The Poetry Marathon

Hi everyone!

Hey all! It is so nice to meet you all. This is my first time ever doing a poetry marathon and I am super excited. I am an avid writer and wanted to spice up my poetry with a challenge. I wish everyone luck!

Let’s do this! 🙂

– Mariah

2021!

Hello! My name is Courtney and this is my third year participating in the Poetry Marathon. I’m super super excited and can’t wait to read all of your poetry. In past years, I didn’t feel confident enough to submit anything to the anthology, but I think this year is the year I do! I’m currently a Creative Writing major at San Jose State University and hope to one day publish my own work.

First post

Hi! First time participating. Excited to get those creative juices flowing. Stay at home mom of six so creativity isn’t even on the stove, forget the back burner!

Hello!

Hellow Fellow Marathoners! I’m Manoshi from India. This is my first time, and all of this right now seems rather overwhelming. I think I feel a case of acute online stage fright coming up! 😀 I do love playing with words and have been a closet writer from a very young age. It’s only very recently that I’ve come out and shared my poems publically. So, what better than a half marathon to carry me the distance I want to go with my writing. Waiting eagerly to see all of you. I’m going to be cheering hard for everyone, and hoping that a few of you would do the same for me!

Greetings fellow writers! 🙂

I hope you all are safe and sound. This is my first time participating in such marathon and I’m glad to be part of of it. I’ll try my best to give justice to words & time. Can’t wait to read your works. Goodluck.

First Post

So it’s that time of the year again… one of the rare times to look forward to and look back to as Life keeps running and running around us. My first marathon was in 2016, it was a tough time then, it’s still a tough time now but everything in between has changed- me, especially. I am older now, wiser (I hope at least) and closer to the ‘me’ than I have ever been.

Of course, it didn’t come easy and sometimes, that feeling of loss just engulfs the heart out of nowhere. That’s why, I am grateful for these times, for this place, for this is a place to belong… no matter what you are, where you are from, how life has treated you, all that matters is that you are here now, and you are a part of this story just as much as the other person.

So write away… I tell myself. Write whatever you want, no matter the content, style or lack thereof, no matter if you consider it ‘good enough’, no matter if it hurts… write away.. for this is your story.

First Time Half Marathon

It’s odd.

I’ve been working on my intellectual credentials for years now, but have only honed the words meant for science and math.

This half-marathon serves as a chance to use the words I left along the way. The words that I foolishly discarded in an attempt to appear serious and focused.

I expect some of them may have atrophied in my neglect, but that’s okay. I will use them gently and be kind to myself as I trek through this day. This is a chance to use words as tools instead of weapons.

2021 24-Hour Poetry Marathon

Woohoo!  Just days until the adventure begins.  No distractions, no laundry-errands-shopping-leaving the house, and no naps!  Such a delicious idea to empty my head for one entire day and focus on writing poetry.  Caffeine, yes.  And, I have hidden a bag of decadent dark chocolates, one an hour as a reward for a poem (they’re small, it’s ok).

I enjoyed last year so much, enticed friends to join in who invited friends, and we had a great time.  I love every poem I wrote so much, that I recently published them into a chapbook, 24 in 24.  So exciting!  (Available from lulu.com)

Counting down…

Testing

Hi all. Decided I should make a quick test to make sure WordPress isn’t going to be weird. Looking forward to the weekend!

Hello, Fellow Marathoners

Is there anything better than a group of artists uniting in their art, nurturing and supporting each other and their lovely words of poetic beauty?

The 2021 Poetry Marathon brings new hope and creativity. This is my 6th (maybe?) Marathon. Last year’s Marathon saved me from Covid isolation and depression. I will be eternally grateful for the experience of examining my emotional and mental well-being through art the Marathon gave me.

Since then, I’ve cut ties with the sirens of social media. I don’t miss it at all, at least I haven’t until I think about missing the late night messages of poets from around the world. My claim to fame was posting a video of a Penis Bug. I’m sure some brave soul will fill the void of foolishness my absence may bring. Still, I will miss getting to know all of you in this uniquely sleep deprived way.

In real life, I am a daughter, granddaughter, sister, cousin, niece, mother, wife and grandmother- always and in that order. I have a daughter and two stepsons, all adults and married. I have two granddaughters, four step-grandsons and one grandchild on the way. Wanting more time with my 95 year old mother and my beautiful grandchildren led me away from a 34 year career as an educator, in which I worked as a substitute para educator, substitute teacher, para educator, teacher, behavioral consultant, and supervisor. The vast majority of my career was in Special Education.

At the end of the Poetry Marathon, I will be married 29 years – our wedding anniversary is June 27th. My love, my husband, retired last October. We’re learning how to adjust to having time and space together while we are remodeling our kitchen and getting work done on our old fixer-upper of a house. In between times, we work together – surprisingly harmoniously – in the micro farm garden that is our backyard. We make our home most days in Cadillac, Michigan, USA.

I am ready and excitedly waiting for the Marathon to begin. I have planned and prioritized the Marathon, but then again, what is life without obstacles and new wrinkles? These obstacles, collectively, are referred to as The June McKay Memorial Picnic, a casual family reunion dedicated to my late mother-in-law. “Fortunately,” I tell myself, “I have a notebook and the Word Press app on my phone. I can poet anywhere!”

Good luck Marathoners! I’ll read you at the finish line!