Sign Up Announcement & An Email List
Sign up this year will go from the 11th of July till the 19th of July.
In the next few weeks we will start an email list so if you want updates and reminders directly in your inbox make sure to sign up then.
2016 Poetry Marathon Updates and Ideas
The Poetry Marathon continues to grow every year. Every year the diversity of the participants increase. In 2015 individuals living on 6 different continents participated. There were several mother daughter teams. The oldest poet was in their 80s, the youngest was in their teens. Experienced poets who had published books participated as did several people who had never really written poetry before.
During the marathon friendships and communities are formed that last much longer than the marathon itself.
However, what continues to surprise and impress me the most about the Marathon is the quality of work that it produces. By that I don’t mean edited and polished work. (One person dropped out this year because they hated looking at others typo riddled poems.) I mean the quality of the raw material, the poems before polishing.
This year the basics of the marathon will stay the same.
The Marathon will run from 9 am ET on August 13th till 9 am ET on August 14th. The half marathon will run from 9 am ET till 9 pm on August 13th. Each poet must write and publish on the blog one poem per hour.
We will have one central Facebook group where poets can meet and encourage each other, before, after, and during the event.
All of the poems will still have to be posted on the central website (although you can remove them as soon as the marathon is over).
Everyone has to register before the marathon in order to participate in the marathon.
Everyone who completes the half or whole marathon will receive a digital certificate to mark their participation.
This is still largely a two person operation. Jacob Jans handles most of the technical aspects of the Marathon and Caitlin Jans handles almost everything else. Keep this in mind when we make mistakes or cannot manage to do everything that we want to do. This is not a large non-profit, this is two poets (with a baby, a dog, and jobs) who try their best.
There will still be a prompt published every hour.
However there may be some changes.
We tried making groups on the website itself last year. Sometimes this was helpful, but mostly it was not. We are trying to find a better way to make that work, so if you have any ideas please tell us.
We are considering doing an anthology again. However, this is largely contingent on how many participants are involved. The anthology will be different from the 2014 anthology. It will most likely not include the work of everyone that submits and we would not be able to offer complimentary physical copies to all the contributors (however they would probably be available at cost and digital copies would be available for free). If you want another anthology to happen, even with these conditions in place, please encourage us in that direction.
We may or may not have a cap on the number of participants.
We may be accepting prompt submissions.
If you can think of any other changes we should or could make, please email us at poets@thepoetrymarathon.com
Announcing the Date of the 2016 Poetry Marathon
More updates will be coming soon. Please email any questions or ideas to poets@thepoetrymarathon.com
bh
Movement
absorbing aiming attaching
bubbling breathing
chewing chasing clicking crashing clinging
diving dancing disengaging
echoing ebbing emulating
falling flicking fornicating
grazing gagging galloping gallivanting gathering gesturing
hiding
impaling
jogging jiggling jostling
kneeling kissing kneading
lollygagging leaping loaping
mooing melting meshing munching
nudging nestling
orbiting obliterating
puckering punching
quaking quivering quavering
rolling running romping rumbling
screeching slithering swimming stalking spreading swishing shifting
tumbling teeming tip-toeing
uncoiling
vibrating
wagging whipping writhing
x-ing out
yanking yawning yodeling
zooming zesting
What I Learned Doing a Poetry Marathon
The real secret to writing
isn’t a secret
The pros have been telling you for years
to act on your intentions
and write
It’s about priorities
It shouldn’t be the lawn
that needs mowing
the laundry
that needs washing
the friend
who needs validation
The writing comes first
No excuses
No one faults the business owner
for doing business
So no one should fault the artist
for making art
For me
it has to be
about thinking
and writing
Forget about what’s for dinner
There’s always cereal
and canned soup
and some of us thrive
on words
Thank You!!
Although I did not complete the Marathon, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I look forward to next year. I am determined to finish.
Thank you for the great experience.
Quoth the Poe
Down deep dark dreary pathways I follow
The pounding pulse, twisting violent turbulent turns
Gothic rhythms of your nightmares
Spilling spinning screaming
On aging pages
Hold me hostage
I dare not look away
I dare not leave
My blood pounding bruised beating heart
Pleads for peace and reprieve
Yet still I read
Captive to your craft
A dance with death
In velvet gowns and stolen souls
Deceptive dreams, fantastic fears
This wild madness flows
Like morphine for my writer’s soul
May I have some more?
The poet’s dream
I am a dreamer,that makes my life easier,
Dont let my existence scare, articulating my feelings is hard to unveil.
Writing poetry,can rescue my aching soul with no bail,
A writer never make it big,’cause writing poetry is emptying their hearts to regain and not much gain.
Please don’t make our dreams go down the drain,writer’s life will go in vain.
A SENTINA POEM:”IM A POET”
“I’m A Poet”
Dedicated: To ALL POETS around the globe. Most especially to PENTASIAN POETS
(Photo taken from:Ms. Suzette)
When poets unwind
They truly explore
To reach the edge of the horizon
Search, meet strangers as family
Where words value, kept as treasure
Saved in every single moment
Those unforgettable moment
Those risky things unwind
Those most precious treasure
Expand twinkling as it explore
Cultivating soul in every family
Not giving up staring the horizon
Almost at the edge of the horizon
Fragile, difficult, risky each moment
Tears may flow, no one to embrace a family
Scattered teardrops fall unwind
Need to sacrifice, take the risk, explore
Hoping in the end, there is treasure
Finding a treasure
Won’t see, need to take the obstacles across the horizon
Need to dream, need to believe, need to plan to explore
Value each single moment
For every single moment unwind
There, can find true family
Not a real family, but a bountiful home of family
More than a treasure
Wrap, fold, unwind
In different edge of the horizon
Uncounted moment
Shared happiness, love and moment to explore
Keep on the eye to explore
Value every single bountiful home of family
Treasured every single moment
Most especially, a love to be treasure
Across the horizon
Unforgettable moments to unwind
In life, we unwind, to struggle, sacrifice, and explore.
Keep on dreaming to reach the edge of the horizon, don’t give up, there are people who waits for us, our family.
There’s a lot of things to be treasure, but the most of it can’t be value by money, and the most memorable – unforgettable ones are those moment.
(C)seth:kw:23:18:june15,2015:ALL RIGHTS RESERVED