If you are aware that you need to be brave, you are probably on the threshold of writing something that matters.
Pat Schneider, Writing Alone and With Others (2003, pg. 172)
During the last week in April I attended an AWA writing-group leadership training with poet Patricia Lee Lewis at The Crossings in Austin, Texas. Patricia, along [...]

Sonnet LIV.
“O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem”
 
O! HOW much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, [...]

From now until midnight one week from today, comments on this post will be open, so you can leave a permalink to your blog post for this week’s contribution. (A study in contrasts - or any other idea you had.)
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Please take a few moments to read the the about page, the code of [...]

Place in poems – who needs a GPS device when we’re grounded in detail?
Lately as I’ve been driving from one place to another I’ve started jotting down interesting town names and street signs: Tulip Lane, Sleepy Hollow Road, Famous Raymond’s Hot Boiled Peanuts, The Best Little Hair House in Georgia (a hair salon!) and the [...]

What happens when you pour balsamic vinegar over extra-virgin olive oil? The oil rests on top of the vinegar in the cruet, but if you shake the contents, you create a delicious salad dressing.
Prompt:
For your poem this week, try combining two elements that don’t seem to go together at first glance. Here’s the process:
• Think [...]

Here’s the long and short of it….
Can we really write thirty poems in thirty days? Yes, we can!
This past November I participated in NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. After joining Dana’s group, readwritepoem, I used the challenge of posting every day to write a poem a day. I was able to write thirty poems by [...]

Give me some room! (For creating space in a life for writing.)
If I haven’t had my cup of poetry in the morning, I’m a real bear. Since I work in the late afternoons and early evenings, mornings are my quiet time, when I sit down to do some writing.
It’s fun to learn about the rituals different [...]

From now until midnight one week from today, comments on this post will be open, so you can leave a permalink to your blog post for this week’s contribution. (A dreamy poem or any poem.)
Please take a few moments to read the the about page, the code of conduct and our copyrights page. If you [...]

A lot of writers try to develop an authentic, original voice. We read the work of other poets for inspiration and guidance, but when it comes time to call forth our own words, we want them to come from our own inner spring.
Dreams can provide the writer with a never-ending source of original images, feelings, [...]

Casting call- unique types wanted!
As poets we feel the need to write, but what do we write about? We surf the net looking for prompts, read newspapers, look at paintings or listen to music, but ultimately we end up writing about ourselves. How then can we turn our own lives into poems?
If your life is [...]