for the entire month of december, i’ve volunteered to write a poem-a-day for tupelo press’ 30/30 project. tupelo describes the project like this:
Welcome to the 30/30 Project, an extraordinary challenge and fundraiser for Tupelo Press, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) literary press. Each month, volunteer poets will run the equivalent of a “poetry marathon,” writing 30 poems in 30 days, while the rest of us “sponsor” and encourage them every step of the way.
you know how much i love writing in community, and so you can see my funny mug and the mugs of all my co-conspirators on the project’s contributors page. i’m very excited and a little nervous. when i was married and staying at home with my boys, i used to write a lot more frequently than i do now. but what fun would writing at all be if it were easy?
there are a few ways you can cheer me on while i attempt it and support a terrific press:
- subscribe to the annual series (put “carolee” in the ‘comments’ field);
- donate to the press via credit card (scroll down to form, put “carolee” in the ‘honor’ field) or paypal (click the button, put “carolee” in the ‘message’ field) and/or
- share these instructions/links with everyone you know via email or social media.
the subscriptions are great gifts for your favorite people and for yourself. i’d love it if you took the plunge this month with me. and the donations? literary presses are gems, and tupelo does great work. put the press on your list of places to be generous? (yes — tupelo asks the poets who are writing to help it fundraise; it’s the purpose of the project. i am as guilty as so many others out there in that i don’t often make to support the things that are important to me. i am happy to have the chance with this project.)
so today is only day 1. i’ve done enough of these poem-a-day challenges to know day 1 is difficult… but not as much so as day 19. and so i’ll just keep chuggin’ away and crossing my fingers and hoping that if i write a real stinker you’ll understand. they’re just drafts, and in many cases, they’ll be drafted on the fly.
i was able to spend a little more time with today’s piece than i will in the future. it gave me the chance to work in some rhyme. for an early version? that’s pretty wild for me… and so today’s draft — “december sonnet #1: garland” — is live at the 30/30 project’s web page (which is updated with new poems a couple times each day) with the contributions of my fellow poets. here’s a preview from mine:
… we are only what we can pull out of the night:
full-color dreams, silk scarves from The Magician’s sleeve.
there’s an amazing variety of styles and voices already. go check ’em out!
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