Write a poem every day
The Writers’ Digest magazine is currently promoting a Poem a Day challenge. Participants are encouraged to write a poem every day for the month of April. I think it’s a great idea to get people writing, and they have a writing prompt every day to help you along.
Part of the deal is that the prompt is posted every morning and poets can take it from there, writing whatever the prompt brings to mind. For the brave there is also the opportunity to share your poem on the blog site, inviting others to comment.
A few years ago a fellow poet went on an extensive trip overseas. She told me before leaving that her goal was to write a poem every day during her trip. That seemed like a great idea, so I borrowed the idea when my wife and I travelled Ethiopia (to visit our daughter), Morocco and Spain. We were away for 45 days and I wrote 55 poems so I exceeded my goal. Most of these poems were vignettes of sights we saw, or responses to our many wonderful experiences. The poems ranged in length from haiku through to longer works over 50 lines. It proved to be a very rewarding and creative time. You can read about my travels on Trevor’s Travels. You can also read some of my poetry here.
To find out more about the Poem A Day Challenge click here.
Links:
April is Poem a Day Month
Over the years I have written about 500 poems – I haven’t done an accurate count. Most of these were written when the inspiration came to me, usually when I was particularly moved by a scene, an event or a special set of circumstances.
Over the last year I have written about 40 new poems, some of them quite long, the longest being about 140 lines. Almost all of these were written ‘on demand.’ I wrote them because they were expected of me as a part of my Master of Arts course. Most weeks I had to produce a poem in a set format as a part of the assessment process. It was tough going, but I managed it. I found the discipline of enforced writing actually worked in my favour: I had to produce something and that meant honing my skills as a poet.
With this in mind I endorse the idea behind April being the Poem a Day month (click here for details and rules). Each day a writing prompt by Robert Lee Brewer of Poetic Asides on the Writers’ Digest site will be given and poets are encouraged to write a poem a day for the entire month – or you may choose to only write one every few days. All poems submitted will appear on the blog site.
It’s a good challenge. Are you up to it?
Not sure where I’ll find the time. [sigh]
Good writing.