On Vacation!

Things seem to be slowing down here at poem. It's summer in our neck of the woods, and everyone is working on "summer brain." To give the poets we feature the most "exposure," we think it would be a great, relaxing, standing in the surf kind of idea to take a wee summer vacation.

We'll see you in September!

Time to post your own sleep poems

Now is the time for all good poets to post their sleep poems!

If you wrote a poem in response to Dorianne Laux's How to Sleep, please leave a link to your poem in the comments section. Please be sure to poke around and read some other sleep-inspired poems while you're at it!

To sleep, perchance to poem...

I guess the soothing repetition of this week's poem lulled us into a poetic sleep here at poem. This is our second week , and, were we not asleep at the wheel, we might have posted sooner to remind you that this is the week you contemplate Dorianne Laux's How to Sleep and the poem it might inspire you to write.


Read How to Sleep again. Copy it by hand into a journal before you fall asleep and see if you dream a poem in response. Did you enjoy Laux's long drawn-out phrases? Try your hand at some of your own. What is your own prescription for sleep? How do you prepare for the "veil of ethers"?

If a poem about sleep isn't your cup of (sleepytime) tea, how about a "How to" poem?

Whatever you are inspired to write, stop by next week and post a link to your poem! We'll leave the light on for you!

Dorianne Laux's How to Sleep

It's a brand new Sunday in a brand new month, so that means a brand new poem for us to discuss! This month, we invite you to read Dorianne Laux's How to Sleep. Just click on the name of the poem to follow the link to Verse Daily.

Take the poem to bed with you. Read it as you fall asleep, read it the minute you wake up in the morning. Trouble sleeping? Sit up in the middle of your tossing and turning and read the poem aloud.

Stop by all this week and discuss the poem with your fellow poets/sleepers.

June's week four free-for-all

Things are still pretty quiet over here at "poem," but we're chugging along. The fourth week in our virtual writing group represents the closing (networking and sharing) segment of an IRL writing group. So let's wrap up and begin looking forward to next time:

• What do you think it would be like to go on vacation with other famous poets?
• What's on your reading list when you go on vacation over the next couple of months (summer for the northern hemisphere)?
• What kinds of conflicts do you face as a writer when the line gets blurry between poet and narrator?
• What ideas do you have for "poem" in the coming months?

It's a free-for-all!

Call for poems

It's time to show us how Kelli's poem and the discussion inspired your own writing this week. Post your links here in the comments section and then wash up on the shore of your fellow bloggers' poems. See you soon!

(If you need to catch up, you can read "Vacationing with Sylvia Plath" -- and join the discussion, which is one we're still thinking about -- and then use the writing prompt to get you going on your own piece.)

Time to write your own poems!

This month's poem, Vacationing With Sylvia Plath, by Kelli Russell Agodon, generated quite a bit of lively discussion! Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughtful comments and critique!

This week, it's your turn to write a poem. Read Vacationing again. How does it inspire you? What images come to mind? Do you have an ocean memory? A vacation memory? What are the little things that pull you under? Perhaps, as we suggested, you spent some time with Sylvia Plath. What did you discover while hanging with Sylvia? How was your time together/vacation?

Whatever this month's poem inspired in you--write it! Then, come back next week and share a link to your poem.