Congrats to S. Thomas Summers

Previously featured in our Spotlight Series, S. Thomas Summers is a poet whose work never fails to be anything less than carefully composed and brillantly crafted. Reading a poem by him is like swimming in a ocean, with each word another wave that adds more and more depth to the experience. Currently he has two poems featured at 2River View.

Click here to check out Dialogue Between Rescued Dogs by S. Thomas Summers and Gas Station Men's Room- RTE 17, Paramus, NJ by S. Thomas Summers.

Send your comments to him by dropping by his blog Lint in My Pocket.

Visit Poem

Do you have a favorite male poet? Stop by Poem and let them know who it is.

Is anyone interested in joining a I Promise Blogroll ? I know several of you mentioned wanting to be on one but I haven't created a new list in a few months.

There is a spot available on The Pay It Forward I Promise Blogroll.


Lissa from Just Writing Words has left that list, due to personal time commitments, so if you would like to replace her speak up. Lissa is more than welcome to rejoin another list at a later day if her schedule opens back up.

If anyone else has questions or concerns about thier I Promise Blogroll or the program in general feel free to leave a comment.

Have you given PWB your five minutes this week? Today is the last day to visit the Featured Poets of the Week. Please stop in and comment at one of the sites, if you haven't gotten a chance to earlier this week.

Thanks for making PWB work.

Visit Poefusion

Everyone revved up for National Poetry Month? Looking for prompts to help you write a poem a day? Then head on over to Poefusion where there will be a new prompt every day in the month of April. Tell them PWB sent you.

Prompt Site to Check Out

Need inspiration for a poem or short story? Cruise on by Three Word Wednesday. I used that site to really kick my writing into gear last fall. Tell Bone that PWB sent you.

Have you visited Every Poet lately? I just stumbled upon it today and it seems to be a great resource. Know of any poetry resource you'd like to tell our members about?

Leave a comment and let us know.

Did you know you can find poetry at You Tube?

Check out poet laureate Billy Collins work by going here.

In the United States and Canada, April is National Poetry Month. Read about the history of NPM here.

Make sure you stop by PWB as much as you can next month because we will be featuring a new poet everyday. If you want to be part of this project then read this post.

If I get more than thirty entries to my inbox, then I'll keep this project going into May.

Call Out For Fiction Writers

Spread the word Poet Who Blog has a sister site for fiction writers. If you write fiction and blog about your work online then check out the just debuted Writers Who Blog.

Soon I will add some posts about publishing news. I won't dedicate as much time and work to WWB as I have PWB. But I thought it was time to put the site up and see if fiction writers would like a spot to gather like us poets have here.

I don't start these sites to benefit myself, though they do inspire me and help me to meet a variety of talented writers, I start them to encourage the creation of poetry and fiction. Everyone needs a boost once in a while- a kind comment, a prompt that inspires, a place to read about the craft they love. Its the gas that can keep an artist going, I believe.

We'll see what happens with Writers Who Blog. It may soar or never get off the ground. I do thank everyone who made PWB a success. A little over a year ago this site was launched and I never knew what it could become. I'm proud to work for you and be your blog manager. I hope you're proud to be a member of PWB.

Our Second Tag Poem is now complete. Though it did not prove to be a total success like our First Tag Poem, which can be read here.


The Second Tag Poem started on Feb 26th. when I posted the first line. The following poets took part:

Line two written by Sara who posted at PWB Interactive
Line three written by The Phantom
Line four written by Michelle Johnson and posted atPoefiti
Line five written by Ren Kat who posted at Side Stepping Read
Line Six written by Mariacristina
Line Seven written by Lirone from Words that Sing
Line Eight also byMariacristina
Line Nine also by Lirone
Line Ten also by Sara from PWB.

The rule was you could take part more than once but not twice in a row at the same blog.

A big thank you to all the poets who took part. You made this a lot of fun. Our Goal was nineteen lines but we only made it a little over halfway. Maybe our next tag poem will do better. You can read more group poems at PWB Archives.

Now, without further adieu, I present to you the PWB Second Tag Poem:

Gasping for breath,
like this is the end.

