Today is the last day for 30 Poems in 30 Days. Summer has turned to fall. The modifiers have turned from evaluative to descriptive. The metaphors are glistening with dew. The air is filled with hyponyms and slant rhymes. The grass is has become iambic and the chapbooks are flying south for the winter. Welcome to the end of the project.
I hope that those of you who played along enjoyed yourself, learned a little something, and wrote a few poems that you can be proud of. If I can sum up the knowledge I hope you gained from this month, it would be this way…
Be honest and be specific. If you can’t be honest, lie as boldly and imaginatively as you can. Lie with pride. Embrace meter, it can do great things for you, but discard it frequently and without regret.
Let poetry help you relieve your pain and work through your emotions. Everybody gets the blues, but expressing it well is an art. Description trumps evaluation. Stories may not lead to wisdom but they tour the neighborhood once in a while.
Write poems to celebrate, commemorate and eulogize the moments of your life. Â Â Keep a journal. Listen to the way other people speak but write in your own voice. Poetry can be found almost anywhere if you just look hard enough and edit sharply enough. There is more to sound than rhyme. Patterns can come from anywhere.
Pressure builds poetry but quiet helps you create. Travel often, and imitate only when you need to. Inspiration can be found anywhere for those who look. Send your poems out into the world. Victory comes from the satisfaction of knowing you wrote well, but a little outside validation is always nice.
When all is said and done, write a book.
Today’s Poetry Prompt
Start your poem with a piece of advice.
Don’t Be Yourself
Don’t be yourself; never be yourself:
You can do better than that.
Be nobler.
Reach for more than yourpoorself can.
Tip over the Maybes your recalcitrant self
Obstacles your life with.
Be a point of view outside yourself;
Get behind the eyes of the person talking to you
and look out through them
at yourself
and see the damage and the design flaws.
Then get out your tools:
Deep breaths, calibraters, awareness enhancers
and ME FOR DUMMY
should all be in the kit.
Fill that work order as fast
as your betterself can.
It is not a do-it-yourpoorself project,
this Skinhome Improvement,
so find whom you admire,
and learn and act.
Ask for help but not in a Gimme way:
Demonstrate commitment.
You can draw infinite commitment from your betterself, believe me.
I do not wish you luck.
Your betterself knows that Luck is Vapor.
Good skill.
Gary,
You have been a workhorse and I admire you for it. Thank you for taking part and congratulations on staying focused.
Choose not a bitch
Never choose a bitch for a wife
Not even if she is drop dead gorgeous
Because my friend, looks only last for a moment
But a bitch remains for a lifetime
Never choose a bitch for a wife
Not even if she seems to reserve her bitchiness for others
Because my friend, bitchiness will only overflow
And a bitch will only make you miserable for life
Never choose a bitch for a wife
Not even if she appears understanding and tolerant
Because my friend, a leopard does not change its spots
So a bitch is still a bitch no matter how nice she appears to be
Never choose a bitch for a wife
Because marriage is sacred and lasts for a lifetime
And a bitch will only scar you for life
And fuck everyone else but you.
So I say and I say it again
Don’t pick a bitch for a wife
Because it is never worth the torture
So why bother?
Here’s my advice: take all the poems you wrote this month
And enter them in the Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest
Because there’s no entry fee
And you can enter as often as you like.
First prize is $300, second $150 and 3rd prize $50
Deadline is December 31, 2008.
Go here for an application: http://www.sps.com/c_u+IJOWFpAqQsOAB4zrCsL/c_ut+1222802715/poetry/index.html
Since we were just talking and writing about contests
I thought I’d pass this info along
I entered it myself because I have no pride
And I think “Gee, maybe the competition
Will be as bad as the poetry
I used to get when I was a fiction and poetry editor
for a magazine.
My advice is not to trust this comment submission thing today.
It keeps telling me that my comment is a duplicate–that I have already submitted it.
I think it’s just tired of listening to me drone on.
It’s been great everyone. Thanks for sharing your poems.
Thanks again John for leading this parade.
I hope to see you next year.
@ John – thanks for the Challenge – far as I can tell, as of now, I’m the only one who met it, on the poewarinstitute side anyway – will cheerfully accept hearty congratulations.
Cheers,
Mr. Smugness
I’m sorry that I miss a great challenge. Do you think you will have another 30 day challenge? I would love to participate in your next challenge. I like that you have some suggestions for the poems. I would have never thought about putting the poems in a contest or making a chapbook. The challenge is really inspiring to other writers.
Thanks for letting me be a part of this. I may not have completed every poem (ok, by a long shot), but it helped me to get back into a poetry routine.
I miss 30/30 so much I am now doing 30/30 2007 one day at a time. I’m happy again.
Miss you all.
when all is said and done
i hope to see you laugh in the sun
when all peice of madness ends
i hope we make new freinds
when all love and hope transcends
i hope to see you dance in the wind
when all is done and gone
i hope aspirations are fun
peace i wish to you
with good intentions