Young Writers Society

First things first, head over to the NaPo Forum! Here you'll find fellow poet's threads, information topics, and other relevant event information. To get started, create your own thread! Give it a super fun name, and if you want to get crazy— maybe a theme! To find out more about how to get started, you can always click on the 2023 NaPo Information thread. In this topic, you can read more about what NaPo is, how to get started, and what bonuses are going to be included on YWS this month to celebrate!

Next, you're going to want to head to Badge Information. In my humble opinion, the 2023 badges are the best NaPo badges we've had yet! Collect as many as you can before the month is over! Badge challenges include finishing NaPo (30 poems/30 days), commenting on other YWSer NaPo threads, and attending Poetry Jams. Can you collect them all?

Don't forget to check out what other YWSers have posted so far! The forum is already filling up with many prospective NaPoers, and we're excited for you to join us!

Keep a look out for posts from @PoetryBot... They're giving out some fabulous prizes! All you have to do is complete their... unique challenges. Last week was to see how many poems NaPoers could write in one day, but who knows what will be next!

Don't forget these things!

• Join the Poetry Jam Club so you make sure you know when a jam is happening! Or, to host your own! Remember, you need to attend 5 jams to gain your poetry jam badge!
• If you're having trouble getting started, head to the Poem Spot to get your creative juices flowing! That's right, you have to write a poem on the spot. But don't worry, I know whatever you write will be a great addition to your 30 poems!
• Take the pressure off and write the worst poem you can.
• Take part in all the fun hashtags of NaPo, #WhyNaPo, #AlphabetAnswers, #PoetryMusings, #NaPo2023, #ThePeople'sPick
  

One of my favorite things is to check out the threads that are lying quietly in wait for their first sprouts. After careful watering, poeting gardeners can feel confident that their first blooms will be plentiful, colorful, and diverse just like a flower garden. Here are some threads I'm especially excited for this NaPo! Don't worry, we'll be bringing this back every week— we've got too many amazing poets to only do this feature once!

Plume, and as for the bucket
Wow, I am just really digging Plume's thread. A lot of YWSers are doing different things this year, and I am really love the playful style of this one in particular. The rhyming schemes are impeccable, and the clever phrasing keeps you on your toes and expecting to laugh at any moment! This is definitely one to watch.

figmoon, skeleton funerals
figmoon has reccently been made featured member, and it's so easy to see why. this thread is full of beautiful imagery, amazing narratives, and fresh perspective that is really something to take in when you stop and read a few of her poems. From the title the the very last line, each piece is crafted so beautifully!

There are some poets that always return to YWS for Napo, and Cadi is one of them. Their thread, pine trees and plane trees and pavements and parks is full of poems that might be on the shorter size, but pack no less punch with their imagery and descriptive narration. Cadi doesn't need superflous phrasing, they have their poetic voice down to a science as they craft beautiful worlds for us NaPo readers. Cadi isn't new to YWS by any means, in fact, we had the same first NaPo year together way, way back in— actually, y'all don't need to know how long ago that was, haha. Suffice to say, they are a staple of YWS NaPo, and their thread for this year is just another example of how excellent their writing style is!


Okay, could we really publish this article without mentioning the queen of the poetry crew at least once? Meshugenah comes to NaPo 2023 with her thread, deluge . Just a quick scroll will show you she's no amature when it comes to NaPo, with her threads going back until 2008 (with one lost year, RIP to 2010). A member since 2004, if anyone has shaped the voices of YWS poets, Mesh is certainly on that list. Just a peek into her portfolio shows the voice that she has perfected and developed in real time on the site, as she grew herself. You can also scroll through pages and pages of constructive reviews that offer amazing perspective for poets experimenting and learning in their own writing styles. As I said in the last article, reading reviews on other works is a great way to develop your review style, but also your own writing style! You might notice a critque or observation that can apply to your own writing!

Another poet that has me checking their thread over and over is Euphory, with their thread, BLESS THE CIRCLE OF LIFE [but don't dare speak of the dead] . She just posted a whole set of new poetry that absolutely knocked my socks off. Not only is she active in NaPo thread, she's always fliting in and out of reviews and other NaPo threads to provide support and insight. Her comments are a glow of warm sunshine, but her poetry can often have a dark undercurrent with deep, shadowy imagery that leaves you feel a little bit *spooky*. The entire vibe of her thread sets a very clear tone, and her poetry just brings that tone to life with her unique story telling and poetic voice. Everytime I get a notification of a new post (yes, I have notifs turned on! And you should too!), I feel a thrill because I know I'm about to read something entirely unique and thought provoking. I haven't been disapointed yet!

Check in next week to see what other poets we feature in this series, new and old!

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness! It's time for April Madness! The competitors have been announced, the second iteration of the bracket has been released, and the judges are sitting in wait for their cue to begin debating who moves on after the April 17th deadline.

But before we get into that, let's break down what April Madness is, who's competiting, what the rules are and what's going to happen next.

What it is
A March Madness-esque style competition, where poets go head to head in a series of poetry face-offs until there are only two poets left. In each round, poets submit one poem to go against a few other YWSer's poems, with the winner moving on to the next round.

Who's competiting?

As you can see above, many of the amazing poets this month will have the opportunity to redeem themselves for round three! In the main bracket, rida is facing off against SilverNight and niteowl and Rook will be going head to head! The competition between Apricity and Seirre is sure to be fierce, and I (LadySpark) have my work cut out for me as my poem goes against Willard's!

What are the rules?
1. Submissions must be written in April
2. No set genre or length.
3. Poetry must be submitted in this thread by the deadline of each round. Please indicate that you've edited your submission if you have done so. If something comes up and you can't turn in your submission, please let me know!
4. Poetry may only be reused for the final round.

What happens next?
Competitors submit their poems by the deadline on April 17th. Judges will announce the results on April 19th. Don't forget there's also a redemption bracket!

I'm so excited to get to see everyone's submissions and follow along with the contest. There are some amazing poets competiting this year, it's bound to be an amazing month!

Good luck to everyone! This is going to be so exciting!

On the 8th of April, we had our most recent Poetry Readers discussion. Poetry Readers is a YWS club that runs a casual discussion of poems every month or so. The topic of discussion can wander from the imagery of the poem to some trivia about when and by whom it was written, to the themes of the poem and more. For this most recent discussion, we invited people to bring any poem they felt like discussing at that moment. Here are the poems we talked about:

Absences by Donald Justice
We identified several themes in this short poem, including loss and the uncertainty of memory. The imagery of flowers was pointed out as potentially being an ominous bit of foreshadowing. The mystery of the white dress in the poem was also a point of discussion: who was lost – the wearer of the dress? A mother? A bride?

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
We also discussed this classic poem! The vibrance of the imagery was noted. Images of stars, daffodils and water co-exist in this piece. Interestingly, we found the language of the poem was not hard to understand as a modern reader, despite being written a few centuries ago. One of the themes of the poem was nature’s effect on people.

Lenore by Edgar Allen Poe
You are probably familiar with Edgar Allen Poe for poems such as ‘Nevermore’. The poem we discussed, ‘Lenore’, is a poem about a death. An interesting and lyrical piece involving the use of repetition as a poetic device as well as emotionally-loaded language. (If you would like to read the poem, please note it does contain descriptions of a dead body!)

You can access the full poetry discussion in this pad. Feel free to also subscribe to the Poetry Readers club if you’d like to stay up to date on new discussions! Happy NaPo!