2015 April PAD Challenge: Day 20
This challenge has been and will continue to be great, but I want to make everyone aware of a contest deadline that just around the corner for the Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. The deadline is May 4, and one grand prize winner will receive $5,000 in cash, an interview in Writer's Digest magazine, one-on-one attention from four editors or agents, a paid trip to the Writer's Digest Conference, and more. There are two poetry categories: one for rhyming poetry and one for non-rhyming poetry. Click here for details.
For today's prompt, take the phrase "My (blank), the (blank)," replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: "My Dentist, the Torture Expert," "My Lunch, the Thing I Got Out of the Vending Machine," "My Father, the Comedian," or "My Life, the Punchline."
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Get the National Poetry Month Collection!
Celebrate National Poetry Month with a super poetic collection of poetry-related products with the National Poetry Month Collection!
This super-sized kit includes 4 e-books, 3 paperback books, 7 tutorials, and much more! In fact, this kit covers everything from prompts to poetic forms and from revising poems to getting them published.
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Here's my attempt at a My Blank, the Blank Poem:
"my poem, the draft"
not everything comes out finished
like an automobile or toothbrush
some things--like myself--need time
to mature like a diversified
investment portfolio or
on occasion a poem
i was born very sponge-like
sucking things up & releasing
what should never see the light of day
but--like this poem--people
kept me around hoping i would
develop into something better
so if this poem--like myself--feels
a little unfinished just wait
it may yet blossom anew
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Megan Volpert
Today's guest judge is...
Megan Volpert
Megan Volpert is the author of five books on communication & popular culture, including two Lambda Literary Award finalists. She has been teaching high school English in Atlanta for the better part of a decade & was 2014 Teacher of the Year.
She edited the American Library Association-honored anthology This assignment is so gay: LGBTIQ Poets on the Art of Teaching.
Predictably, www.meganvolpert.com is her website.
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Poem Your Heart Out, Volume 2
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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