poetry mini-challenge: build-a-poem
by Carolee Sherwood and Jill Crammond Wickham
On our recent trip to the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, we attended a reading by Afaa Michael Weaver. The highlight of the reading was a 10-section poem from his current manuscript. Each section of the poem was used to explore a singular theme from a variety of angles, viewpoints and perspectives — very much like Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself. As Weaver’s deep voice faded out at the end of each section, we waited expectantly to see how the next would unfold.
This would be perfect, we thought, for our November Mini-Challenge — five days, five sections of a whole poem.
How do you build a poem, you ask?
Well, there are the obvious construction metaphors: piece by piece, board by board, block by block. However, we prefer to think in terms of food. Just like tapas is a meal you create with small samplings from many dishes, this week you’re going to create a single poem out of five smaller poems.
Need a menu? Try these delightful and savory options.
- Use the last line of the first poem to begin your second poem, last line of the second poem to begin your third poem, and so on.
- Write the same poem using five different viewpoints/settings/voices/time periods.
- After writing your first poem, pick an image to expand on in your second poem (and so on!).
- Choose a theme. Brainstorm the five most disparate ways of exploring it. Write five poems.
- Choose an abstraction. Choose four synonyms for the abstraction. Write a poem for each word. (Want live on the wild side? Try a couple antonyms; they’ll spice up your writing, just like hot peppers!)
As you write
Please visit the forums for the November Poetry Mini-Challenge. They will be marked #1, #2, #3 and so on — one for each poem you write for this challenge. Jump into the forums and post links to your poems (or the text of the poems themselves if you don’t have a blog). Try to make it all the way to #5 and visit the forums to cheer each other on.
Special “Build-a-Poem” posting notes/suggestions: To make a cohesive reading experience, after posting poem #1, consider posting the previous poem(s) with each new poem. Or … once you reach poem #5, why not post the series in its entirety?
About the poetry mini-challenge
If you’ve signed on to Read Write Poem recently or if you missed the other challenges, you’re welcome to visit the original post for background. Here’s the short version:
A mini-challenge is a poetry-writing, poetry-reading or poetry-process prompt that you respond to with a new poem each day for a set number of days. The idea isn’t to warm up the poetry muscles, it’s to feel the burn. Go deeper. Explore further. Pass the place you may have stopped initially. See what comes next. And as if that weren’t juicy enough, you do all of it with the support and encouragement of the other crazy hardworking Read Write Poem members who take on the challenge.
Note: Please save the comments section of this post for discussion on or questions about the process. The poems and links go in the forums associated with the Poetry Mini-Challenge group, located here.
 Carolee Sherwood is a poet and artist who lives in Upstate New York. She is co-editor of Ouroboros Review, mother of three boys and a veteran Read Write Poem columnist. You can find her rambling about the creative life at Carolee Sherwood and drafting poems at I Am Maureen.
 Jill Crammond Wickham has discovered that the frantic pace of motherhood has driven her to write more, not less. Jill writes at Mom Trying to Write. She is a co-editor for Ouroboros Review and a senior contributor and columnist for Read Write Poem.
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get the read write poem badge! 
Wear it loud, wear it proud! Display the Read Write Poem badge on your site. Just click here or on the image above to get the code! read write poem news- yes, yes, here’s another virtual book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 6, 2010 | 11:37 amFind the latest tour stop for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace at Jillypoet, Jill Crammond Wickham’s blog, where you can find an interview with Pamela that discusses how she creates manuscripts.
Previous stops include Daniel Romo at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies and James Brush at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- the best of the web is in our ranks
February 6, 2010 | 11:35 amSarah J. Sloat’s poem,”Attending the Tasting” (published in The Literary Bohemian) has been selected for Best of the Web 2010. Congratulations, Sarah!
- another (w00t!) read write poem member on the joe milford poetry show
February 6, 2010 | 11:34 amOn the Joe Milford Poetry Show tomorrow (Feb. 6): W.F. Roby at 9 AM (PST). Find the show here!
Joe describes Will as a “great language poet and bad-ass.”
- ‘literary podcasting made simple with wordpress.com’
February 6, 2010 | 11:33 amDave Bonta has published a how-to article that might be of interest to WordPress users: “Literary Podcasting Made Simple with WordPress.com,” based on his and Beth Adams’ experience at Qarrtsiluni.
