2015 April PAD Challenge: Day 4
Great job, everyone! It’s been a lot of fun reading everyone’s poems (ok, I haven’t been reading everyone’s poems, but I have been skimming through). Speaking of reading poems, if…
Great job, everyone! It's been a lot of fun reading everyone's poems (ok, I haven't been reading everyone's poems, but I have been skimming through). Speaking of reading poems, if there are specific poets you really enjoy and would like to read more, try using Anders Bylund's nifty Poem-A-Day search tool, which he developed years and years ago. You can search by username at the top and even by various challenge years. Check it out here.
For today's prompt, write a departure poem. Many people depart to school and/or work every day, and they depart on a plane, train, or automobile--some even walk or ride a bike. Of course, that's keeping things rather physical; there are also emotional and psychological departures. You may even decide to make a departure from your normal writing style in tone or structure today.
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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 Departure Poem:
"i turned my head away"
but you were the one who left
as i tried coming up with something
terribly clever to say & found myself alone
i remember ohio nights at the airport
listening to guster sing "satellite"
& the world didn't exist
because you were still next to me
& we didn't say a word
through the arrivals & departures
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Today's guest judge is...
Taylor Mali
Taylor Mali runs the Page Meets Stage reading series in New York City. One of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Def Poetry Jame, he's the author of three collections of poetry, including What Learning Leaves and Bouquet of Red Flags.
A vocal advocate for teachers and the nobility of teaching, Mali is also the author of What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World. Former president of Poetry Slam, Inc., he's one of the world's most popular slam poets as well as one of the few who makes a living from his poetry.
Learn more at TaylorMali.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.
