Check out the Boundless Inspiration Project at
Poets Who Blog Interactive.

The Soup to Nuts Progressive Dinner is being held Jan. 30th.

You can travel from blog to blog, reading posts on a variety of subjects, while you enjoy cyber cocktails, appetizers, soups, main course, dessert, and after dinner party.

My writing group, Brand New Aspiring Writers, is hosting the first course. These are the poets who submitted:

Scott the Poet offers the poem If A Promise.

Check out draft by Black-eyed Susan.

You can read God Wears Wrath by Thomas K from The Sporadical.

Please visit these poets and leave them comments.

You can read the rest of the submissions by stopping by Fallen Words.

Read S. Thomas Summers

One of our poets is the Poet of the Week at Poetry Super Highway. S. Thomas Summers, who blogs at Lint in My Pocket, is a published poet whose work can be read in The English Journal, 3rd Muse and other literary journals.

This New Jersey poet teaches English by day while creating poetic works by night that never fail to be thoughtful and thought provoking. His poem, Promethean Meditation, is a perfect example of how his work is both refined and intense.

You can find out how to buy his chapbooks Death Settled Well and Rather, It Should Shine by visiting his website. Please stop by and read his work at Poetry Super Highway, and support this poet who blogs.

Have you donated a line of poetry yet?

Poets Who Blog Interactive Project

How to Make This Site Work

If you like PWB and want to see it succeed there is only one thing you need to do:

Look to the right and see the section of this site titled Recently Updated. Those sites change weekly, at least. Visit them and comment. You've now fulfilled the purpose of why Poets Who Blog was born.Every other thing you find on this site is just icing, supporting the poets on the blogroll is the cake. Eat up, please!

Thank you for your continued help in supporting all poets who blog.

Your Blog Manager,


Sara


P.S. Still looking for someone to send me a column for January.

Patchwork Thursday

Want to try your hand at writing a patchwork poem?

Then visit Jilly Poet and take part in her new project.Click here for details.

Your Blog Manager,

Sara
IlovetowriteSMP@yahoo.com

Have you visited the Poet Who Blog Archives?

Alehouse, an all poetry literary journal, is now seeking submissions.


They are looking for short essays on all subjects related to poetry, plus reviews of recent publications. To receive additional information, you may send a self addressed stamped envelope to
Attn: Jay Rubin,Editor
Alehouse Press
P.O. Box 31655
San Francisco, CA 94131.

Or write the editor at www.alehousepress.com.

To send poetry to them, consider entering their 2008 Happy Hour Awards Poetry Contest. The deadline is July 1st, 2008. Click here for more information.

Collaborate?

One of our poets, Mariacristina, mentioned in the comments that she would like to see more posts about collaborating. With that in mind, I put up a new post at Poets Who Blog Interactive. Feel free to stop by and take part in our Poetic Synergy Project.


Are there other ways to collaborate you would like see come to Poets Who Blog? Leave me a comment.


Your Blog Manager,

Sara from The Shores of My Dreams

I Promise Blogroll

All I Promise Bloggers please be made aware of an update to our lists:

Susan from Black Eyed Susan

will be joining The Heart of Poet List, which includes

The Shores of My Dreams
Free Poems
Brief Poems
Poetmeister …on the road to Parnassus
Scribblings and Sketches

Thomas from Lint in my pocket will be leaving The Heart of the Poet List. He will instead join the The Poet Within List. Other members of this group:

A (De)finite Problem with (In)definite Solutions
Florescence
Mariacristina
Hues of Thought
This Girl Remembers


Would you like to join a new list? You would have to promise to stop by once a week to comment on other poets work.

Worldwide Open Reading

Blog Talk Radio invites you to call in to Rick Lupert's show on 2-10-08 and share a poem with their listeners. For the phone number and the time of the show, visit the Blog Talk Radio site.

The literary magazine Rattle is currently seeking submissions for its summer 2008 issue.

Guideline: mixed media that incorporates both visual art and poetic text into a single work, displayable on a 9”x6” page.

Deadline to submit: Feb. 1st.

