The Poetry Marathon

The Poetry Marathon 2022 Summary Post

DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Hello fellow writers and poets,

Thank you kindly for all of your warm words of encouragement and feedback so far. This year was a very difficult journey through the marathon event as it was much more internal and insular than in previous years.

Not only was I against the clock throughout the event, but spent most of it proving care to my family members who I normally arrange support for while I am writing. This wasn’t possible this year, but it did not prevent my participation, although I was only able to transcribe my handwritten work after the marathon’s close which really made it feel like less of a win for me this year as networking and engaging with you all is a big part of what I come here to do each year.

I started strong, making it harder for myself than it had to be by writing five poems per hour for the first seven hours. The Gigan of hour 8 threw me and I lapsed behind for a few hours as I struggled to catch up. Midnight came and went and it wasn’t until 2am my time, or hour 12 of the event that I was fully caught up again. I wrote for two more hours, then had to go to bed for about four hours as I had to work for the last three hours of the event this year.

Never before have I written poetry in the dark in a cinema, but the marathon has a way of creating new experiences and this was certainly one of them.

I have had so much fun going through and transcribing my work to share it properly and I’m thrilled to have a fourth marathon under my belt, even if it doesn’t feel like the proper wins of the past.

Roll on The Poetry Marathon 2023 so that I can try again, but until then I leave you all with links to my responses to this years prompts.

DS Coremans’ Profile

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/author/dscoremans

Hour 1

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-response-hour-1

Hour 2

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-2

Hour 3

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-3

Hour 4

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-4

Hour 5

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-5

Hour 6

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-6

Hour 7

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-7

Hour 8

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-8

Hour 9

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-9

Hour 10

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-10

Hour 11

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-11

Hour 12

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-12

Hour 13

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-13

Hour 14

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-14

Hour 15

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-15

Hour 16

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-16

Hour 17

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-17

Hour 18

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-18

Hour 19

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-19

Hour 20

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-20

Hour 21

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-21

Hour 22

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-22

Hour 23

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-23

Hour 24

https://thepoetrymarathon.com/dscoremans/ds-coremans-prompt-responses-hour-24

My thanks and eternal gratitude as always goes to Caitlin and Jacob for all they do for our creative community; and to Amanda, Renee, Ofuma, and Anjana your words of encouragement during the event made an impossible task feel doable. My friends it is always my honour to write along with you all.

DSC

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 24

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Golden Shovel – Congratulations

Congratulations are in order, you have done something wonderful, congratulations
writers you are and always will be because you have proved yourselves writers
you should always be proud of yourself, no one is better than you.
have the rest that you have earned and then celebrate all that have
worked harder for this than for most other tasks and achievements which have worked
hard to ensure you were able to celebrate how hard
and persevered in all that you gave and
earned the right to brag, the right to bask and the right to believe you have earned
your reward and recognition, and the pride of your new peers, while sure of your
rest being justified and needed, but you are more deserving of this rest than any other. So rest.

Congratulations writers you have worked hard and earned your rest. Congratulations.

2022©DSCoremans

Additional Poems

Senryu – Love

I am full of pride
in all I have completed.
Love has seen me through.

Cinquain – Winner

Winner!
Now, or again,
you have done something well;
something that should fully fill you
with pride.

Haiku – Ready

The bare tree branches
still remain ready to grow
when the Spring returns.

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 23

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Verse Form (Broken) – Tender Buttons

Are there words to put you into yellow,
red, aquamarine, turquoise dream
aesthetic value corporations mellow
outright rage or passive fury scream
a little quieter please that echo in
a little glass drum is distracting
me or you, can you hear that too? Sin,
well not a saint or pontification
participation in a daily ritual never
a chore always a pleasure not like
that isn’t a star, isn’t, is, I/sever
the artery
watch it bleed

 Break the line,

                                              lose the echo

Lose the rhyme…             …               …

             …the rhyme is gone now

…lose the the the…         …      …

…Lost…

2022©DSCoremans

This poem was inspired by Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons.

