The Poetry Marathon

Congratulations half marathoners, you have completed the 2015 Poetry Half Marathon! No easy feat, but you did it.

Send us an email now, or in the next couple days to poets@thepoetrymarathon.com, to confirm that you have completed the half marathon. Make sure to include your full name in the email. By the end of next week you should receive your digital certificate.

And for all those marathoners still out there, you are at the halfway point! Congratulations! I am sending lots of energy and inspiration your way.

Poetry Half Marathoners – this is your last prompt! Yay! You are almost there. The finish line is in sight.

Poetry Marathoners – this is the halfway poem! Congratulations, you have come a long way already!

Your prompt for this hour is to write a poem about moving. The move could be a real or imagined. It can be about moving as a concept or moving as a reality.

Write a poem about dogs. However you cannot use any of the followings words in the poem: dog, canine, bark, growl, and puppy. You also can’t use the names of any dog breeds. So, it should be a bit of a challenge.

Autobiography of a Face is a famous memoir by the poet Lucy Grealy. I always thought it was excellent and intriguing title as it can be interpreted in so many ways.

For hour 10 your prompt is to write a poem with the title Autobiography Of A Face.

Set a timer. Write whatever comes in to your head for 5 minutes as fast as you can. Don’t delete anything you type, and don’t bother to spell check. It is all about getting the words down on the paper.

After the 5 minutes are up start editing what you have. Feel free to cut and add material as needed. Try to spend at least 15 minutes, if not longer, editing the piece.

Write a poem with the phrase “we need” reoccurring throughout it. Repeat the phrase at least five times in the poem.

Write a poem that contains primarily visual images.

Really focus on creating striking and lasting images. The images can be connected or disconnected.

Use one of the following three images as inspiration to write a poem.

Write a persona poem. A persona poem is when you write from the perspective of someone else; e.g. not your own perspective. That person can be imagined, or someone you know personally, or alternatively the poem can be from the perspective of a famous individual. That person can be alive or dead or even fictional.

Write a poem that belongs to a specific genre, ie: a science fiction poem, a fantasy poem, a romance poem, etc. . . Feel free to use cliches, or subvert them!