The Poetry Marathon

Checking in ~

My first poetry half-marathon was 9 years ago. There were about 100 of us. Now, there are more than 500 of us, from all over the world.

That’s one of my favourite things about the poetry marathon, being a small part of a global poetry family. I’ve made friends here whom I’ve never met f2f. And yet I feel close to them, through poetry.

Last year, less than a month after my beloved died, I still did 12 poems in 12 hours, and it helped. As poetry always does. Some of it was even decent 😉. This year, I expect to once again read our amazing work, and be surprised by what I write down.

I’ve been writing all my life, literally. Scribbling lines on my grandmother’s blackboard, filling little notebooks with more scribbles, eventually doing journalism and academic writing and nonfiction and… poetry. So here we go, writing and reading and sharing. Together! Good luck!

 

 

Let the games begin

Hello from Vermont!

Hi from Mt. Sterling Ohio

Hi everyone and happy pre-marathon Friday!

My name is Marci Darlington and I am the current mayor for the village of Mt. Sterling, Ohio. I believe this is my 4th marathon.  For the first two years, I signed up for the 24 hour marathon.  I think I went 18 the first year and not sure about year two before I gave myself permission to just do the 12.    I am doing the half again this year and I have a question that if I were to have more stamina this year and want to go further, is that allowed?

I have lived in Mt. Sterling for 7 years and am at the end of my first 4 year term as mayor.  I have decided not to run for a second term and am ok with that decision. I have learned a lot about the politics of a small, mostly rural village, good and ugly and I have achieved some of my initial objectives, but not all.  At the end of February, I had a bad fall due to increased unsteadiness on my feet.  My bad left knee, which needs to be replaced, did not help the weakness. I had some tests run and was diagnosed as having crushed discs and in April I had a 6 hour ACDF surgery where they replaced 3 discs in my upper neck (c-4 through c-7 I believe)  Recovery has been very slow but moving in a positive direction.  Due to the fact that I still have the  bone-on-bone left knee, I am still using a walker, have yet to go back to sleeping upstairs and have yet to get behind the wheel of my van.  But soon!!  While I was off, our president of council was acting mayor and he is running to be the new mayor.  He would be great!!

I feel like I have a lot to write about this year, between losing my dad at age 92 who was living with us a;long with my mom, to helping our close-knit family recover from some wounds from differences in opinions in regards to Covid, the mayor gig and dealing with some depression brought on and piled on by all of those.  I have my books for prompt ideas, photos and previous poems for inspiration, snacks and chair cushions, comfy clothes and the support of my hubby who has been amazing during my bad days and good ones, the dogs who love unconditionally and the support of my family and friends!!

I hope I get to chat with some of you along the way……pleasant dreams and tomorrow, may the words flow easily!!

First Timer

New here, first time participating and I can not wait!! Super excited to get started 🙂  Good luck to everyone!!

Hello!

Hello fellow marathoners! Just checking to make sure everything works. See you all soon!

Intro

My name is Hilary Knutson. I am 30, autistic, and have been writing poetry for several years. Most of the stuff I write is pretty dark. One of my overall goals when I write is to help tear down the stigma attached to mental health conditions.

Hello from British Columbia

I came across this event by accident and am really excited to see how it goes. I’m super new at poetry and am looking forward to this challenge! Also – not sure what I’ve gotten myself into… I haven’t managed to find a ‘how to’ – do we post our hourly poems here? Are they then kept in our profile?

Ready for Tomorrow!!

Hello my fellow poets,

I am ready to go for tomorrow and can’t wait to see all the great poems we all write!

 

Diana

Another Year, another 24 Poems!

Welcome newcomers! Welcome back to all you crazy return offenders. Let’s do this thing!

My second Poetry Marathon

Last year was my first attempt at the poetry marathon, and I was able to complete it! I had so much fun. This year I hope to reignite my creativity. Let’s do this 🙂