Thanks, Dave, for continuing to help make the community aware of technological resources that can expand our art.
- the latest (virtual) book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 3, 2010 | 3:53 pmThe latest tour stop has been posted for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace. Find out how Daniel Romo responded to the work at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies.
James Brush provided our first tour stop at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- planning for napowrimo in april, and you are invited!
February 2, 2010 | 6:12 pmHello, hello dear Read Write Poem community members! We are in the planning stages for NaPoWriMo. (What? Is that a groan I hear, or an excited exclamation?)
We are planning another prompt-every-day for those folks who love to write a daily poem in April (which is, as most of you know, National Poetry Month in the United States — although there is an international following of writing poetry every day in April, too, so it is not just about the States).
Anyway! This is a call for prompts because we want to run your ideas, one every day, in April. So here’s what to do:
- Prompts must be no more than 250 words, and we will take the first 30 that we receive.
- Include “NaPoWriMo Prompt” in the subject line of your email as well as your username (e.g., the name you use when you log in) so we can match you up with your prompt and give you the link love.
- Email your submission (in the body of the email — no attachments please) to prompts (at) readwritepoem (dot) org!
We’ll let you know when we’ve got the 30, but don’t delay because it takes a lot of time to format the posts and we want to be ready come April Fools’ Day. Woohoo!
- new senior contributors at read write poem
February 2, 2010 | 11:51 amWe are thrilled to announce that Ren Powell and Dave Jarecki are moving into the senior contributor role at Read Write Poem. Both have been writing feverishly for the site, as well as providing ideas for content and for the community as a whole. In short, they make this site a more lively, and better, place.
Ren and Dave will fill the roles vacated by Carolee Sherwood and Jill Crammond Wickham, who have moved into the manager role.
Everyone please thank Ren and Dave for their hard work and commitment to Read Write Poem.
- rounding out the virtual book tour of sarah j. sloat’s ‘in the voice of a minor saint’
January 31, 2010 | 1:53 pmOur last stop on the Virtual Book Tour of Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint is with Ren Powell. Find Ren’s review at More Babel.
Joseph Harker provided our first stop in December, and you can find David Moolten’s review at Edible Detritus. David’s was followed by Dave Jarecki’s. Dave’s review is at his blog. Find Jill Crammond Wickham’s at Jillypoet: Mom Trying to Write.
In case you missed the introduction, we are (virtually) hosting Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint. For complete tour information, such as how you can get your own copy of the collection or how you can get involved in future tours, read this post.
- make your own book: get off the computer and onto the paper
January 30, 2010 | 4:19 pmBeth Adams has posted her latest project at The Cassandra Pages. “A Handmade Book” may not explicate all the details of bookbinding, but Beth shows readers the “Secret Belgian Binding.” It’s a beautiful as well as inspiring post.
If you would like more detailed instructions, Google “secret Belgian bookbinding” and find sites such as this one. Or look for a local book arts class for hands-on instruction.
As Beth says, ” … it did me good to get away from the computer and feel my hands at work!”
 Archive for read write poem news »
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Wow, I like every one of the items on your “menu.” I want to try them all!
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Yummy.
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I am so excited about this Mini-Challenge. What a great idea. Intriguing to note, this morning I was photographing my porch for use in the GetYourPoemOn prompt… and I was taking in a variety of angles to inspire setting the scene and then… Ta-Da! Here we are and… just this morning I was thinking about revising one of my poems into a “three distinctive part” poem.
Ok, enough of me rambling. Instead, I will start writing.
Now, what topic to consider…
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[...] http://readwritepoem.org/blog/2009/11/03/poetry-mini-challenge-build-a-poem/?utm_source=microblog&a... a few seconds ago from web [...]
[...] #1 for Read. Write. Poem.’s 5-section mini-challenge. Take that, flu! I wrote a [...]
Love this idea and posted my first poem but when I went to the forum, I couldn’t figure out how to leave a link there. I clicked everything I could find including “Post new” but…nothing! Help!
Here’s my email: garlinjake at yahoo dot com
Thanks!
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Hey, Linda! Did you look here: http://readwritepoem.org/forums/topic/poem-1-in-5-day-section-poem ?
*waves*
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I’ll give it a try.
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Thanks, Deb! Found it. Don’t know why I couldn’t by clicking the “here” in the prompt post. Duh!
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Love this idea!
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