2014 April PAD Challenge: Day 1
Here we are. It’s been less than a month since the initial guidelines post for the 7th annual Poetic Asides April PAD (Poem-A-Day) Challenge, but it feels like years. I’ve…
Here we are. It's been less than a month since the initial guidelines post for the 7th annual Poetic Asides April PAD (Poem-A-Day) Challenge, but it feels like years. I've been so excited to get poeming. Let's do it!
As luck would have it, today is a Tuesday, which means we're facing a "Two-for-Tuesday" prompt. For folks new to the challenge, you can choose one prompt, write to both, or try to mix them together in one poem. Here are the prompts:
- Write a beginning poem. Today is the beginning of this challenge. It's also the beginning of April. But there are so many other beginnings: Beginning of a relationship, beginning of school, beginning of the rest of your life, and so on. Pick a beginning to write about.
- Write an ending poem. Often, though not always, beginnings come as the result of an ending. Sometimes endings are cause for disappointment, heartbreak, or numbness. Other times, endings are celebrated. Capture an ending today.
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Begin getting published!
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In addition to the listings, there are articles on the craft, business, and promotion of poetry. Plus, new poems, poet interviews, organizations, and more.
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Here's my attempt at a beginning or ending poem:
"quarks"
even beginnings
have a beginning
of the beginning
she tells me how quarks
are never observed
in isolation
how they combine to
form protons neutrons
and other matter
unnoticed alone
together they make
beginnings happen
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Today's Guest Judge Is...
Traci Brimhall
Traci is the author of Our Lady of the Ruins (W.W. Norton), selected by Carolyn Forché for the 2011 Barnard Women Poets Prize, and Rookery (Southern Illinois University Press), winner of the 2009 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Slate, The Believer, The Kenyon Review, The New Republic, Ploughshares, and Best American Poetry 2013 & 2014.
She’s received fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the King/Chávez/Parks Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Learn more at tracibrimhall.com.
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Poem Your Heart Out
Poems, Prompts & Room to Add Your Own for the 2014 April PAD Challenge!
Words Dance Publishing is offering 20% off pre-orders for the Poem Your Heart Out anthology until May 1st! If you'd like to learn a bit more about our vision for the book, when it will be published, among other details.
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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer's Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World's Problems. He's excited to start another April of poeming and can't believe how much the challenge has grown. Learn more about him here: http://www.robertleebrewer.com/.
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Find more poetic posts here:
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
