2015 April PAD Challenge: Day 12
Every year, I do a few speaking appearances around the country, and this year I’m actually going to be leaving the country–headed north of the border and Vancouver to Squamish,…
Every year, I do a few speaking appearances around the country, and this year I'm actually going to be leaving the country--headed north of the border and Vancouver to Squamish, British Columbia, Canada for the Quest Writer's Conference. I'll be one of the Fellows, and the faculty includes Alicia Ostriker, Oliver de la Paz, Joy Harjo, Gregory Orr, and Rebecca Brown. Learn more here.
For today's prompt, write a damage poem. Since my baby brother is a storm chaser, my mind usually jumps straight to storm damage. However, there's more than the physical damage created by things like hurricanes, trains, and war planes. There's also the emotional and psychological damage we inflict, survive, and conceal. The bright side of any damage is that it can be transformed into a poem.
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Get your poetry published.
Writing poetry is one thing; getting it published is something else. Take advantage of the best print resource for publishing your poetry today with the 2015 Poet’s Market, edited by Robert Lee Brewer.
This annual reference includes new articles on the craft, business, and promotion of poetry, explanations of poetic forms, poet interviews, new poems, and hundreds of listings for book and chapbook publishers, print and online publications, contests and awards, and so much more–all for poets!
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Here's my attempt at a Damage Poem:
"diy"
the dishwasher is broken,
but i didn't break it &
neither did you. sometimes things
just break & we have to learn
how to fix them. the dishes
need washed, the laundry needs cleaned,
& the dishwasher needs re-
paired if you know what i mean.
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Today's guest judge is...
Kim Addonizio
Kim Addonizio's most recent book is My Black Angel: Blues Poems and Portraits, with woodcuts by Charles D. Jones. Her previous books include five poetry collections, two novels, and two books of stories, as well as two books on writing: The Poet's Companion and Ordinary Genius.
Her next collection, Mortal Trash, is due out from W.W. Norton in 2016. Her work has been awarded a Guggenheim, two NEA Fellowships, and other honors.
Visit her online at www.kimaddonizio.com.
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Poem Your Heart Out again!
The prompts from last year’s challenge along with the winning poem from each day ended up in an inspired little anthology titled Poem Your Heart Out. It was part prompt book, part poetry anthology, and part workbook, because each day includes a few pages for you to make your own contributions.
Anyway, the anthology worked out so well that we’re doing it again this year, and you can take advantage of a 20% discount from Words Dance by pre-ordering before May 1, 2015.
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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.
Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
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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.
