2015 April PAD Challenge: Day 7
There is a prompt and example poem attached to each day of this challenge, as well as a guest judge, but don’t forget to check out the poetic posts at…
There is a prompt and example poem attached to each day of this challenge, as well as a guest judge, but don't forget to check out the poetic posts at the bottom as well. There are links to poet interviews, poetic forms, and more.
It took an entire week to get to our first "Two for Tuesday" prompt this year, so I'm going to make it the one that I run every single year:
- Write a love poem. Yeah, I said a love poem, or, if you don't like that option...
- Write an anti-love poem. I know there are some haters out there; go ahead and hate on love and/or love poems if that's your thing.
So if this is your first rodeo, here's how the "Two for Tuesday" prompt works. You can choose one of the two options; choose both options; and/or blend the two together in some way. Just be sure to write 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 Love and/or Anti-Love Poem:
"call it love"
o baby it's true
been up thinking all night about you
& what's a poet supposed to do
with flowers both red & blue
i guess i'll just figure it out
i've been filling myself with doubt
since i last kissed your mouth
o yeah, i've been dreaming of the south
baby it's true
been up thinking all night about you
& there ain't nothing for a poet to do
but pin words upon these pining-for-you blues
these pining-for-you blues
call it love if it gets me on back to you
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Today's guest judge is...
David Kirby
David Kirby has published over 20 books and is the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University. His most recent collection is Biscuit Joint (Louisiana State University Press). His new and selected collection, The House on Boulevard St. (also published by Louisiana State University Press), was nominated for the 2007 National Book Award in poetry.d
Kirby's work has won numerous awards, including four Pushcart Prizes, the James Dickey Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Learn more at DavidKirby.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.
