NPM 2022 - Poems and Primary Sources

For my 2022 National Poetry Month project I wrote poems in a variety of Japanese poetic forms to primary sources. I looked through family photos, letters, and more to find inspiration for the poems. 

I also shared these poems on my Instagram, which is a good place to go if you want to see them all in one place.  

April 1 - Senryu to a photo of my grandmother as a child
April 2 - Haiku to my mother's recipe
April 3 - Dodoitsu to a war memento
April 4 - Choka to my mother's engagement announcement
April 5 - Gogyohka to the receipt for my mother's engagement ring
April 6 - Senryu to a student's drawing of my dad
April 7 - Tanka to a photo of my grandmother and her mother by a car
April 8 - Dodoitsu to a piece of V-mail from my great uncle 
April 9 - Senryu to a Christmas card from Paris during the war (1944)
April 10 - Somonka to a war letter to my father
April 11 - Dodoitsu to an early family portrait of my mother
April 12 - Senryu to a photo of WWII nose art 
April 13 - Senryu to a pair of postage stamps issued in 1934
April 14 - Somonka to a war letter to my father
April 15 - Senryu to a photo of my mother as a child 
April 16 - Senryu to an Easter card my grandmother sent my grandfather
April 17 - Senryu to an Easter card my grandfather sent my grandmother
April 18 - Tanka to a First Day Cover celebrating NATO's 10th anniversary (1959)
April 19 - Somonka to my grandparent's wedding photo 
April 20 - Dodoitsu to a list my grandfather made of the cars he owned 
April 21 - Haibun to a newspaper story about a car accident my father was in
April 22 - Tanka to a newspaper masthead from NAAS Jacksonville (1945) 
April 23 - Senryu to my grandfather's christening photo (1899)
April 24 - Senryu to a photo of my father and his parents at the beach (1929)
April 25 - Senryu to a letter my father's sister sent him during the way (1945)  
April 26 - Senryu to a button envelop (1950) 
April 27 - Sedoka to a photo of my grandfather and his twin sister 
April 28 - Senryu to my dad's navy photo 
April 29 - Dodoitsu to a family photo (1946)
April 30 - Choka to a family photo (1960)