Read Write Poem

read write poem napowrimo anthology

The Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Anthology is still in production. Selection, placement, layout and copyediting are taking longer than anticipated. Thank you for your patience. I hope to have the piece completed in July. For those who have emailed asking if they can be included, the May 7 deadline for submission of work stands. Those [...]

read write poem napowrimo challenge raffle results

by Dana Guthrie Martin

The Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Anthology is coming along quite nicely and should be ready to go soon, though the process is taking slightly longer than expected.

In the meantime, you might recall that everyone who took the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Pledge, regardless of completing that pledge, was automatically entered [...]

read write poem anthology contributors

by Dana Guthrie Martin

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 [...]

read write poem napowrimo anthology

Remember that Friday* is the deadline for submitting work to the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Anthology. Check out the guidelines for submission in the main column (to the left). On May 8, we’ll post a news item listing everyone we’ve received work from. If you submitted work and your name is not on that list, [...]

farewell message

by Dana Guthrie Martin, director and founder

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 [...]

submission instructions for the read write poem napowrimo challenge anthology

by the Read Write Poem Staff 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 [...]

napowrimo #30: free day (and farewell)

by the Read Write Poem Staff

Today is the last day of (Inter)National Poetry Month and the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge. The prompt today is a free day — you are free to use any prompt you have not yet written to from those provided this month, or you can write, and share, whatever you [...]

napowrimo #29: front page news

by the Read Write Poem Staff

You’re almost there, and inspiration for your next to the last NaPoWriMo poem is at your fingertips! D.S. Apfelbaum recalls what William Carlos Williams once wrote, “It is difficult/ to get the news from poems,” but asks, “Who says you can’t get poems from the news?”

For this prompt, choose your [...]

napowrimo #28: intuition

by the Read Write Poem Staff

Today’s prompt is provided by member, Julie Jordan Scott.

Arthur Koestler wrote: “The moment of truth, the sudden emergence of a new insight, is an act of intuition.” Akin to a “sixth sense,” intuition brings pieces together. It gives the gift of heightened awareness.

One single, specific memory I have from [...]

napowrimo #27: let someone else take the lead

by the Read Write Poem Staff

Carolee Sherwood wonders if you’re running on fumes like she is. She hopes her prompt takes some of the heat off and points your exhausted brain down the path where your 27th poem lies.

Take a word that’s part of you — your name, your birth month, your favorite animal, your [...]

napowrimo #26: get scrappy

by the Read Write Poem Staff

It’s getting late in the month, and finishing NaPoWriMo is going to take every bit of resourcefulness you have. Jill Crammond Wickham reminds us about the bits and pieces of poems we may be carrying around.

Today, before you start writing, you need to do some digging. Dig through your [...]

napowrimo #25: first things first

by the Read Write Poem Staff

It’s Day #25, and you may be getting tired. In Joseph Harker’s prompt today, let others do the heavy lifting of inspiration.

Keep an ear out for the first sentence (or even word) that is said to you after you read this prompt. (Poetic license: If the first few words are [...]

napowrimo congratulations, and a reminder

It’s the final week of the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge! Just 7 days left. With that, a reminder that Read Write Poem will culminate with the anthology featuring work from those who complete the challenge. A post with details for submitting to the anthology will be published May 1. Be sure you remove any [...]

napowrimo #24: find a phrase

by the Read Write Poem Staff

With words like codswallop, it’s clear that Read Write Poem member Marie Gauthier means business! Now is not the time to let your NaPoWriMo work ethic slack.

Clichés, idioms, what-have-you. As points of inspiration, you might think they’re dead in the water, but that’s a load of codswallop. Time spent investigating [...]

napowrimo #23: unlikely couples

by the Read Write Poem Staff

Read Write Poem member Sage Cohen has a terrific suggestion for today’s poems: Write a poem in which you combine a speaker and an event that normally don’t go together (such as sports broadcasters and poetry writing), as Jay Leeming does in his poem, “Man Writes Poem.”

Reminders for everyone Read [...]

napowrimo #22: a wordle!

by the Read Write Poem Staff

Today’s prompt is from Read Write Poem member Catherine who provided the contents for today’s prompt, a Wordle.

Use one, or use them, all in the poem you write today.

Reminders for everyone Read the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Kickoff post for details on how the challenge works — and how [...]

napowrimo #21: perfectly flawed

by the Read Write Poem Staff

Today’s prompt is from Read Write Poem member Kristen McHenry:

“In ancient times, Persian rug makers were deeply religious and believed that only God could make something perfect. They would deliberately drop in a small faulty stitch, a flaw, into each Persian rug. In doing so, a ‘Persian Flaw’ revealed the [...]

‘underlife’ tour at january gill o’neil’s blog

January Gill O’Neil’s virtual book tour has moved to her site and is underway now. Check out the lineup at Poet Mom.

napowrimo #20: the hero poem

by the Read Write Poem Staff

As a child, Jessica GC says she had two heroes: Wonder Woman and her mother. “To me, they were one and the same,” says Jessica. “Both had long dark hair. Both were strikingly beautiful, and both had incredible strength.”

Write a poem in which you to pay tribute to your hero, [...]

napowrimo #19: light bulb moments

by the Read Write Poem Staff

For today’s NaPoWriMo prompt, Read Write Poem member Rallentanda introduces a word that’s new to many of us: éclat. Online dictionaries (like this one) list several definitions, but it is the etymology that inspires the meaning chosen for today’s prompt. The word éclat is French, and we’re paying attention to [...]