For more information, visit their website.

Ever heard of Macaronic Verse?

Very simply, it is a kind of poetry where two languages are used within one poem.

Want to try writing one?

Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect challenges you to do just that. Read her post here.

PWB invites any poet on our blogroll to leave a link to their latest poem in the comments section.

Anytime you have a new work on your blog and would like to share it with our readers stop in and post your link.


Have you written a poem this week that you would like to share?

Midwest Poets

You have a few days left if you want to submit your work to the 14th Annual Juried Reading and Awards sponsored by The Poetry Center of Chicago.

This is open to poets residing in: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Poets may be unpublished or have published no more than one full-length book of poetry.

Deadline: Jan. 25th postmarked.

First place wins $1,500.

You can read all the details here:

The Poetry Center of Chicago.

Wordpress

I decided it would be prudent to sign up for the poetswhoblog address at wordpress. Though PWB is not moving to wordpress.

I will use that site only to post, every now and then, a poetry prompt or game that allows poets to be interactive. Anyone feel like playing Poetry Tag again? Have a different poetry game in mind?

Anything that happens at the wordpress site, I will mention here. That way you know when to check it out.

Right now there is a Poetry Pick and Pull going on. Play along if you're in the mood.

The wordpress site is simply a fun bonus to PWB,a dessert. Stop by here for your meals.

The Last Piaster

One of our members, the gracious Black-eyed Susan, has started a new project. Working with another poet, U.S. Parker, they have launched The Last Piaster.

The site will give weekly prompts that focus on growing your box of poetic tools. If you want to find a friendly place to explore using images, technique, form, tone and style in unique ways with your poetry then head on over to The Last Piaster.


Their first prompt is available to check out right now.

I Promise Blogroll Check In

For all the members of the I Promise Blogrolls, please answer these questions in the comments.

1.Are you still interested in staying in the program?

2.Would you like to switch to a new group?

3.Any member of your blogroll that has dropped out for the last month?


For other members of Poets Who Blog, would you like to join an I Promise Blogroll? Keep in mind this is a commitment to visit 4 other blogs every Thursday and leave a comment. You would need to be able to honor this promise to your fellow poets on a regular basis.

Your Blog Manager,

Sara

Read Mariacristina

The first poet featured in our Spotlight Series this year is Christine Swint. After reading her poem, 100 words: not a dream 2 , I was struck by how stunningly bold her work is. With a thoughtful narrative voice, this poet creates poems born of nature and truth and secrets. Read her November 11, 2007 poem titled My Last Confession to see what I mean.

Christine Swint posts her work at Mariacristina and has been featured at Poet a Day Blog.

How You Can Support PWB

In order to make this site successful there are several things every blogger who is listed on our blogroll can do.

1. Read and comment on other poets listed on the blogroll. This is the main purpose for PWB.
2. Send me poetry news you hear about that I can share with our readers. You can email me at IlovetowriteSMP@yahoo.com
3. Spread the word about Poets Who Blog in the blogosphere.

The goal of this site is not to grow the longest list of poetry bloggers online, it is instead to foster a community that will support each other's efforts to post poetry online. Though none of us can read the work of all the poets on the blogroll, all of us can stop by a few and leave a comment.

Please support your fellow poets.

The New Verse News

Does your poetry tackle political topics? Then you might want to consider submitting to The New Verse News.

Online since early 2005, with over 900 poems posted, this site focuses on poetry with a politically progressive liberal bent, or a topical nature.

Visit The New Verse News for more details on how to submit your work to them.

Hey, poetry bloggers! There is a new prompt at Word Catalyst Magazine. Check it out here.

Your Blog Manager,

Sara from The Shores of My Dreams.

P.S. Wonder what you missed at PWB last year? Check out our archives.

Thinking about adding more blogs to your blogroll? Check out a new project Anna from Free Poems came up with in order to connect poetry bloggers.

The Link Exchange

The new year is kicking off with a bang already for me. I will be starting this month by attending our First Annual Anniversary Celebration and ending the month at a progressive dinner party, The Soup to Nuts Gonzo Carnival on January 30th, 2008.

