The Poetry Marathon

Intro to Me!

My name is Tessa Mountain, and I’m a young author who hasn’t written much poetry recently. I usually like to write in prose, so I’m doing this half-marathon to expand my writing abilities. My end goal is to be able to write poetically, even when I’m writing in paragraphs. In order to do that, I need more experience writing poetry and using it to tell a story. My style strays pretty often, and I’m not entirely comfortable with what I write. However, the only way to improve is to step outside of my comfort zones, so I’m ready to try this out and see what happens. I want to be able to inspire the kind of emotions that I feel when I listen to spoken-word poetry, so I’ll try to use the same techniques that I hear in my favorite poets (like extended metaphors and imagery).

RAndom prompt from 2014 photo of natural tunnel through rock to another area
Rites of Passage

We go through the tunnel of initiation,
changed in the act of passage.
On on side the quiet garden of childhood
then the passage,
the rites of passage,
the initiation that changes us forever
and we emerge into the harsh sunlight of adulthood.

Hello from Ryne in St. Louis

Hello, everyone. I’m looking forward to participating in the full marathon.

Hi!!!

Hey everyone I’m a little late because I noted my email wrong when I signed up to do the marathon. So this is my first time doing the marathon and I decided go big or go home, and I’m going to do my best to do the full marathon. I hope to finish it all. I like writing a lot but I recognize that I’m not the best writer. But I always love reading other peoples work and can’t wait to see everyones poems!! Oh and you can call me Raina or rainmaker which ever is fine with me.  😀

2017 Introduction

I am a sixty-four year old White/Native female. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma with my retired, curmudgeon husband and dog who sheds her weight in hair every day. Writing is hard. I’d stop if I could.

I Live from East to West

From Dallas for about 30 years. Moved to Indianapolis and got my degree in English (Creative Writing) at IU. Then I moved back to Dallas, then to MA, then to NH, and now back to IN as both a spiritual journey and a curse of an unfortunate economy.

I write. I ramble. I ramble when I write. I drool when I write, too. Especially if I write something that bypasses my own inner-critic (AKA insecurity). I am hardcore into themes regarding sexuality and human nature (good and bad), and I tend to try to relate to these topics via food and the processes of cooking. There’s something spiritual about cooking. And there’s something relatable about food and humanity: it connects all the people from all the world from all the times, especially when the old traditions still fire up our modern grills.

I am a patterns person, so I am prone to find them quickly, and I incorporate them subconsciously. I am a fan of Gertrude Stein. I am also probably the only person who’s ever laughed while reading As I Lay Dying (having decided the book was dark humor over anything else).

I am definitely not for everyone; sometimes not even for myself!

I have to be cliche here: my plan for this thing is coffee and naps and friendly cattle prods from a fellow participant.  I fear most my tendency to fall prey to a nap and awaken at another time and place (time, really).  But I also fear having a sleepy haze as my muse nearer the end of the ordeal.  That said, creativity can come greatest during moments of depravity and delusion, when we’re least connected to the immediate world around us.

This must be why so many glorified writers have (/had) substance abuse problems.

Yes, I am that guy.  Macabre, surreal, and too honest.

Squeezing in just under the wire!

Thanks to the Poetry Marathon organizers for allowing me to join at this late date. Poetry is my life, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of the half marathon. The family is in Europe, so it’s just me and the dog here in Colorado, ready to focus and see what we (I) can turn out. Best wishes to everyone with hopes of a few useable pieces.

Hello from Duncan, Vancouver Island, Canada

Trying to figure all the teck stuff out. And managing. Looking forward to this. Know it will be tough, the 12 hour, but hoping years of writing poems will help! I have had a group of friends who write a poem a day each January – five years now. But this ups the ante! And I echo the best wishes of others. All best, Westcoast Richard.

Hello From Texas!

I love poetry, have written a lot of it over the years, but this is my first poetry marathon.  I am a little nervous about pushing myself to create something new every hour, but it’s also exciting.  I’m looking forward to the challenge, to meeting some amazing poets, and can’t wait to read the other poems.  Good luck everyone!

Getting ready for the big game…….

A warmup of sorts.
Lobbing the syllables over my cerebellum.
Throwing junk,
just looking for control.
Afraid to throw my heated stuff
for fear I would strain a simile
or sprain an analogy.

It makes it hard to have no catcher,
nobody to receive my efforts.
I find this solitary play
has limits.
If I tire this easily,
will I even be ready for the big game?