the frame of mind wherein the "doing" of it is a duty to be ticked off on a to-do list, is often slapdash, ill-considered and, frankly, dire. Form is often the first thing to get chucked in a bucket.

And, I confess, I am embuggered at the outset because I find that coy, twice-bitten acronym peculiarly repellent.

[Sarah-Jane Crowson]

Ann! I know exactly what you mean. Your post reminded me of how much I used to hate it, and how I don't notice it now. I think it's because I've learned to deal with hashtags and the like - it's a way of sorting the world. And I'm not sure that this doesn't dilute things. Thank-you. It's really good to think about that.

I think there's lots of dross produced in it too. I try to get three good poems out of it, usually about a year later. But I work that way anyway, generating like buggery and not much of it good. Where I get stuck is when I've got something with potential and I find it's like wading through treacle to go back and really look at it and revise it.

Gail - that's a good idea. I might do that too - I'll look up Knopf.

David Anthony - I remember reading your poems way back - there was one about a dog, which was really lovely, that's stuck with me through the years (and even though I don't usually like poems about dogs). I wouldn't have been able to say why at the time, either. That's one of the reasons it took me so much time before I posted on here, as the focus on form here requires a level of skill and self-awareness that the PFFA doesn't, certainly in the lower forums of the PFFA, where you can just jump in with whatever drivel you're carrying in your head (although you have to learn quickly if you want to survive). It's a good teaching forum.

Sarah-Jane

[David Anthony]

Thanks, Jane.
If it's the one I think, I've never published it anywhere since I feared the line between sentiment and sentimentality may have become blurred.
It's one of my favourites of my own, though.

[Claudia Gary]

Ann, thank you for saying more or less what I was thinking!

There may have been rare months when I’ve written a poem a day, but that act in itself was never the goal. There have even been times when I turned out a poem within a half hour, but that was only because the poem had been percolating for days or weeks and suddenly a submission deadline was looming....

Although it might be nice to be more prolific in order to submit to more journals, I strongly doubt that a greater quantity would ensure a greater quality of work. Not for me, at least.

Claudia

[Matt Q]

I've done this over another forum most years since I started writing poetry about 8 years ago. I'm currently five poems deep into my sixth NaPoWriMo.

In large part I see it as practice. I've definitely improved as a poet as a result of taking part in these challenges. Of course, at 8 years in, I'm still a relative newbie, and I still have a lot of improving to do. Still, personally, I would say that a greater quantity does ensure a greater quality of work -- just a bit further down the line.

Incidentally, the goal in NaPo isn't to produce a perfect poem every day. It's a one-day draft. A first stab. You still may end up spending weeks or months on that poem at a later point -- or you may throw it in the bin forever. Seen as practice, though, even if the draft is one that goes nowhere, there's still been a benefit to writing it.

That said, there are usually a number of drafts worth taking forward at the end of it, plus ideas, images, metaphors that will end up in future poems. And I want to say these sometimes come at a higher-than-average rate when I'm focussed on writing a poem a day. It's possible to get in the zone.

It's also a great low-stakes context in which to experiment, try new things and even to have fun. Related to this, having a deadline can force you to take on an idea you normally wouldn't have thought worth pursuing, but because it's the only idea you have that day you have no choice, which can sometimes take you to interesting places. Sometimes not, too, of course