Kilroy, from Fear and Loathing, will kick off the night with a virtual cocktail hour in the form of blog enteries submitted to him at his blog. Then my writing group will host the first course a Fallen Words . Other bloggers will host the main course and the dessert. It should be a fantastic time, jumping all around the blogosphere, finding new sites to explore.

To submit a post to me for this event, email me with a link at IlovetowriteSMP@yahoo.com. You must put Progessive Dinner in the subject line. The post can be about anything you like, from a poem to a personal story to photos or advice.

You could also submit different posts to:
Kilroy, who will serve hors d'oeuvrers and drinks.

Isabella Mori will serve up the appitezers.

Anja who hosts the main course.

Fiction Scribe dishes up dessert

Only one post per course is allowed to be submitted by you. You can submit to just one course, if you want.

If you send a link to IlovetowriteSMP@yahoo.com, I will make sure you are part of the first course. But make sure you mark the subject line with Progessive Dinner, or you risk your mail being confused with a Nigerian Lottery scam or some other kind of spam.

To read more about The Soup To Nuts Gonzo Carnival, visit

Kilroy.

Write Stuff is running a poetry contest. There are thirteen poets taking part, several of who belong to PWB.

If you would like to read their poems and then vote on your favorite, head on over here.

You have until January 15th at 5pm, central time in the USA, to vote.

Take a little time and support poetry in the blogosphere today.

Spoken Word Sites in the USA

Ever thought about performing Spoken Word style Poetry? You might want to check out:

Arkansas ( Little Rock)Monthly Poetry Slams
Delaware (Wilmington)Crimson Moon Travern
Florida (Kissimmee)Meetup Group
Massachusetts (Nantucket)Poetry Slam
Michigan( Ann Arbor)Ann Arbor Poetry Slam
Michigan (Detroit) Echoverse
New Mexico (Albuquerque) Abq Slam
New York(Upper Manhattan) Meetup Group
North Carolina ( Charlotte) The Arts
Pennsylvania (Philly) Meetup Group
Rhode Island ( Providence) Poetry Slam Events
Tennesee (Knoxville)The Corner Lounge
Texas (Austin) Austin Poetry Slam
Texas (Houston) Starving Poets
Texas (San Antonio) Meetup Group
Virginia ( Richmond) Just Poetry Slam

To find out if there is a place to hear or perform poetry near you, visit GotPoetry.com or Poetry Slam, Inc


Know of another Spoken Word Poetry Resource? Leave us a message in the comments section.

January Guest Columnist

In December, we were lucky enough to have Ceridwen step up and submit a column for us. This month we need a new poet. Will you be the one?

Topics can include anything about poetry. It can be a personal experience and how you translated that into a poem. It can be about the first time you received a comment on your work online, or what keeps you blogging your poetry. It can explain how to write a certain type of poetry, be a tribute to your favorite poet, or a post that asks a question like: What if the art form of poetry was never created?

Leave me a comment if you want to be this month's columnist. Make sure you read this for more information.

Your Blog Manager,

Sara

Reading List

I've stumbled onto different intriguing ideas on other blogs in the last few days. Follow my breadcrumbs to check out:

The Twelve Poets Challenge at Black Eyed Susan's site.
100 Poems, 100 Days at Live Journal
Limerick and Haiku Prompts at Mad Kane's Humor Blog.
Operation Poem- write a poem for a fallen solider. This project needs your help!
Word Catalyst Magazine Writer's Workshop Prompt


Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.

—from “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand


List compiled by your blog manager,

Sara

Have you checked out our archives?

The word comfort, to me, evokes many different images. It is safety, security, solace. A womb, a hug, a trip back home.
For Poets Who Blog January prompt, I asked that you write a poem inspired by the word comfort. I can't wait to see who took part.
Leave your link for the prompt in the comments.
Thanks for stopping in and helping to make PWB a success!
Your Blog Manager,

Sara

P.S.

Since Read. Write. Poem. is back, PWB won't start doing weekly prompts. But you can always find some at RWP, The Writer's Island, Fertile Ground, One Deep Breath, and Sunday Scribblings.

