The Poetry Marathon

Congratulations Poetry Marathoners!

You did it! Congratulations! I am very impressed! You wrote 24 poems in 24 hours. This is an achievement that few poets ever accomplish. Although if you are a returning marathoner, some of you might be accomplishing it for the second or third time or fourth or even fifth time!

Now you should probably go get some sleep.

After every marathon I have participated in I, have been filled with exhaustion but also a tremendous sense of achievement. I hope you have that too.

In the past I have personally verified that everyone who applied for a certificate was eligible and then I would make a certificate. That is not possible this year and so we will be operating on the honor system.

If you completed the full 24 hour Poetry Marathon please consider the following certificate yours, to update with your name, to print if you choose to do so. We will be taking feedback into consideration, so if you really feel strongly about this new state of affairs please email me at poets@thepoetrymarathon.com to explain your position.

Only use the link below to access the certificate if you have completed the Full Marathon. Congratulations again on your completion of The Poetry Marathon. The version that you will download should be easy to edit and add your name to.

The link to download the editable version is here.

The visual example of what the certificate will look like is right below this text.

Also remember that this year we will be putting together a 2019 Poetry Marathon Anthology.

Submissions will open July 2nd and stay open till the 16th.

All submissions must include two poems, no more, no less. The subject line of all emails must be Poetry Submission. Poems must be included in the body of the email. The email address is  poetrymarathonsubmissions@gmail.com. But do not submit early! You must follow all the instructions below!

All poems submitted must be written during the 2019 Poetry marathon. All poems should be completely edited and contain no major grammatical errors.

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.

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 towards covering the cost of the marathon.

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

Prompt 30/I Am Woman

Helen Reddy song
for women to claim their voice
poets have songs too

For Focus, Just Add Pressure

First things first: I completed the poetry marathon for the first time! Woot!

If I want to do this again, I need to look at how I managed it – and I think a big part of it was because I gave myself an added challenge. On top of writing one poem every hour, I titled my poems in alphabetical order, and gave myself a very small pool of forms to choose from each time.

ShadowPoetry.com has a list of poetic forms on their site. Once I’d eliminated the ones that would be too long (such as the epic), I was left with 120 – that’s just five for each hour. By limiting my options, I avoided wasting time and energy on wading through a sea of endless possibilities. I picked my form and title in minutes, leaving me the rest of the hour to create the poem, comment, and rest.

I also wrote this victory post before the event started, to motivate myself to (a) finish, and (b) stick to the plan. || It mostly worked. This part here is being written on Sunday, minutes after uploading my final poem, and I can report that it was an almost-complete success. I dozed off a couple of times, and missed the odd deadline, but I made it to the finish line with 24 poems and time to spare. Other marathoners were very supportive, and encouraged me not to give up just because some of my poems were technically late.

Massive thank you to everyone – all the wonderful poets taking part, and especially the organisers. You are all seriously awesome, and I look forward to reading your work carefully over the next few weeks.

Home Sweet Home

Home is where you drop your mask, forge your armored disguise

Doesn’t mean they’re always wrong

Sometimes you’ve got to be strong

Even when it feels like the world’s falling down,

You can still come around

Different times and different places

sometimes familiar, sometimes strangers

Even when you’ve run so far

you can come home, the one place people know who you are

It wasn’t always like this

I used to feel alone, especially when they surrounded me, told me I was too different

asked me how I could think the way I do

Preaching the truth, my thoughts were impossible and stupid

At least when I was alone I could lose myself in books

Magic never ending, a place to run away to, at least for a while

Then I saw you smile

I had to look again, and tho’ I needed a frien’

I was scared to let you in

I’ve never trusted anyone, my mother gave me concrete proof that I was right

in at least that decision, but it was a lonely place

never show my real face, without feeling deep disgrace

How did I get this one time chance

when you asked me to dance,

we heard the same song

please don’t prove me wrong.

We’ve both had our faults, made our apologies

made our promises to keep,

us sane and safe and secure

This has to be for sure

I’m too old to start over, too jaded to think I could

It’s you and me forever, that’s what’s understood

If we fall apart tomorrow or sometime down the road

please remember sweetheart, my souls been bought and sold

You are my tomorrow, You’re my end of days

my life would surely be over if we ever parted ways

we moved, we’ve changed, but my love has stayed the same

Hometown doesn’t exist for me

You’re the end of the game.

Take this song into your heart, feel it in your soul

Our lives are but a soundtrack,

our Home Sweet Home,

built by Rock and Roll.

 

 

 

 

Protected: poem 24 hour 24 (choice: ballad title, 70’s, Rolling Stones) fool to cry

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Tiger resolution

Show must go on no matter what,

It’s a tough, but necessary lesson.

Even clowns are crying, even good masks fall

And the loser has no choice other than standing small.

 

Let’s discipline ourselves in the Rocky style,

Accompanied by the immortal Eye of the tiger.

Let’s be creative, let’s be fierce

And the walls of fear let’s pierce!

To Suit the Manipulators

the pregnant moon

has birthed the darkest hours

before aurora rises they pursue

the creatures of the night

hiding from the light

innocents hounded

the cliff’s edge cloaked

terror’s vicious fangs

seize their necks

blood flows

hot and quick

to stain the scorched earth

that once was verdant

lush with fruit ripe and ready

for plucking from vines and heavy limbs

Trees barren in the end times

monsters rule the dispossessed

God has forsaken them

redemption promised has been revoked

how many chances can a deity proclaim

the story be rewritten? Book burned, vandalized

words twisted, ideal clearly stated now revised

to suit the manipulators

 

 

 

 

Childish regrets

Sweet childhood, where did you leave?

And why did you leave so fast?

You didn’t even say goodbye!

Was growing up such an urgent matter?

Go your own way

Even if clouds of disappointment surrounds
Go your own way
Even if you cant find your way out
Go your own way
Even if everyone tells you not to
Go your own way
Even if nobody has been there
Go your own way

As always, for CC

And now we come to it. We come
to the source of it all, and I
haven’t mentioned you once. How is that?
Is it progress, or is this back- sliding?
Do I want you to tell me I’m worthy?
Perhaps I still do. You lurk in
cheesecloth dark, a humpback skull
in a budget apartment clinging to the ceiling
unable to help your size. Those forests are still
there— in Cherokee, in Gatlingburg, in
Sonoma, on Hunting Island. The turtle shell
cannot hold a wider circle. Come east.
Follow the Greenway down and down.
Wear your Best Shoes. Bring your hair.
I marry in November. Come home to me.
I’m no longer your home. Give me away and dance.