National Poetry Month is not until April but preparations are already underway in Calloway County. WKMS is celebrating by broadcasting original short poems every day for the fifteenth year of Poetry Minutes. This year, we're inviting anyone ages 13 on up to write poems in 60 words or less, to be broadcast as Poetry Minutes.
The theme of gratitude is the centerpiece of this year’s Poetry Minutes, and writers of all experience and skill levels are invited to take the challenge to write short poems of 60 words or less.
Submit your poem now?
Constance Alexander, award-winning writer and poet from Murray, will guide the selection process of poems to be broadcast.
Suggestions about format and process are below.
“Calloway County has led the way in Kentucky, regarding the celebration of National Poetry Month,” Ms. Alexander said. As far as I know, WKMS is the only radio station to broadcast original poems by listeners young and old, and this year we are adding other poetry events and activities to ensure that people who want to get involved will have a comfortable way to do that.
On March 30, Murray Art Guild is offering a workshop that invites participants to make their own handmade book and publish an original poem in the handmade book. Artist Justine Riley will coach the bookmaking part of the workshop, and Constance Alexander will facilitate the poetry writing. For more information, Poetry Minutes will begin broadcasting on Monday, April 1.
Want to submit your poem now?
Tips on writing poems:
There are scores of short poems that make us think, laugh, remember, or reflect in some way. Some of my favorites are by the 20th century Puerto Rican American poet, William Carlos Williams:
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens. (16 words)
This is just to say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold (28 words)
The great figure
Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
firetruck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city. (31 words)
These poems do not rhyme, but they contain strong images with effective use of color, visual image, sound, touch, smell, precise word choice, and tone. In writing your own short poem about gratitude, you might follow the same line length and stanza breaks that Williams uses, and see how making forced choices inspires you to craft a message with a limited number of words.
Some may insist that poems have to rhyme, but that is not the case. Forcing a rhyme, in fact, sometimes dilutes the clarity of the poem, sacrificing meaning for rhyme.
Check out these links to see other examples of very short poems:
https://learnodo-newtonic.com/famous-short-poems
https://bookriot.com/2018/01/19/short-poems/