Congratulate Poet Mom

PWB would like to congratulate one of our very own, January O'Neil who blogs at Poet Mom, for her recent win in the Robert Frost Poetry Contest.

This Salem, Massachusetts writer has been posting her work online for the last two years. From the humble beginnings of being a new poetry blogger, she has grown into a respected talent in the blogosphere and landed herself a contract with CavenKerry Press. They will publish her first collection, titled Underlife.

She sat down and recently did an interview with her local newspaper. You can read that at The Salem News.

Please stop by her blog, and send her your good wishes. Let her know that she has the support of all of our poets who blog.

Would you like to join a virtual poetry group? A brand new one was recently created by the poetic powerhouse duo of jillypoet and polkadotwitch. Take a trip over to poem to check out this poetry writing and discussion group.

I have recently started to organize the Poets Who Blog Archives. When you visit there you will be able to find links to every group poem written last year, to every poet spotlighted, and to our Twelve Day of Poetry Project.

Stop on in and rediscover anything you missed during our first year.


Thanks for all your support.

Your Blog Manager,

Sara
Our Mission Statement
Our Main Purpose
How to Join PWB

Looking for somewhere to submit a romantic poem? Shirley from The Blogsboro Poetry Club has a suggestion.

Read about it here.

PWB thanks Shirley for taking the time to share poetry news in the blogosphere.

Great news, poets! Read. Write. Poem. is back online. Deb from Stony Moss has graciously agreed to take over the site. There is a new prompt up right now. I'm thrilled to see that this poetry community will survive. It is of the utmost important that we all do what we can to keep poetry alive in the blogosphere.

Stony Moss is a member of the PWB blogroll family. I hope that all of you will consider her new leadership at Read. Write. Poem. worthy of your personal support.

Wishing Deb all the best in this new venture!

Your Blog Manager,

Sara

One Week Only Poetry Challenge

On Thursday, January 10th, you can stop by and leave a link to your poetry. This will be the only prompt given at PWB this month.

Prompt: Comfort

I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

Happy Anniversary, PWB.

Welcome fellow poets and friends! Today marks one year since Poets Who Blog debuted. I am proud to be able to say that this first year, in my humble opinion, has been a rip roaring success.

Everyone who even stopped in here for the briefest of visits has been treated to the gift of being able to, with one click, find their way to the many talented poets whose sites are on our blogroll. The goal of PWB is to encourage the spread of poetry through the blogosphere and I think that has been done in both small and large ways. A big thank you to every blogger who has helped to keep this site going with their contributions, time, efforts, and support.

PWB belongs to the members of our blogroll. Its our meeting ground, our oasis of poetic bliss, our little piece of the blogosphere where poetry reigns supreme.

Throw the streamers, strike up the band, and raise your glasses for a toast: To Poets Who Blog! (clink,clink)


Our celebration has three parts:

The Poetic Prowl Scavenger Hunt
The Poem in a Day Group Challenge and
The Anniversary Poetry Carnival.

Hope you have a great time celebrating our birthday. This place has grown so much in its short life. It is my honor to support all poets who blog.

Now on to the festivities.

PWB, at its heart, is a group effort. You may see my name at the bottom of every post but often behind the scenes there are others, working quietly but diligently, to benefit not themselves but all the bloggers on the blogroll, all our visitors and, in the greater sense, to support the art of creating poetry. I want to thank all of you who have stepped up with suggestions, advice, helpful tips, supplied me with news about poetry or helped with a project. You make this site work!

Black-eyed Susan was sweet enough to do just that when she offered to sponsor the Poetic Prowl Scavenger Hunt. She works with Color Online. I was quite impressed when I visited their site and read their goals.

Color Online has been working since 2005 to give young women a place to embrace the power of their creativity and to empower themselves through the study of literature, culture and art. If you want to help to support this cause, leave a comment at Color Online. They could always use donations of books. In the same way that it is a true gift to the world to nurture the spread of poetry, it is a blessing to all of us when our young people are given a safe place to spread their wings.

