Here is the list of poets who will be included in the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Anthology! For those who submitted work by the May 7 deadline, please review this list and make sure your name appears below and that your name appears the way you want your work attributed in the collection. If your name is not listed, or if your listing is incorrect, send an email to info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org, and I’ll make sure you get added.

I also have several books to give away as part of the Read Write Poem Challenge Pledge raffle. I will announce those winners here at Read Write Poem within the week.

The contributors:

Amy Marie Taratus, Andy Sewina, Angie Werren, Barbara Young, Cara Holman, Cathy McGuire, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Christina Hile, Damian Caruana, Dan Rako, Derrick Armitage, E. Jason Riedy, Emily Manger, Erin Davis, Evelyn N. Alfred, Ingrid Jendrzejewski, Irene Toh, J. D. Mackenzie, Jaelle n’ha Gilla, Janet Hawtin, Jeeves, Joanne Johns, Joseph Harker, Julie Mehta, K.C. Koppy, Katharine Whitcomb, Katherine Hager, Kelly Eastlund, Lani Jo Leigh, Larry Patterson, Lawrence Congdon, Lee Lawton, Linda Cosgriff, Linda Jacobs, Linda Watskin, Lindsay Penelope Illich, Lori Wiens MacDonald, Maria L. Castejon, Marian Veverka, Marianne McNamara, Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Matt Blair, Matt Quinn, Maya Ganesan, Meresha Crewer, Michelle Weaver, Neil Reid, Pamela Sayers, Pamela Villars, Rallentanda, Renee DeCarlo, Rhiannon Grant, Rob Kistner, Robin Morris, Robin Rosen Chang, Robin Turner, Ron. Lavalette, Sarah Sidney Coty, Shanna Germain, Shari Lynne Smothers, Simon Seamount, Sophie F Baker, Susan Sonnen, Tiel Aisha Ansari, Tim Keeton, Tina Celio, Todd Miller, Troy Kehm-Goins, Uma Gowrishankar, Veronica Hosking, Vivienne Blake, Wanda McCollar, Wayne Pitchko, Zeenat Arsiwalla

*I initially said “tomorrow,” but I meant to say “Friday.”

Thank you all for the kind words the past few days about the work the volunteer administrative and creative staffs did here at Read Write Poem. More importantly, thank you all, the membership — not for being here per se — but rather for making a life of, inside of and with poetry.

This site was always meant to bring people together in scholarship, creativity and conversation. It was meant to encourage people to read, write, discuss and share poetry — both their own and those written by other poets. According to these measures, the site has been a success, as evidenced by how many people have come here, and found something here, and stayed here. Namely, members have found one another and an internal sense of loving poetry, resonating with poetry, and being a poet.

This realization — of an identity one wants to embrace and a way one wants to live — is not something any site can ultimately bestow. The ability to realize this identity in your own lives is within all of you and always has been. Read Write Poem merely facilitated that to some degree. Perhaps it took you out of isolation or gave you access to poetry-related information you would not have had access to otherwise. Or perhaps it was just plain fun.

There will always be community where poetry and poets are concerned — whether it is the formal community of a master of fine arts program, the online community of a poetry site, the communities we make in our own neighborhoods and regions, or the real and virtual community that arises as those with like interests find one another through informal means.

Other online poetry communities are already reaching out to this membership, taking root. Many excellent creative ideas are exploring the breadth and depth of all they can be to their memberships. It is exciting to watch the varied paths of those communities as they unfold.

The loss of Read Write Poem is a significant loss, no doubt. It is a loss all of us, including me, are experiencing in an overwhelming way. But within you is what was always within you: the ability to be a poet, to reach out to other poets, to share, to write, to live in and move through the world as a poet.

Dana Guthrie Martin founded Read Write Poem in 2007 as an extension of her work as co-founder of the Poetry Thursday site. She writes poetry and prose, and lives in the Seattle area with her husband, her robot and her two hermit crabs.

• Review the guidelines for inclusion in the anthology. Submit work if and only if you meet every requirement listed. Read the requirements carefully.
• Send your self-selected top three poems in the body of an email to info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org.
• Include “anthology submission” in the subject line for your email.
• Include your full name, as well as either your Read Write Poem member name if you are a member, or the name under which you have been posting links to your work on the Read Write Poem site each day in April.
• Indicate what name you want your work published under. Some people use their real names and others use pseudonyms. We need to know which you want to appear in the anthology.
• Include the blog or site where your poems appeared each day in the month of April. If you posted the work in its entirety on the Read Write Poem site, let us know that’s the case. Note: If you have removed your work from your site, we cannot verify that you posted it on the appropriate days. This could affect your inclusion in the anthology. We will contact you if such a situation arises.
• If any of your three submitted pieces are in response to the prompts shared on the Read Write Poem site during the month of April, indicate which prompt the poem or poems are written to.
• If you have any other information to relay — such as letting us know you are in a distant time zone and you want us to be aware of the system you used for timing your posts in relation to our U.S. time zones — please add that information in the body of your email.
• Do not use your Read Write Poem private messaging account to contact us. We need to have an email address that will be valid after May 1. We will be communicating with you about the poem we select from your submission, as well as to share galleys with you for approval before the publication goes live.
• Send work no later than May 7.
• If you have any questions, we will field them by email. Send questions to info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org with “anthology query” in the subject line.

