Poetry Resources | awritersfountain

You have managed over a week, over a quarter of the NaPoWriMo challenge. At this point you will fall somewhere between exhausted and rejuvenated. This weekend post should help you reach some balance because if you’re already attempting 30 poems in 30 days… YOU ARE AWESOME!

Mission: One Week of Awesomeness by Katie Swanson
is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

WEEK 1:

READING POETRY

This week you’ve read at least 30 poems (or 31 if you did the Early Bird) and probably more, as who can visit a magazine and only read a couple of poems? Plus you would have read your own work back to yourself. So the actual number is probably way over 40!

40 poems in a week… for those of us who read collections that may not be unusual, but it’s certainly good practice to read widely and I can guarantee this week’s reading will have lodged sprinkles of muse inside your minds for later! By reading a few extra poems in the journals and including my own work I have read 56 poems.

Of course, you may have fallen behind and feel intimidated by these numbers. Don’t be. At the very least you started and who’s counting anyway! Just keep going. You will have read more than if you weren’t attempting NaPoWriMo at all!

WRITING POETRY

You will have written at least 9 poems. If you’re taking part in Nina’s NaPo Challenge there will be 18 new poems in your stack.

In addition you may be using the PAD challenge or others – go careful if you’re working through multiple prompts, in previous years I have saved some lists for May/June… there was that year I wrote 99! But I wouldn’t recommend such pressure.

Whatever you do and however many poems you managed to write – KEEP IT FUN!

I have written 10, as I did the Early Bird prompt.

WONDERFUL RESOURCES FROM NAPO

9 Participating websites will now be on your radar/reading lists.

9 Journals/ Magazines.

3 poets associated with the prompts.

1 list of poetry prompts.

1 Twitter account + several other resources.

WONDERFUL RESOURCES FROM AWF

In addition to this if you have been following my posts you will also have links and information for:

Poem(s) by: Emily Dickinson, Andrea Gibson

Articles: Writing Forward on Prose Poetry & Numerologist.com

RESOURCES: Mythical Creature generator, Inciting Incident generator, Diana Pressey’s website & Button Poetry You Tube Channel/video.

And of course the additional challenge for Ekphrastic poetry.

Nina’s NaPoWriMo Challenge

But NaPo is much more than a numbers game. You will feel all sorts of positive emotions from being part of NaPoWriMo 2022! You may have found community, new followers, a new poet or poem to love, an answer to a question, a joy for writing and/or a release.

Let us know how it has been for you in the comments and don’t forget to find some time to relax too!

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok on Pexels.com

World Poetry Day – that sacred day when poetry gets mentioned on Radio Channels beyond Radio 2 and Radio 4, the day when a frame is held around words… it was World Frog Day yesterday, but I saved my leaping around for today!

I always mark WPD by making sure I read some poems and either organise or attend an event. Today I am going on a magical tour and then following up the starter with a main, with Apples & Snakes. I will skip dessert… or eat a real one for dinner, as cooking is out of the question this evening!

I hope you have all managed to plan something sweet… if not and you have some time to spare, go and find your favourite spot to relax in, take a book of poems or your phone and read.

Or take advantage of this list of pieces and poems from the world today.

Some poetry I collected from the web this evening:

From Outlook.com (please note there is a trigger warning/ suitability poem listed part way through the first poem).

outlookindia.comworld-poetry-day-two-poems-on-ukraine-and-one-on-peace-during-wartime-

Caleb Parkin

https://thebristolmayor.com/2022/03/21/world-poetry-day/

This article was news from before WPD – but let’s share it now:

Anjum Malik Manchester’s first Multi-cultural City Poets

*Anjum Malik performing at University-held mushaira in 2018*

MMU Marks World Poetry Day

Manchester Metropolitan University is well known for strong creative writing courses. Today they marked WPD in a myriad of ways.

*Malika Booker has read An Alternative History of Stones for World Poetry Day*

Hit Play – it will work.

World Poetry Day – March 21

Khalil Gibran
“Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.”

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/download-words-burn-resources

A review of my magical night of poetry

I love poetry and I love a mystery – put them together and you have the wonder of my first event!

World Poetry Day: Poetry with a View – Mystery Location at Golden Hour!

About this event

I am excited to announce that Monday 21 March 2022 is World Poetry Day. Escape with me to a mystery location to experience a selection of poetry readings with a beautiful view!

I had no idea when I booked weeks ago where we would even be situated in the world… there really were no clues before I joined the livestream…

to my delight – the North West of England, Lancashire. It was hosted on heygo – which was a perfect platform for WPD.

My first experience of heygo was fabulous – you can capture postcards! Sarah was a fabulous guide, we were treated to 6 poems, lots of factual snippets (including some new ones for me), a beautiful sunset, a walk along the Leeds to Liverpool canal and we even saw some ducks! It was fun to guess the poets. There’s also a navigational map in the top corner too.

We heard:

Warning by Jenny Joseph – this poem was voted Britain’s favourite modern poem (2006) and Nation’s favourite (10 years before), this poem inspired a whole society.

Daffodils – By William Wordsworth. One of England’s most famous nature poets – William Wordsworth – Nation’s Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.

A Subaltern’s Love Song by Sir John Betjeman. Classic English Poet – one of the all time well known poets… saved St Pancras Station from demolition!

The Quangle Wangle’s Hat by Edward Lear – born into a middle class family – middle child of 21 children – known for literary nonsense…. died aged 29.

If by Rudyard Kipling – one of the most well known writers of his time, won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. I listed ‘If’ as my favourite poem at the start of the tour!

And we finished with the sun going down to Yes, I’ll Marry You by Pam Ayres!

Later I joined Apples + Snakes for the World Poetry Day Mini Break with Lorna Zita.

About this event

For World Poetry Day this year, Apples and Snakes want to bring a little bit of sunshine and fun with Mozambican poet, cultural projects manager and international Slam Champion Lorna Zita.

More about Lorna:

Lorna Zita is black, spoken word poet, cultural projects manager and international Slam Champion. She represented Mozambique on Digipoem ‘’Zimbabwe’’ and BBC Contains Strong Language in the UK.

She was the second-place winner of the Maputo-Katembe literary contest “The bridge that connects lives” organized by the CCMA and the German Embassy.

In 2020 she was considered the most influential voice of Voices of African Women by I, Africa and currently has two Digipoems Published in partnership with Page Poetry Alive and the British Council.

In 2018 she won the literary contest, organized by Revista Literária Inversos in honor of the International Children’s Day at Feira de Santana in Brazil.

This workshop had limited places and I lucky to get one!

It was great to meet Lorna and to see some familiar faces in the group. I admire anyone who can produce a workshop in their 2nd language and I am so glad that we were treated to a poem in Portuguese at the end to hear first hand why Lorna is the SLAM champion that she is!

It was a great way to spend World Poetry Day and I now have a little stash of ideas to write from, some prompts, one incredibly concise poem and have had a good refresher on the use of voice in performance.