Poetry Marathon Anthology – Call for Submissions

Submissions to the 2019 Poetry Marathon Anthology are open now and will stay open through the 16th of July!

Read our guidelines carefully before submitting.

All submissions must include two poems, no more, no less.

All submissions must be made via the email address – poetrymarathonsubmissions@gmail.com

DO NOT email us at the email address we use for all other communication!

Jennifer Faylor is the editor of this years anthology. She resonates with William Carlos Williams’ sentiment “No ideas but in things” and especially appreciates poems with plunging emotional depths.

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 2019 Poetry Marathon. All poems should be completely edited and contain no major grammatical errors. Revisions are allowed and encouraged. Please check your punctuation before submitting. All poems should be single spaced. Any extra space will probably be interpreted as a stanza break. 

The first word of every line should not have a capitalization unless it is intentional! Word has an auto caps feature that you can turn off by following the instructions below.

To turn off automatic capitalization, follow these steps:
  1. Go to Tools. | AutoCorrect Options.
  2. On the AutoCorrect tab, deselect the Capitalize First Letter Of Sentences check box, and click OK.

You must indicate which hour each poem was written in. Only poets who completed the whole or half marathon will be eligible to submit. Also indicate your location. Please include a link to your page on the Poetry Marathon.

Thank you for following the guidelines! I know they might seem a little strict but they make it possible to put together an anthology in a few months. The anthology should be published this fall.

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

After the poems are published in the anthology all rights return to you.

Digital copies will be made available for free to any contributor. Print copies will be available for a reasonable price (last time it was nine dollars to purchase a copy) and any money that is made from selling the anthology will go towards covering the cost of the marathon.

Want to know what The 2017 Poetry Marathon Anthology was like? Pick up your copy here.

The Winners of the 12 Hour Poetry Half Marathon

Presenting the winners of the 12 Hour Poetry Half Marathon!

Congratulations!

Also – Here’s the list of 24 Hour Poetry Marathon Winners.

(Note that this is a tentative list – if you find any errors, please let me know!)

Caitlin Thomson
Jacob Jans
Jennifer Faylor
sheilas
psarvasy
seema
Harvey Schwartz
wogslandwriter
Britton
SilverQuiver
JC the poet
sarayb
debbiehainey
Janis Martin
Shloka Shankar
Sara Plath
Roy Mark Azanza Corrales
Martin Rodriguez Torrez
Ant
Grace B. Wade Jones
hollydistefano
ellawagemakers
meka
luellen
Tracy Plath
SJHAWLEY
sharonedge
naidanepascuasupnet
Mark Lucker
Maritza
angelatheresaegicwrites
Kevin J. O’Conner
SaskiaLynge
Jo
Bhasha Dwivedi
Kat Kidder
Antonia
friowords
Anwar Suleman
Colleen Schwartz
Melanie Rademaker
grenbisous
cristywatson
janinmarathon
DarlaK
smileyone
eve-mary
Tessa Mountain
viviak
Janettka
Hafeezah
bokononist
diane6446
SarahW
jenniferprattwalter
willowriver44
lindahallstrom
adriana.c.grant
Skay
genawilliams
Anne Paterson
NancyLynn
lisadawn
Lani G
alexdi
Amy Wax
mallikaagnihotri
h-e-m-poetry
HuffPunkMatron
Stef
singlelaq7
selene
tammibelko
alp2003tn
janabrooke1987
kriscleage
MissFitz
Susmita
julieonoh
vickifaye
Noodle
FionaThunderstorm
dvnmskm
Katie
zoelogical
claycrane
Aditi
clairek
LisaAllenHyde
clafollette
anomalousresult
seawitch
jtripp
I.B.Y
authorhj
punkpillywiggin
desertdiane
BloomingFire
AutumnsOnlyone
RobinAnnaSmith
sandraj631968
Ayanna Nahmias
thesassycrayon
pentopapergal
luvmifreely
molliedee
rachel-bryan
jilowill
jillh1980
bayleykelly

Sleepless

Sleep clung
To the edges of my eyelids
And the tips of my fingers,
Begging me to let it stay.
Thunder rocked the house
And lightning lit the room.
My nerves were fried,
My mind alert and on edge.
At 3 am, sleep left me
Did not come back.

