The Poetry Marathon

Text Prompt:

Use one of the following titles as a jumping off point:

The Joy of Unseen Things

The Dog

Island

Long Run at Dawn

Coffee & Change

Image Prompt:

For the first time ever we’re trying something a little different this year. The first prompt every hour will be text based (with occasional variations), and the second, if you scroll down, will be image based. You can choose either prompt or not use prompts at all (or only sporadically). All images are either taken from unsplash, or contributed by a poetry marathoner with credit.

Text Prompt

Write a poem about something ending. It could be a relationship, a stage in life, or the apocalypse. The details are up to you.

Image Prompt

Dear Poets,

For those participating in the Poetry Marathon, now is the time to make sure that you are ready. This means being comfortable using the technology, as well as having a plan for the day of the marathon, so that you have the best chance of succeeding without any major hiccups.

Here’s a quick checklist of things you should do to prepare:

1. Make sure you know how to post a poem in the Marathon. Once you’ve created your account, you will be able to log in to the dashboard here. Once you’ve reached the dashboard, click the button that says “Add New Post.” That will take you to the page where you can publish your poem to the site. Be sure to select “Private” if you don’t want the poem to be publicly visible. The poems will still be visible to other Marathoners.
2. Make sure you know when The Marathon is starting in your specific time zone. The full Marathon starts at exactly 9AM ET on June 26th. That works out to 6am PT and 1pm GMT. You’ll be expected to write and post one poem per hour, so make sure you know when to start, so that you can participate with everyone.
3. Make sure you have a plan in terms of the logistics, so that you can dedicate your time to writing. Make sure you have a plan for food, as well as potential interruptions.
4. If you haven’t yet done so, join the Facebook Group.  This is particularly valuable during the late-night hours of the marathon, when you may need an extra boost of camaraderie.

Also — keep in mind that we don’t expect anyone to comment on your poems during the Marathon. Comments on poems are encouraged a couple of days after the Marathon, once everyone has had a chance to rest and recover. When it is time to write the comments, please keep in mind that comments should be focused on positive feedback, and not on critiquing a piece.

If you’re in need of technical assistance, please ask on the Facebook Group and tag Jacob Jans, or by sending an email to poets@thepoetrymarathon.com. Keep in mind that we won’t be able to help once the Marathon starts. Ideally, you’ll have everything sorted out the day before.

— Jacob

Now the last day to sign up for the 2021 Poetry Marathon is June 22cd You can sign up here. We will be sending out the final round of acceptances on the 23rd. If you do not here from us on that day please send us an email at poets@thepoetrymarathon.com

The marathon itself will start at 9 AM ET on the 26th of June and go till 9 AM on 27th. Half marathoners can start at 9 AM ET or 9 PM ET on the 26th.

This is an international event with participants from all around the globe. Generally 500 people attempt the marathon. Right now 460 people have signed up. You do not have to be a poet to participate. To find out how to convert your timezone go here.

To learn more go here. To sign up go here.

We will get back to applicants on a rolling basis. Most people who apply will be accepted. If you have not heard from us after applying please send us an email at poets@poetrymarathon.com. Please do not try and contact us through the FB page.

Sign up is still open for the 2021 Poetry Marathon! You can sign up here. Sign up will only be open til 9 PM on the 19th of June

We’ve had a lot of people sign up for the poetry marathon this year. Over 300 people and counting.

Right now about 60% have signed up for the half marathon – 12 poems in 12 hours, and 40% have signed up for the full marathon – 24 poems in 24 hours.

The marathon itself will start at 9 AM ET on the 26th of June and go till 9 AM on 27th.

This is an international event with participants from all around the globe. Generally 500 people attempt the marathon. You do not have to be a poet to participate. To find out how to convert your timezone go here.

To learn more go here. To sign up go here.

We will get back to applicants on a rolling basis. Most people who apply will be accepted. If you have not heard from us a week after applying please send us an email at poets@poetrymarathon.com. Please do not try and contact us through the FB page.

As many of you know we have two official half marathon starting times. One starts at at 9 AM ET on June 26th and go till 9 PM on the 26th and the other starts at 9 PM ET on the 26th and continue to 9 AM on the 27th.

For the first time ever we are also going to allow half marathoners to pick any 12 hour period during the larger 24 hour period that starts at 9 AM ET on Saturday June 26th and goes till 9 AM ET on Sunday the 27th of June. There will be no official start or ending post for these marathoners for logistical reasons (I wouldn’t know where to put them!) but they should always be writing with other marathoners and feel like they are part of the larger spirit of things.

Time zones have long been a concern of ours. The marathon itself is set at times that works for most North Americans, and as the marathon has become more and more international we’ve tried various ways to help international marathoners (by having the two starting periods). We are hoping that this will make a difference.