Losing the light,
now I can’t pretend
fireflies don’t fear
a glass jar deadend.

Beating on the glass
my silent aria rends
the doubtful mist.

I am the ghost, caught in your fist.

April is National Poetry Month.

There is a program similiar to National Blog Posting Month where the idea is to post a poem on your blog everyday during the month.

If you decide to take part in NaPoWriMo then head on over to Read Write Poem to find support and other poetry bloggers who are taking part.

Click here to visit our friends at Read Write Poem.

April 18- 20th an international celebration of diversity will take place worldwide. Read more about Love Poetry Hate Racism at this blog. Or check out this article.

You can bring this cause to your hometown. If you want to organize something visit:
Love Poetry Hate Racism's page at myspace.com

PWB Honors World Poetry Day

Greetings, poets near and far. Today we pause and take a moment to pay homage to this art form we love.

All around our world there are poets honing thier craft, reading the greats, discovering new favorites and finding inspiration in the extraordinary and the mundane.

The following poets share their words with you today as PWB's way to bow down and give thanks to poetry. Please take the time to stop by these blogs and check out their contributions.

Europe


Head over to Poet's News Scrapyard to find Dániel Dányi's poem Sopianae.
Antoine Cassar from Muzajk shares his poem C'est la vie.
Go to The Marching Band Emporium to read
Inside a Sleepy Grin.


North America

Qualcosa di bello from Write Away offers Spring.
Catherine from This Girl Remembers shares her poem On Mass and Matter.
two of us, riding rainclouds submitted for you to check out: Couplet.
jeff aka the phantom and jodi aka paisley have collaborated on this poem She.
UL of the blog Typing Away contributes for this carnival the poem Moon Like Beauty.
Stop by Poetic Leanings to read Scott the Poet's poem: Jersey Shore.
Pamela Olson from Amputated Moon has been kind enough to share with us her poem Spanish Guitar.
Writer Woman, your blog manager, from The Shore of My Dreams offers I write therefore....



Thank you to every poet who took part in this! You've made World Poetry Day at PWB a beautiful expression of our adoration of this craft.

Lift your glasses as our carnival ends and toast "To poetry!"

Word Catalyst Magazine has a prompt to honor National Poetry Month. Check it out by clicking here.

Read about the first Mobile Poetry Archive created by Poets.org by clicking here.

Writer's Digest Suggests

From the WD newsletter comes this writing prompt.

A Poetic Moment

Write a 16-line poem (rhyming or non-rhyming) about a moment from your childhood that changed your life for the better.

Post your response in the WD Forum by clicking here. Your poem must be less than 500 words.

I updated!

Leave a comment and link if you added a new poem to your site and would like PWB members to check it out.

Ever heard of a vlog? Its a video blog. Anyone here have one? Here's one you can check out. You can watch poets read their work at poetryvlog.

Mad Kane's Humor Blog has a new prompt up. All you limerick and haiku writers check it out here.

Poem Four from the Jigsaw Project

Marked

That smudge on the page -
was it your thumb or mine
that added a signature of sauce?

The smear sends me into daylight
dreams of the dishes we made together,
when we set aside our different styles
in attempts to banish our hunger.

My longing sings solo
into the hush of the house,
as echoes surround me.

Your hands captivate me
as they transform flour to bread.
Your hands sure in the process,
their cumulative talent honed
by many loaves.

My attention is splintered
by that simple stain.
The conundrum of choosing
a recipe now leaves me
with a tannic aftertaste.




by sister AE from Having Writ

Note from PWB Manager,
Thanks, sister AE, for sending in your poem to share.

If others want to take part in the Jigsaw Project then head here to read how. Make sure when you send me emails that you mention PWB in the subject line.

Poem Three for Jigsaw Project

community property

reticent recalculation
splintered undertow
cumulative accoutrements
captivated greedy souls
tannic words, acidic glares,
soft sweaty lawyers hands
the dog, the cat, the bedroom set
a hushed conundrum of demands
fateful longings, shattered dreams,
no account for banished trust
their culminated life together
court dissected upper crust

By Jodi from
Why Paisley
Inkpot
Just Paisley
Secret
Pearls Before Swine

Note from PWB manager,
Thanks for taking part in this Jodi and for all your constant support of PWB and its members.