It is with regret that I inform the membership that Read Write Poem will not be moving forward under new leadership. My only option at this time is to close the site down. The community’s editorial, maintenance and technical needs have grown exponentially, to the point that instating another all-volunteer team with the skills and time to lead the site is impossible.

The site will remain live through April for NaPoWriMo and will post a member-authored writing prompt every day during the month of April as part of the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge. In late May, the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Anthology will be published and will include work by those who complete the challenge.

The final editorial piece will be published on the site May 1. It will wrap up the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge and detail how to send in work for inclusion in the anthology. At that point, the site will be closed in terms of new editorial content and news items. When the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Anthology is completed, it will be posted on the site, as well as at issuu.com.

After May 1, Read Write Poem will remain open as an archival record of the work that has been shared here since 2007. The social networking elements of the site will be removed May 1. Between now and then, members should retrieve any private messages or group posts that they want to preserve.

Thank you to everyone who took part in Read Write Poem over the years. Again, I am sorry that the site must close. If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me at info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org. I look forward to seeing other online communities and collaborative workspaces come into existence that build on the mission of Read Write Poem and expand that mission far beyond the groundwork laid here. Though this is the end of Read Write Poem, it is neither the end of poetry, nor of community.

Dana Guthrie Martin founded Read Write Poem in 2007 as an extension of her work as co-founder of the Poetry Thursday site. She writes poetry and prose, and lives in the Seattle area with her husband, her robot and her two hermit crabs.

I have always loved the power and possibility of online communications. Back in 1995, I remember proposing that my university’s literary journal be created and distributed in an online format as opposed to a print format. The faculty adviser for the project scoffed at the notion. “Who would want to read poetry on a computer,” he asked.

Look how far we have come since then. Even though some still scoff at online literary journals and magazines, or at least eye them with suspicion, it’s clear that they are rising in popularity — and that audiences are gravitating to work delivered through this medium. Apparently, a lot of people want to read poetry, and learn about it, online.

I founded Read Write Poem in 2007 because of my love for and belief in the capacity for online communications as a means to lessen or remove barriers to information and resources, including art. I also saw the power of online communications in removing geographic barriers by making information available for free — anytime, anywhere on the planet. The goal of Read Write Poem at launch was simple: to leverage the power of the internet in the creation of an interactive and collaborative virtual space for poets of all levels to learn about and share poetry.

The community’s mission has grown out of the same premise on which is was founded. Read Write Poem facilitates a vibrant online community that gives readers the tools they need to make poetry central to their daily lives, both in virtual and real-world environments. The community encourages readers and writers of poetry at all levels to be more engaged with a wide range of traditional and contemporary poetry, with other poets, and with members of their local, regional, national and international communities. Read Write Poem works in tandem with and also outside of traditional frameworks such as academic institutions, providing an alternative method for learning, teaching, sharing and discussing poetry.

The site has also grown since its inception with the addition of profiles, wires, groups and other interactive elements, as well as a fully fleshed-out online magazine with new content every weekday. And, of course, we still have the weekly writing prompts that keep members challenged and engaged.

In short, Read Write Poem has evolved to the point that it is nothing other than a remarkable place. We would not be here without the participation of our more than 1,000 members, or without the talent and hard work of our contributors, senior contributors, managers and directors.

Especially deserving of thanks is Deb Scott for her tenacious dedication to the project and all her efforts, including managing the site for a year and a half and serving as a community director for the past 9 months. Special thanks also to community director Nathan Moore, without whom the energy of the community would not be what it is, and to technology director Andre Tan, without whom the social media elements and overall design of the site would have been inferior, if not impossible.

Three years and 900 articles and news items, 1,000 members, 11,000 comments, and 770,000 page views since its founding, it is clear that Read Write Poem has made a difference in the lives of many poets and of those who love poetry. There is clearly a need — and a desire — for an open, free, accessible way for anyone and everyone who loves to read, write and share poetry to have the means to do so.

The community has reached a point where it no longer needs my daily direction. At the same time, needs and opportunities in my life require me to step out of the lead director role. I have the chance to study information science at the graduate level, and to learn even more ways that barriers to information access can be removed so that those around the world, whatever their area of interest of inquiry, will have the tools they need to learn, to discover and to grow.

Deb Scott will be taking over as the community’s lead director, and that change is effective immediately. I am thrilled that Deb is taking on the role of lead director on, and excited to see where the community moves in its next phase of development. I also thank those who have come forward to help Deb manage the site. She will be making more announcements soon about the team she is assembling, so stay tuned to learn more as the new management group unfolds.

I also regret to announce that Nathan Moore must step away from Read Write Poem at this time. He has worked tirelessly on the site and has provided some of our most valuable, interesting and innovative content. The entire community will miss his presence and his voice. He is an outstanding poet, and an outstanding human being.

Thank you all. Together, we have helped change the face of poetry. Let’s keep going.

Dana Guthrie Martin founded Read Write Poem in 2007 as an extension of her work as co-founder of the Poetry Thursday site. She writes poetry and prose, and lives in the Seattle area with her husband, her robot and her two hermit crabs.

If you haven’t read the others in the series, it is worth going back. Of course, his site is easy to navigate, so doing that is easy-peasy.

Hurrah! And hurrahs to all of the 999 other members, too. (Or hoorays or hurrays or huzzahs or huzzas.)