Additional Poems

Cinquain – Nothing

Can you
define nothing
or the absence of real
which has been replaced by the most
bizarre.

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 22

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Sonnet – Moments of Tenderness

Moments of tenderness echo within;
making tea when I wake in the morning,
talking from night till the sun is dawning
or, just brushing my hand against your skin.

So many moments, where do I begin
before the moments I remember
are tender hugs one after another
their echoes have become a solemn hymn.

I will hold onto my tender moments
which you left to me with such abundance
as the precious gift they always will be
until the loneliness of life relents
and I create tender moments by chance
with someone that always remembers me.

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 21

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Triolet (Inverted) – Leave Your Umbrella at Home

When the rain is very heavy
using an umbrella is absolutely useless
and holding on in the rain is fruitless
when the rain is very heavy.
Just walk on with no distress
you will dry when you are ready.
When the rain is very heavy
using an umbrella is absolutely useless.

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 20

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Villanelle – My Echo Husband

Have I found the one, on whom I can depend,
whose time is worth more to me than my own?
Have I found him, have I found my echo husband?

Have I found any more than a reason to press send
or were your eyes startled by the screen which is glowing?
Have I found the one, on whom I can depend?

Have I found a person whose life I can blend
seamlessly together with my own still showing?
Have I found him, have I found my echo husband?

Have I found one without flaws or do I just pretend
that this direction I am following is the right way of going?
Have I found the one, on whom I can depend?

Have I found the night on which day can descend,
where time together has a way of slowing?
Have I found him, have I found my echo husband?

Have I at the very least found another friend?
I wish I could say yes, but there is no way of knowing.
Have I found the one, on whom I can depend;
have I found him, have I found my echo husband?

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 19

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Triolet – In the City

I miss living in the city.
Buildings so full of hidden life
where walls of stone are more than pretty
Oh, how I miss living in the city.
I may have left, but it hasn’t quit me.
One day, perhaps, when the time is right;
but not now, no, for now I’ll miss living in the city.
near buildings and crowds so full of hidden life.

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 18

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Sonnet – This Moment

The moment which brings the most joy to me
is this very moment in which I am.
There were times when I didn’t give a damn
but from those dark times I am truly free.

There are some, of course, who might disagree
but I have stood through the night until dawn
and I see the stars I once wished upon
and in this moment I am filled with glee.

I have come further than I ever hoped
because I have love and supportive friends
who I turn to when I feel myself stall,
who always check in to see that I coped.
I have many on whom I can depend
to catch me if ever I find I fall.

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 17

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Verse Form – The Eetsalot

The eetsalot has come to town
he makes the people scowl and frown.
The eetsalot is very friendly
but he always seems to eat plenty.

He eats the jam, he eats the toast,
he eats the ham, he eats the host,
he eats the table and the chairs
he eats your cupboards and your stairs.

He eats your homework, and your shoes
and then he eats a tube of glue.
His mouth stuck fast, he goes back home
to hibernate at home alone.

And when the glue wears off again,
he comes straight back to eat his friends.

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.

The Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 16

Original Poetry by DS Coremans

#FoDiByLi

Villanelle – 42

What are the questions that keep you up at night?
Am I doing the right thing? Will this work?
Or, perhaps just simply, what is the meaning of life?

So many small questions add up to cause such strife;
but don’t worry, I swear you are doing enough.
What other questions keep you up at night?

Am I right? Am I wrong? Should I have a third slice?
Maybe yes, maybe no, but that all sounds absurd
compared to, what is the meaning of life?

I promise, it is worth it, no matter the final price;
it’s not always easy, but please, try not to be scared.
Any more questions that keep you up at night?

Is it too much? Not enough? Have I had a good life?
The same answers I gave before may seem to be tough
but consider, what is the meaning of life?

Sometimes it is enough to just be nice
to embrace that you have someone to love
Have I answered the questions that keep you up at night?
Good, now stop worrying about,
what is the meaning of life?

2022©DSCoremans

Happy Writing. Stay Safe. Stay Distracted.