The Poetry Marathon

Write an ekphrastic poem to go with this image. An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.

This painting is called Coalition and it is by Kevin Peterson.

Write a poem that contains one or more of the following common phrases but uses them in a different context than they are usually used. Ideally you would use more than one of the phrases, or repeatedly use the same phrase.

“Welcome home”

“Thank you”

“Excuse me”

“Have a nice day”

“Pardon me”

“How are you?”

Write a prose poem about an animal. Any animal.

Then only after you have finished the last sentence, add line and stanza breaks.

Write a poem about the first person who broke your heart.  The person who broke your heart could be obvious – it could be your first boyfriend or girlfriend, or it could be surprising. It could be a friend, a parent, a child.

Write down the first line of your poem before reading the rest of this prompt.

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Write the rest of your poem, the poem can be about any subject that you like.

Then copy and paste the first line so that it is also the last line of your poem. You can change one word of this line, but only one word.

Write a poem about the heart. But don’t focus on the heart as a metaphor, focus on it as a reality. For example the function the heart serves in the body, or heart monitors, etc.

Write a nature poem. But play with the genre. Most nature poems are about the beauty of the natural world. I want you to focus on the intersection of the natural world and the unnatural world. Think dandelions sprouting through the concrete. Think garbage on the ocean or Ivy on a house, even flowers at a wedding.

The prompt for this hour is to write a poem about a missing person. This person could be someone real or someone imagined. Someone you knew, or someone you did not know.

A great way to do this prompt is to go to this website:  http://www.charleyproject.org/

Pick one of the missing people listed there and write a poem about them.

You can use the details available on the site and you can embellish if you wish. All of the specifics are up to you. You don’t even have to mention that they are missing in the finished poem.

Congratulations Half Marathoners! I am so happy that you have completed 12 poems in 12 hours! That is wonderful. Thank you for joining us in this madness.

If you completed the half marathon please send us an email in the next couple of days to poets@thepoetrymarathon.com with your full name, the details about what event you participated in (full or half marathon), a link to your marathon blog, and an email address in the body of the email. 

You will not receive a digital certificate if you do not follow those instructions and email poets@thepoetrymarathon.com by September 2nd.

You should receive your digital certificate within two weeks of emailing us.
Also remember that this year we will be putting together a 2016 Poetry Marathon Anthology.

Submissions will open September 3rd and stay open till the 12th.

All submissions must include two poems, no more, no less. All submissions must be made via our email address (poets@thepoetrymarathon.com). The subject line of all emails must be Poetry Submission. Poems must be included in the body of the email.

All poems submitted must be written during the 2016 Poetry marathon. All poems should be completely edited and contain no major grammatical errors. You must indicate which hour each poem was written in. Only poets who completed the whole or half marathon will be eligible to submit.

There is no guarantee that by submitting your poem will be selected although the goal is to include one poem by everyone who submits.

Digital copies will be made available for free to any contributor. Print copies will be available for a reasonable price and any money that is made from them will go back into the marathon.

Want to know what the 2014 Poetry Marathon Anthology was like? Pick up your copy here.

Half Poetry Marathoners, this is your last prompt! Congratulations!

Poetry Marathoners, you are almost half way through! Congratulations and Good luck!

This hour your prompt is to write a poem containing at least five of the following eight words:

Moon

Lake

Glory

Jeep

Breastbone

Spare

Canopy

Panic