In a little under four & half days time, i.e. on — Friday, 12 June 2015 at 11:00:00 PM (ACST, UTC+9:30 hours) which is 9:30:00 AM on the United States East Coast (EDT, UTC-4 hours) I will be starting the 24 hour poetry marathon (thepoetrymarathon.com)
It came about in the following fashion:
Mike Hopkins, well-known local SA sadist (& masochist — he runs marathons for real; like, non-on-the-couch ones) shared a link on Facebook with a couple of his cohorts who seem to think writing a poem a day for a month is something one does for pleasure. (NaPoWriMo)
MH: You game for this?
TK: good god, MH…we really do like to make poetry either a blood sport or an endurance event….why can’t we all just sip tea and scratch out the occasional, romantic villanelle???
MH: No discipline, that’s my problem. If I haven’t got a deadline or a challenge, I just vegetate.
grj: I’m willing to give it a crack…
MH: Bloody hell g, you’re meant to say “That’s madness”, and then I say “Yeah I s’pose you’re right, maybe next year”
grj: That’s madness. But let’s see how far we get
grj: PS (I then posted a screen cap of my application)
MH: Yeah I s’pose you’re right, maybe next year but great to see that you’re committed to it. Look forward to your 24 poems
I must confess, I have a specific project in mind which I’ve been wanting to do for a while — but never made the time for it.
I think this will make the job of cranking out 24 poems in a day considerably easier. Or a total nightmare if it doesn’t work out.
Either way, this’ll be a good way to find out if the idea has any “legs!!” …
Hi,
Shouldn’t we be starting the Marathon on Saturday night, not Friday, as Aus is ahead of EDT?
I might have gotten this wrong but it seems like you would be starting a day early if you started on Friday at 11pm.
-Reuben
OMG you’re right!!! It starts Saturday in US not Friday. Rueben. You. Have. Made. My Day. (Can now get that grant application in tomorrow & sleep tomorrow night in preparation). Champion.
Ha, no worries.
I was really hoping we would be starting tonight, I’m meant to be working on Sunday. :/
Hopefully I can find moments to disappear and pen a quick poem while at work.
Yes definitely 11pm Saturday for us. Phew, was planning to get some sleep time in first and starting tonight would have been a true challenge!