The Poetry Marathon

Text Prompt

You find a time capsule buried in the backyard of your new home (or anywhere else, depends on you). What’s in it? How old is it or its probable story is up to the poet.

Contributed by Bhasha Dwivedi.

Image Prompt

Text Prompt

Grab a book from your shelf. Read the last line in it. You have to use that line as the first or last line of your poem (with credit). If you don’t have any books near you load this page, and scan down till you find the right one.

Image Prompt

Text Prompt

Write a poem that repeats the same line three times, and then end on a variation of the repeated line. It could be a little different, or vary different, depending on what serves the poem best.

Image Prompt

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