We’d love to have more options for full marathoners someday but one of our current limitations is simply that 24 prompts (48 this year if you count the image options) is a lot already and it would be hard to keep the spirit alive for a much larger period of time (or monitored with support help). However we are very open to suggestions that would make that possible, this year or in the future.

To sign up go here.

If you are interested in participating please sign up by June 19th! We will get back to applicants on a rolling basis. Most people who apply will be accepted. If you have not heard from us a week after applying please send us an email at poets@poetrymarathon.com. Please do not try and contact us through the FB page

Sign up is now open for the 2021 Poetry Marathon! You can sign up here.

The 2021 Poetry Marathon starts at 9 AM ET on Saturday June 26th and will go till 9 AM ET on Sunday the 27th of June.

Those who are interested in doing a half marathon start at 9 AM ET on June 26th and go till 9 PM on the 26th. Or they can start at 9 PM ET on the 26th and continue to 9 AM on the 27th, which works better for some time zones.

The goal of the poetry marathon is to write and post one poem an hour for 24 hours. Half marathoners post a poem per hour for a 12 hour period.

This is an international event with participants from all around the globe. Generally 500 people attempt the marathon. You do not have to be a poet to participate. To find out how to convert your timezone go here.

To learn more go here.

To sign up go here.

If you are interested in participating please sign up by June 19th! We will get back to applicants on a rolling basis. Most people who apply will be accepted. If you have not heard from us a week after applying please send us an email at poets@poetrymarathon.com. Please do not try and contact us through the FB page

The editor for the 2021 Poetry Marathon Anthology has now been chosen.

It was a very hard decision, with all the candidates making compelling arguments for why they would be a good choice.

One of the things I love about how the Marathon works is that the anthology has a new editor each year, and each year the editor shapes the anthology in different ways!

This year’s anthology editor is Cynthia Hernandez.

Cynthia Hernandez experiences life as poetry and expresses it through writing, photography, visual arts, and her relationships. Born and raised in Washington State, Cynthia has enjoyed a lifelong love affair with rain, sun, wind, trees, rivers, lakes, mountains, and the vast waters of the Puget Sound. When not writing, taking photos of birds, flowers or sunsets, or throwing herself into her work at King County government, Cynthia can be found in conversation, celebration and presence with her son Gabe, family, and friends. Cynthia has self-published two collections of poetry and is working on a third. She has twice completed the full Poetry Marathon, in 2019 and 2020, and looks forward to it each year. One of her favorite things about the Poetry Marathon is reading the work of other poets, so she’s really looking forward to editing this year’s anthology.

Thank you for everyone who applied to the editor position! It is now closed.

We are also closing submissions of art at this time. Thank you to everyone who submitted.

We will be be contacting the potential editor this upcoming week and should announce this years editor by the end of April.

We will be replying to artists this week as well, although it might take us longer to sort out the details/finalize a cover (we probably won’t be making the cover itself till after the marathon).

Editing Position

We’re able to pay this year’s editor of the anthology $600 USD, after securing a generous private donation, as well as contributing to it ourselves.

The Poetry Marathon Anthology is may writers’ first publication, and others’ hundredth, but it is always a clear representation of the range of people who participate in the event.

You can see what last year’s looked like here.

Each year we choose a new editor, and the last two both did terrific job.

The anthology is a lot of work and the editor is expected to choose one poem, out of two that participants can submit, to publish in the anthology. They’re also expected to organize them in half marathon and full marathon sections, and to keep track of participant information. Optionally they can add introductions or subheadings.

If you are interested in applying to be the editor of this year’s anthology, send an email to poets@thepoetrymarathon.com, with a link to your poetry marathon profile/blog, and a paragraph or two explaining your previous experiences. CVs are not needed.

We are only interested in editors who have taken part in one half or full marathon previously. If you have not participated before please do not apply.

We close to submissions on April 23rd. We will respond to applicants by the end of April.

Artwork Submissions

We are also open to artwork submissions from anyone, previous marathoner or otherwise. Work must belong to you and you must be comfortable with us turning it into a book cover (digitally of course).

You can submit something that already exists or link to your previous art work examples and offer something new. No more than five pieces of artwork can be submitted per person. Any medium is allowed, as long as it can be turned into a print book cover. High quality resolution images are a must, though your initial submissions can be lower resolution.

We will respond to applicants that we are not interested in by the end of April, but may make our final selection between a few artists in July or August, once the anthology nears completion.

Please send work to poets@thepoetrymarathon.com.

If you have any question about either position please send us an email at poets@thepoetrymarathon.com.