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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!
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.
If you completed the marathon please send us an email in the next couple of days to poets@thepoetrymarathon.com with your full name, the details about what event you participated in (full or half marathon), a link to your marathon blog, and an email address in the body of the email.
You will not receive a digital certificate if you do not follow those instructions and email poets@thepoetrymarathon.com by September second.
You should receive your digital certificate within two weeks of emailing us.
Also remember that this year we will be putting together a 2016 Poetry Marathon Anthology.
Submissions will open September 3rd and stay open till the 12th.
All submissions must include two poems, no more, no less. All submissions must be made via our email address (poets@thepoetrymarathon.com). 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 2016 Poetry marathon. All poems should be completely edited and contain no major grammatical errors. 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 back into the marathon.
Want to know what the 2014 Poetry Marathon Anthology was like? Pick up your copy here.
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As one of the few “classic” form and style poets that I saw in the marathon, I just wanted to say thank you.
I used this opportunity as a chance to not only expand my poetry portfolio, but to create a showcase of the journey. I played with formatting ideas before we started, and then transferred each poem (written after the prompt in Scrivener) into the editor and reformatted it uniformly with all my others. I’m not sure how long the blog posts will be preserved, but I am sharing the link with my readers, friends and family.
I did have a tough time with a couple of the entries. The ones that gave me trouble were the free verse prose poems.
I write in metered form, and love to stretch my explorations into seldom used poetic feet and cadences. To me, poetry is music without a tune, and the rhythm behind the language is where a lot of the beauty lies. That being said, I did find that the un-metered entries are still pleasing to read (although the editing process may require a bit more polish).
Once again, thank you for a great 24 hour ride. I look forward to doing it again.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed feedback. Jacob (my husband) writes only sonnets every year and It always impresses me.
I am exactly the opposite kind of writer. The meaning comes first and then the form and words follow, so the prompts also gave me a chance to grow
I guess we should all take a look at each other;s work and help each other select the t wo to submit.
Paul,
I agree that the meaning has to come first. My process is about creating the mood and the images, then using the audible cadences of the language to express myself in rhythmic sentences, based on the meter I am working in. I use a tapping method – i.e. I tap softly and then hard in a rhythmic pattern “tap, TAP, tap – tap, TAP, tap” over and over again, then use words that follow this pattern of syllable counts. This example happens to be known as “amphibrach” which is a very confusing term for a simple “soft-HARD-soft” cadence of words. the first line of one of my favorite personal poems is done this way:
death RIDES on dark WINGS as the RAGing storm BLOWS
so by playing with different cadence patterns (known as FEET) you can make the sound of your poetry rise and fall in almost musical patterns, which is the point of classical meters.
The many forms are just ways to build these lyrical, rhythmic lines into solid stories, in a variety of interesting ways. Once you discover the joy of challenging yourself to express the emotion and imagery from your poem in tightly controlled vocal patterns, and you feel the rhythm in your soul as you read them, you will become a fan of the metered structure – even if some of the forms leave you flat (I personally am not crazy about sestinas, but LOVE rondeaus).
I would love to read through your poetry and give you my top three favorites, if you’d like.
One of the biggest goals for me was to overcome my anxiety and actually submit work.
I don’t know what all the terms mean. I assume they are very common. A link, for example, is a familiar term and I will look for the link to my work.
HOw long will the poems continue to exist online?
We never take them down. It is up to you to remove them if you like.
Thank you for this opportunity! I have been so “busy” with work that I have not been writing much lately. And Poetry has taken a back seat for quite some time. When I came across the invitation to sign up, it was an immediate YES! I absolutely loved the idea of an alarm waking me throughout the night to write in. I wrote some things I didn’t recall until reading them in the morning.
Thank your for inspiring a reboot! I recognize that as much as it took for all of us, the participants, to complete, it took you, Caitlin & Jacob, so much more to make it possible for us to be here.
I will keep playing as long as you will have me.
Bless!
It was a beautiful opportunity and a great pleasure to be part of the 2016 marathons. Although, I did not finish the 24 hours, unlike last year but, very happy and accomplished to finished at least the 12 hours marathon. Thank you Caitlin and Jacob. Cheers!🍺🍺🍺