National Poetry Month Roundup

[Harper J. Cole]

National Poetry Month has now concluded, and it was a busy one for our resident poets!

NaPoWriMo

The month is best known, of course, for the NaPoWriMo challenge, in which 30 poems must be written in 30 days. No fewer than seven of our members managed this - links to their works are given below.

astroannie

Phil Istine

Darkkin

-xXx-

PrinzeCharming

EllaLouis

PiP

And an honourable mention for midnightpoet, who managed more than half of the target number.



Grand Poetry Challenge

This was a new event; winners of poetry challenges from the past year, as well as regular judges, were eligible to write a piece on the topic of Spaces Unseen. Twelve intrepid versifiers took up the gauntlet.

Talking Dead by Firemajic

Negative Space by rcallaci

Beyond the Fray by Darkkin

Welcome Home by MidnightPoet

Gravity Of The Uterus by Gumby

Love Carefully by TJ1985

cleave by astroannie

Lost in Translation by jenthepen

The Consummation by John Oberon

So Close ... by Chester's Daughter

Deterioration by am_hammy

Somewhere ... by Phil Istine

Special congratulations to astroannie and Chester's Daughter, who shared the 1st prize in the judge's grades, and to Firemajic, who won the people's choice poll. Every contestant received at least two votes, which says a lot about the diversity of entries on display.

Exploraform

These were introductions to different forms of poetry; amsawtell kindly guided us through five structures. Check them out below; you may find some that you haven't seen before ...

Cinquaine

Villanelle

Haiku

Ballade

Sijo

Interviews

There were interviews with three poets, two of whom are WF members. Check these out for an insight into the creative process!

Diane Lockward

Jennifer Christie Temple

R. H. Peat

Poem in your pocket

The purpose of this enterprise was to get people sharing their very favourite poems with other members; you can see some of the selections right here. Which poem would you have shared?

Other events

Of course, our regular monthly events took place as well. There was the Purple Pip Challenge, where ArrowInTheBowOfTheLord earned her first win by having the most improved quatrain, and the April challenge, where Tealynn and Chester's Daughter shared 1st place for their poems on the theme of "Suffer the Children." And let's not forget the usual wave of entries in the ever-popular Poetry forum!

So, that was the April that was. Any feedback, including ideas for next year, is of course welcome.

[Aquilo]

Good to see how it all came together, Harper! Congrats to everyone: participants, judges, hosts, and all staff working behind the scene! Great month!!

[jenthepen]

Thanks for putting the work in on this, Harper - great job!

Just one point, the names of the entrants of the Grand Poetry Challenge seem to have become a bit disjointed. On the other hand, it kinda sums up the way we felt after the judges had finished with us.



Edit: Ooops, I noticed the weird jumbled words in other posts too so, thinking it must be something to do with my computer, I went offline and then came back. Sure enough, your post looks fine now. False alarm, sorry. The joke about the judges worked pretty well, pity.