Category Word of the Month Poetry Challenge

Jul 3 2019

My Word of the Month poem for July

Hi everyone,

With thanks to Jane Yolen for her poem two days ago that sparked this poem, here’s my contribution for July.

Time to Celebrate

Today I wrote one line first rate.
Pop the cork! Let’s celebrate!

Some days – most days, I must confess –
my words spill out a jumbled mess.

No matter how I stress and strain,
there’s little joy and too much pain.

But today? I wrote one line first rate.
Pour the wine! Let’s celebrate!

Yesterday I must admit
the words were ugly, weak, unfit.

The day before was worse than that;
too much bafflegab and fat.

But today I wrote one line first rate.
Lift your glass! Let’s celebrate!

(c) David L. Harrison, all rights reserved

Jun 2 2019

Have more fun in June!

Hi everyone,

June seems like a good month to write and YOU feels like an excellent word to generate an outpouring of ideas. So this month let’s relax the tradition of posting one Word of the Month poem per poet and encourage folks to write as many poems as they want to. In other words, if YOU feel like writing more YOU, YOU can go for it.

For starters, it often helps me to make a list of ideas that spin off the monthly word. Use association the way we did not long ago when I started with frog and went from there. Or set yourself a goal to write a villanelle or a couplet or a standard ballad verse or a limerick or something in free verse and see where the form might lead you. Look up YOU in a thesaurus or dictionary and look for clues there that might lead to a new poem. Think of some of your favorite songs with YOU in them and do a parody or write your own song. YOU is worth it!

Please don’t procrastinate. The longer YOU put off writing the first poem the greater the chances YOU will let this golden opportunity pass. YOU know YOU can do this so get started at once thinking about the first poem YOU will write and how many others YOU have in YOU. Remember, we are counting on YOU!

May 30 2019

Are you going to write a poem this month or not?

Hi everyone,

30 days down, 1 to go for anyone who still plans to post a poem inspired by this month’s word: JOKE.
So far we’ve enjoyed the work of Jeanne Poland, Linda Boyden, Janine Clark-Barry, Cory Corrado, Jane Heitman Healy, Don Barrett, Bryn Strudwick, Karen Eastlund, Jane Yolen, and Cheryl Harness. Have I missed anyone?