For prose writers and free verse poets, the idea of writing poetry in form or meter may give you shivers and quakes of resistance. "I can't write in any form, it is too constricting!" Let's try something different.
I have felt some of you fence sitters shivering and quaking at the thought of writing a poem each day in October. You may be thinking, “I don’t have time for that!” because you are remembering your sophomore English Teacher, Mr. Veeh, instructing you in metrical verse which had to be this way and that or your poem has to have some deep underlying meaning people will puzzle over for the next three centuries.
SURPRISE! This is not what poets of today are up to at all.
Teaching like that shut OFF many poetic voices and challenges like OctPoWriMo allow us to turn our poetic minds back on.
I’ll admit it, I’ve been in a bit of a poetic slump recently, but the thought of writing a poem-a-day in community excites me. I will make new friends, I will get constructive feedback about my work and most of all I will discover, once again, the crazyness of writing a poem a day is not just about the poems it is about who I become through writing the poems.
TIP: Here is one surefire way to get you going: instead of worrying about LONG poetry (though you may go there) instead consider writing 31 micropoems. Micropoetry is very, very short poetry. I’m including an article below about micropoetry so you may get more specifics but just know it is poetry that is about haiku length (seventeen syllables) or shorter than a tweet length (shorter than 140 characters.)
I just hopped over to twitter and wrote a very short poem. I feel lighter now. Isn't it remarkable how just a few moments focused on writing lightens us?
Practice a few times and then seriously think about which of your writing (and non-writing friends) would fine value or joy or at least a few moments out of the rut by joining us here at OctPoWriMo.
I am so glad you are here!
Your two helpful and promised resource links:
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