Poem Two for Jigsaw Project

But still dreams

I

That splintered mind
longing for the world of normal
cumulative pain myself and I

but still dreams


II

Damn riddled conundrum I am
wish I could captivate the one

Tannic, tart
– the one


III

Together –
banish
and hush


– James Steerforth (© 2008) from

Steerforth


Note from PWB Manager,
Thanks for sending in a poem, James.

Poem One from Jigsaw Project

Hush, hush, my love,


don’t splinter the silence
of this tomb
within my captivated heart
where I have made you mine....

a prisoner of what we were
and there you shall stay
remain
banished to this place

so that my dreams won’t die.

Don’t think its fair?
So what is ever
fair?

You walked away with her,
together there
in your majestic grace,
and thought you could erase

what we were?
what we were?
what we were?

Cumulative dreams do chase
you down
and bring you round my side once more.

Hush, hush, your longing to escape.
Hush, hush, that tannic awful taste
that invades your mouth.

Blood in.
Blood out.


My love, you’re mine.
Hush, hush, it’s fine.

And all the promises you’ve made me
will never come
undone.

You’d rather leave? And to your new love run?

Hush, hush, you’re wrapped in my conundrum.




By Sara from The Shores of My Dreams

This is a jigsaw poem. If you would like your jigsaw poem posted at PWB, head here and read the post and comments for instructions on how to play along.

Have you visited one of the Poets listed under Featured Poets of the Week yet? Support them and you support PWB.

Go Green!

Over at this blog Milou, a nine year old from South America, is celebrating World Poetry Day by asking for links to poems about activism to save the earth. Stop by, leave her a link, and tell her PWB sent you. She is a member of PWB and posts at Poetry 4 Kids.

Jigsaw Poem

Donate one word to be used by other people in a jigsaw poem. Once we have at least ten words I'll make a poem of them and post any other poems other poets create.

Leave your word in the comments.

There is a poetry party going on at Abbey of the Arts. Stop by and check it out. Say that PWB sent you.

Stitch a Poem

Have you checked out the Patchwork Poetry prompt site yet? Cruise on over and see what they are cooking up for this week.

Check out Word Catalyst Magazine

This message is for all PWB members and poetry lovers from our friends at Word Catalyst Magazine :

At Word Catalyst Magazine we are focusing our efforts in April on National Poetry Month. We will begin with a word of advice and encouragement from a very prestigious Poet Laureate along with an award winning essay that will be published for the first time in Word Catalyst. And, of course, we will hear from the many fine poets who offer their best to Word Catalyst each and every month along with some new voices.

If you're a poet, it's your month to shine... so let's party! Send your submissions to editor@wordcatalystmagazine.com by the 25th of March to be considered for publication in April. Please put poetry in the subject line.

I would also like to announce that Word Catalyst will be publishing a chapbook anthology of selected works from our first year of publication. Publication dates and ordering information will be available in the magazine soon.

By the way, If you have linked to Word Catalyst Magazine, let us know and we will provide you with a link in return on our brand new links page. And, while you're there, why not check out our short stories, art, photography and excellent prose by our monthly columnists.

Thank You,
Shirley Allard, publisher/editor

Most of the submission info in listed below if you want more.

Shirley Allard, publisher/editor
Word Catalyst Magazine
An online magazine located at
www.wordcatalystmagazine.com

Comments or questions : editor@wordcatalystmagazine.com
Short Stories/Fiction: bobchurch@wordcatalystmagazine.com
All Other Submissions : editor@wordcatalystmagazine.com
Technical Issues: harryfurness@wordcatalystmagazine.com

Published the first week of each month.
Deadline for submissions is the 25th of each month prior to
publication.

Support Word Catalyst by visiting our products page.

For the last five years New York City has found a special way to honor poetry during National Poetry Month by celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day. This year the event becomes a national one, promoted at poets.org It is sponsored by by the National Council of Teachers of English and the American Booksellers Association, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and others.