PWB is proud to have Color Online as the sponsor of this game, and happy to accept Susan's offer to supply the winner with a prize in the form of a book.


The first person who sends in their answers, who has followed the instructions exactly, will win.

Email your entry to IlovetowriteSMP@yahoo.com
Please write poetry in the subject line of your email. If I ever don't get an email it most likely because it was mistaken for spam.

Poetic Prowl Scavenger Hunt

1. Visit one blog on our blogroll under Poets. Find a poem from the first month that blog was online. Leave a comment about it. Send me a link to that poem.

2. Visit one blog on our blogroll under Linked To Us. Leave a comment on that blog telling the owner that you are visiting from Poets Who Blog and your personal thoughts on their post.

3. Visit either Read Write Poem, The Writer's Island, Artists and Poets, or One Deep Breath (you can find links to these blogs on our blogroll under About Poetry.) Create a new poem based on inspiration gained at one of these sites. Post new poem on your blog. Send me link to new poem, to the site you visited, and tell me what inspired you there.

Ready, set.....go!

Poem in a Day

Your challenge:
post one line to the following poem.

The Goal:
To have a complete poem by the time it hits midnight in Chicago, Illinois.


Spilling
by Poets Who Blog

Even hard rain can't erase
the aging stain of memory on this landscape.

The drips of time etch
scenes depicting the howls we may no longer hear.

Even a migraine can't unlace
the corset of memories.








Line one by Sara from The Shores of My Dreams
Line two by Sandy from Writing in Faith:Poems
Line three by Sister AE from Having Writ

Line four by Jodi Barone from Vines
Line five by Ralph Murre from Arem Arvinson Log

Line six by MonkeyBoy from Ming Yun

Thanks to all the poets who took part!

The Anniversary Poetry Carnival

THE ENTERTAINMENT PORTION OF THE EVENING

Turn the lights on the midway. Grab a bag of popcorn from the vendors or a gooey taffy apple. You have now passed through the gates of our Anniversary Poetry Carnival.......


A spotlight hits her. The crowd goes quiet. They wait on bated breath. A slow smile comes to her face, and all who see her know that she is thinking about it. That ancient art. That love for which the muse has fallen.

She only asks one question.“What does poetry mean to you?”

One by one they stand to answer.

Brian- Poetry
Daydreamer- what it all means
Lissa- Poetry of Words
Mad Kane- Shower Demons
Jodi Barone- love the sound of rain, love poetry
Qualcosa Di Bello- what poetry means to me
Sandy Carlson- Poetry: Let's not talk about it
Sara-What It Is
STP- Poems: Places I'm Going
UL- Writing


Feel free to leave a link to a poem or post about poetry that you wrote in the comments.

Thank you to every poet who stepped up and made this carnival a success. And thank you to all the poets who own this blog.

Hope you had time at our anniversary party. See you, same time and same place, next year. May 2008 be the year you hold your dreams within your hands.

Your Blog Manager,

Sara from The Shores of My Dreams

Poetry in America

Ever wondered if there were local resources you could tap to share your poetry? Below you will find links I have discovered that will lead you to where you can connect with poets in different jurisdictions in The United States of America.

If you know of another link, leave it in the comments.

An international list will be coming in a later post. Plus a short list of poetry clubs and poetry slams in different cities around the world.