8:00 am

Stand Together

We stand together,
Brothers and sisters
Sons and daughters,
Family,
Not just by our own blood
But by the blood of the One
Who died for us.

7:00
-h.e.m.

Twelfth Hour

What have I done?

Swore I wouldn’t do it

Tried every way I could 

to avoid it

Tried so hard

I gotta step back

Think 

Take a breath

Let it out 

Shake it off

Calm Down

Trying to wrap my head 

around it

Trying to give it up

It’s hard-

The voice saying:

Take me

Do it

Pick me up

You know you want it

END IT!

“Yes,”

“Yes I do.” I say to myself

I do want to end it

Picked it up- 

turned it over and over

Felt the coolness

the power

didn’t tremble though

Not trembling

Not going to be weak

over it

done with it

dumped in the garbage can

step back

Take a breath

Let it out 

take another

Let it out

Shake it off

Back away

clench fists

sink to your knees

Scream

Was so close

Too close

Wanted it so bad

needed it so bad

Still trying to avoid

not sure how long

constant constant 

Everyday battle

Get up

dust off

save the fight

for another day

Hurts so bad

Want the pain

Want to be numb

Just not the stain

Gotta step back

Take a breath

Let it out 

works just a little

Still not in control

Still feeling bad

want the control

NEED the control

Still on my knees

Cant see cause 

the tears

Begging you please

Make me step back

Take a breath

Let it out

Shake it off

Let me calm down

I’m on the edge

I’m going to break

I’m going to fall

I can feel it

Sucks don’t it?

Work everyday

hard as hell

to shake it off 

but you can’t

Damn- Nothing’s going right

Everything’s a mess

I can’t do it anymore

everything’s out of control

I can take it anymore

Scream

Cry

Punch the wall

FUCK! It hurts

Laying on the floor

Staring up at the ceiling

exhausted beyond reason

Can’t do it anymore

Crying ever so softly

Completely drained

close my eyes

Tears pour out like rain

Take a breath

Let it out

take another

Let it out

One more

Let it out

Feeling the same 

but better

Still in pain

not so bitter

Can’t believe 

that I was so close

too close if you ask me

Close my eyes

Take a breath

Let it out

Shook it off Now I’m calm.

Eleventh Hour

You had such a problem

with my talking to him

you hated it- loathed it

Said why did I need him

I had you

 

Having you is great

It’s one way to cope

but when you are the problem

You need a third party

for a sounding board

 

Why am I even explaining

myself to you-

You don’t care

Your only concern is

you con’t control me any longer

 

Tenth Hour

As a friend

as a lover

I saw you

sleek

kind

beautiful

perfection itself

 

I don’t know

how to

get around you

To stop feeling

this way

you’ve always been

there for me

 

You are my comfort

my companion

when I was down

you picked me up

 

It’s kinda like

love that

hurts

burns

stings

 

you torture me

with your love

you fill me with

holes

emptiness

unbalance

dispair

 

You ask me

if I still love you

At first I couldn’t

even answer you

Then the answer

came so clear

 

I can’t love you

anymore

your love

stings

burns

hurts

Not like I should

be treated

 

I should be putting

one foot in front of

the other

walk away from you

But I can’t

 

You’re too hypnotic

to refuse

like a beautiful chant

like a drug

your hold is beautiful

 

I don’t want to love

you

I bleed when I do

but you wont let go

even when I want you to

 

How can you claim

to love me

care about me

cherish me

yet do this to me

 

That’s the only thing

you do

is hurt me

I don’t deserve it

I don’t need it

 

I’m breaking away

running like hell

in the other direction

away from the

pain

dispair

emptiness

from you

 

Taking back my life

don’t want me to

but I am

I’m sick of being

in pain

I’m done with you

 

I’m past this shit

I threw you out

of my life

I’m not looking back

I refuse to

 

I’m shaking like a leaf

not from fear

but apprehension

from anger

I’m done

 

You act like

you have the right to

walk the fuck back in

to my life

like everything’s

going to go back

to normal

 

I don’t need you

don’t want you

can live independently

of you

done

 

How’s it feel

to be kicked to the curb

be told you’re not needed

told there’s no place for you

 

Burns don’t it

stings don’t it

hurts don’t it

Just like your love for me