April 17th, 2008 has been declared this year's Poem in Your Pocket Day, the idea for each person to carry a poem around on that day to share with friends, family, classmates, co-workers and others you run into. I think its a wonderful way to spread the love of poetry.

What poem do you plan to share?

Click here to read an article by Boyd Tonkin, Why poetry still matters.

Tonkin writes for The Independent, a daily newspaper in London, England.

Have you visted 32 poems lately? Click here to see how to submit your work to this poetry magazine or order a subscription.

Contest

Indiana Review is holding a poetry contest. Click here to read all about it.

Congratulations, Tiel Aisha Ansari!

Poets Who Blog wishes to congratulate Tiel Aisha Ansari who recently had her collection, titled Knocking from the Inside, published with the poetry imprint Ecstatic Exchange. To buy a copy, visit here. To read more of this poet's work, stop by her blog.

Use the comments section to send her your well wishes.

A Political Bent

Ever thought of using your words to support a cause? Depending on your personal beliefs here are some ways you can do that:


Operation Poem- the goal is for a poem to be written to honor each American solider killed in Iraq.

Protest Poems to support Freedom of Speech- read more about this at Got Poetry.com

Poets Against War- this site is using poetry to speak out against the war in Iraq.

To support War Child, an international child protection agency working in southern Iraq, write a personal antedote about something you've been through and submit it by March 9th to bloggersforcharity@yahoo.co.uk to be considered for the collection titled You're Not the Only One, part of the proceeds go to help War Child. To find out more details visit here.

Just say Tag

Our poetry tag poem is halfway done. Do you want to help to finish it?

Here are the instructions you need to follow, and also post at your blog should you take part.

Be the first to post TAG in the comments. Then take these lines and add one, in a post on your own blog, along with these instructions. Whoever adds the nineteenth line then takes the poem to Poets Who Blog and puts the whole poem in the comment section there. Each person who plays need to also mention what site you were at when you found the poem so that other bloggers can follow the breadcrumbs back to this poem. You can play more than once but not twice in a row.

The tag poem was last at Words that Sing.


Gasping for breath,
like this is the end.

Losing the light,
now I can’t pretend
fireflies don’t fear
a glass jar deadend.

Beating on the glass
my silent aria rends
the doubtful mist.

I am the ghost, caught in your fist.






Who's gonna tag it?

World Poetry Day Carnival

March 21st is World Poetry Day.. To honor this PWB will be holding a poetry carnival.

To take part, send an email to IlovetowriteSMP@yahoo.com with the words poetry carnival in the subject line. Included in your email should be:

Your name as you want it to appear in my post.
The continent you live on.
A link to a poem you wrote.

On March 21st, I'll do a post with all the entries as PWB's way of celebrating the occasion.

Make sure you let me know in your email that this is for the World Poetry Day carnival so I don't confuse it with the enteries sent in for our National Poetry Month project. That is why I also am using two different emails for each project.

Your Blog Manager,

Sara

New Prompt Site

For fans of One Deep Breath, which sadly ended its run on Feb. 24th, there is a new prompt site to check out.

One Single Impression is co-founded by Sandy Carlson, who this week is a featured poet at PWB for her other site Writing in Faith: Poems.

Head on over to One Single Impression and read about thier first prompt.

Have you visted the online poetry journey Poemeleon? Published bi-annually since June of 2006 each issue focuses on a specific theme. Covered so far have been prose poems,ekphrastic poetry and poems in form. The next issue will be filled with persona poems. It is set for release in June 2008.

To submit to Poemeleon, please visit their guidelines page for instructions. Click here to visit Poemeleon.

Poetry Aloud

Wired for Books offers you the chance to hear many poems recited by their authors or fans of the author.

Most notably, Martin Sheen reads My Country Awake by Pultizer Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore and Robert Pinsky, who was the US Poet Laureate from 1997- 2000, reads three of his poems. You can also hear interviews with Maya Angelou, Allen Ginsberg, and many others.

Click here to visit Wired for Books:Poetry Online.

Looking for more poetry?

Ever in the mood to read even more poetry? Then check out:

The Blogsboro Poetry Club
Bolts of Silk
15 words or less

and for something really unique, drop in and check out the mixed media site ZNE Art & Poetry.