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.