ALABAMA Alabama State Poetry Society
ALASKA Alaska Haiku Society
ARIZONA Arizona State Poetry Society
ARKANSAS The Poet's Loft
CALIFORNIA Poetry LA
COLORADO Colorado Poets Association
CONNECTICUT The Connecticut Poetry Society
DELAWARE Delaware Division of the Arts
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DC Writers Corp
FLORIDA Link List of Florida Poets
GEORGIA Georgia Poetry Society
HAWAII HawaiiSlam
IDAHO The Idaho State Cowboy Poetry Gathering
ILLINOIS Illinois State Poetry Society
INDIANA Valparaiso Poetry Review
IOWA Iowa Poetry Association
KANSAS KansasPoets.com
KENTUCKY The Kentucky State Poetry Society
LOUISIANA Louisana State Poetry Society
MAINE Maine Writers and Publishers Allaince
MARYLAND Poetry's Here
MASSACHUSETTS The Massachusetts State Poetry Society, Inc.
MICHIGAN Poetry Society of Michigan
MINNESOTA League of Minnesota Poets
MISSISSIPPI Mississippi Writers Guild
MISSOURI Missouri State Poetry Society
MONTANA Hastings Books Hardback Cafe in Great Falls
NEBRASKA The Omaha Healing Arts Center Poetry Slam
NEW HAMPSHIRE New Hampshire Writers' Project
NEVADA Performance Poetry hot spots in vegas
NEW JERSEY The NJ Poetry Scene
NEW MEXICO PEN New Mexico
NEW YORK The Ultimate Online NYC Poetry Calendar
NORTH CAROLINA North Carolina Poetry Society
NORTH DAKOTA North Dakota Quarterly
OHIO The Ohio Poetry Association
OKLAHOMA The Poetry Society of Oklahoma
OREGON Oregon State Poetry Association
PENNSYLVANIA Pennsylvania Poetry Society
RHODE ISLAND Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
SOUTH CAROLINA South Carolina Poetry Initiative
SOUTH DAKOTA South Dakota State Poetry Society
TENNESSEE Tennessee Writers Alliance
TEXAS Texas Events & Organizations page
UTAH The Utah State Poetry Society
VERMONT Poetry Society of Vermont
VIRGINIA Poetry Society of Virgina
WASHINGTON Washington Poets Organization
WEST VIRGINIA West Virginia Writers, Inc. Blog
WISCONSIN Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets
WYOMING Wyoming Arts


If you would like more to learn about more resources for poets, please visit: Poetry Soup

Comments Needed

Prompt Posts Come to PWB

I was recently saddened to read that Read Write Poem will be closing. I have enjoyed that site. It was always fun to interact with all the poets it brought together. I commend the poet who ran Read Write Poem, and understand why it is hard to find the time to keep a project like that going each week.

I encourage all poets to check out The Writer's Island on Tuesdays. You can use the prompt posted there to inspire a poem, and link to it for other poets to read.

Poets Who Blog will step in to try and fill the poetry void left on Thursdays in the blogosphere. Come here and leave a link to a poem you have written.

Poets Who Blog Prompt One: Comfort

Check out the link post on Jan. 10th

You will get a new prompt after that for the next Thursday. Feel free to leave a link to a poem that is not about the prompt, if you want.

At the end of the month, I will decide if the prompts should become a regular part of our site. Let your thoughts be known in the comments:

Would you take part in prompts?

Do you know a site that is doing poetry prompts on Thursdays already?

Does PWB need to fill the void or is there enough prompt sites?

I haven't ventured into doing prompts here before because other sites do them much more elaborately than I am willing to attempt, but I hate to see the wonderful exchange of poetry on Thursdays end. I'm actually very torn about if bringing prompts to PWB is the right direction for us. Let me know how you feel. If your name is on the blogroll you own this site so let your voice be heard.


Your Blog Manager,

Sara from The Shores of My Dreams

"Word of Mouth coalition is trying to put together a short chap book on childhood. By looking at a moment in your childhood through a different perspective. the poems that best represent this will be assembled and sent out to those who make it to the site.

email mjwedlock84 at gmail dot com.

Please check out the site before submitting to get an idea of what we are looking for. I would like to try to get different ages up to 24. The one posted at Childhood diagram right side up is for the age of 10.

Submissions end Jan 31st.

Thank your for checking it out! - WOM"

_____

You can visit Word of Mouth Coalition by clicking here.

You are cordially invited to attend the First Annual Anniversary Celebration at Poets Who Blog on January 5th, 2008. Stop in to find links to poems on the subject What Poetry Means to Me.

Thanks for making our first year online at PWB a success. Your support of poetry in the blogosphere is much appreciated.

Hope to see you there,

Sara


If you write a poem or prose on What Poetry Means to Me send me the link at IlovetowriteSMP@yahoo.com