Hi everyone!

I’m very pleased to be participating in my third full Poetry Marathon!

I fell in love with this concept as soon as I heard of it in 2017 and excitedly joined just a few weeks before the launch date. I missed the 2019 Marathon, but participated again in 2020, a few months before my doctors diagnosed me with papillary thyroid cancer. Having missed last year’s event because of low energy and recovery from surgery, I’m extremely glad to join in the challenge this year.

Writing is different for me after facing my mortality, as so many do when they receive a cancer diagnosis. It’s more important than ever to find, speak, and write my truth, even and especially when it’s hard to do so; but I realized that this sometimes leads to unfinished writing due to perfectionism.

This is where I find The Poetry Marathon helps me most, for, in this challenge, I must write, even if it’s hard, even if the rhythms and rhymes aren’t perfect, and I must go on to the next poem, even when I’ve not completely grasped the message I wish to iterate in the last.

As we near the sixth prompt, I find I’m already proud of the work that I’m creating; and the challenge is inspiring me to push myself even in my fiction and nonfiction writing, once this is through.

Thank you to those who are responsible for this event, and thank you all for participating, since it keeps the momentum going. I made a few lasting friendships in the last events and hope to make more through this one — so, if you wish to reach out, please do!

Good luck to everyone!