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I thought I’d take a few moments to catch my breath and make a few comments about what I’ve gleaned, thus far, from participating in the Writer’s Digest National Poetry Month challenge. Robert Brewer, who blogs for WD at Poetics Aside, challenged poets to respond to a given prompt everyday for 30 days—thus creating 30 new poems.

I decided—perhaps, a bit too rashly—to add another constraint to the challenge. I would write 30 new poems, one-a-day, using 30 different forms/techniques. (30 days/30 poems/30 forms) I challenged myself to this, reckoning it would be a good way to force myself to explore some poetical forms I  might not otherwise study.

As of April 19, I’ve written 19 poems using varied formats and techniques. I’ve written a Fibonacci, a kyrielle, a pantoum, a prose poem, a Skeltonic poem, an ode, a rondelet, a roundel, a tanka, a list poem, a shadorma, and Sapphic verses. I’ve used unrhymed distich, Rime Couee’, blank verse, terza rima, ballad stanza, ottava rima, and rhymed tercets.  I just hope there are enough forms/techniques to get me through the month! (NOTE: I have been saving Haiku, found poetry, and an acrostic poem for later this month when I have several gigs that will take me out of town.)

As to what I’ve learned thus far:

1.) It’s fun—though harrowing, at times. It’s like doing a puzzle under a time limit. There are days that I only have an hour or so to get the prompt for the day and get the poem done.

2.) The results: most of the poems are not polished. However, some contain gems that I will polish and work on later. A few are almost polished enough to be presentable. Some are lamentable. (Mere rough drafts.) And it does feel a bit strange to have posted these on my website, as I am used to waiting until I feel a poem is pretty much finished before I present it to others. But I did want to keep these in one spot to see the variety. (I will take them down later.)

3.) I am getting a little better at determining whether the form fits the function of the poem. I am learning this my making myself work with some forms that have refrains/repetition/certain rhyme schemes or meters. And although I am far from a formalist, I found certain forms to be quite comfortable, like the ballad stanza and the pantoum. 

4.) It’s not easy writing to someone else’s prompts. I found these to be uneven—as expected. Some, like writing a love poem, were almost too easy to be much of a challenge and I was grateful to have my added constraint of a form/technique.  Some of the daily challenges were quite good:  like taking the title of a well-known poem changing it to its opposite and writing from that. I love the poem I did as a result. (A take off from Emily Dickinson in the ballad stanza format. See Day 17. )

5.) I discovered some new forms (the tanka, and the shadorma) that I love.

Well, I shall keep on with it—hoping to make it to day 30 with my sanity. At the end, I’ll have a few more notes to add about the pros and cons of participating in such a challenge. In the meantime, enjoy Poetry Month!

And here’s am informative interview Robert did recently with poet Katy Evans- Bush. 

Ciao!

Shutta