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!

Poetry Review Contest! Do you wish that you could get an in-depth, detail oriented review on one of your published poems from NaPo. Is your portfolio like mine, overflowing with poems with few to no reviews?

If that’s the case, this contest is for you! It’s a little different than your average contest. I’m not asking for written submission, and I’m not offering points. We’re doing classic raffle style, baby!

Check out all the information, here.

@LadySpark is hosting another vocal poetry jam! Tune in April 28th.

You’ll have another chance to earn your poetry jam badge on April 30th. This will be all day day write-in event with prompts and special surprises along the way!

Also, keep a look out for posts from @PoetryBot... They're giving out some fabulous prizes! All you have to do is complete they're... 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
  

I always find it interesting when poets gravitate towards similar themes during the month of April! Sometimes these are sort of obvious, or expected, like everyone loves a good Spring poem in April while the seasons are changing, or maybe a poem about writing itself, but sometimes these theme echoes are unexpected and a little fun to notice. This year I noticed there were several threads that circled around the themes of funerals.

Let's check it out!

@tatteredbones 's thread "full of phantoms" lends itself to some spookier themes, and one of the grittier poems in the thread is from the perspective of a speaker considering the imagined funeral of their enemy in their poem from April 19th: here

they could place your urn in their garden at the expense of their crop
because nothing but nightshade would grow there

definitely some bitter reflections there!

A little earlier on in NaPo @winterwolf0100 wrote a pantoum considering the foot of a grave - A Pantoum and a grave where the speaker is a child within an abandoned house. And @Plume also had a poem with a funeral note in the end in one of her limericks a girl from west end.

Then you have @figmoon's thread "skeleton funerals" filled with references and allusions to death and dying interspersed with other poetic themes along with @Stringbean's thread This is How a Zombie Rises which digs into several steps of a funeral - from the ceremony to the graveside.

And then not necessarily touching on funerals quite as directly but we have two March-NaPo poems based off of funeral marches. @yosh has one based on "Marche funébre, Sonata No. 2, Frédéric Chopin" and @TheSilverFox has a poem here based on a funeral march in Sergei Rachmaninoff's last concert.

I wouldn't have necessarily expected 6 different authors to touch on a few of the same themes like that during NaPo, but it does seem to happen, and I find it interesting to read those poems in conversation with each other and consider how each person uniquely brings their poetic voice to a common poetic theme.

Are there other themes you've noticed unexpectedly popping up this month? If you want to get in on the theme-action, you might consider writing an earth-themed poem for tatteredbones Earth Day Challenge. Happy writing! Or challenge your friends to a chicken-poetry duel! Happy writing!

We've all experienced the dreaded NaPo writer's block, and as we're nearing the end of the month, that writer's block monster can be even more of a nuissance! Here's threads that might help get you on your feet again, and return your hands to the type-writers!

Write the Worst Poem Thread - if you've been around the site for a while, you've likely seen this one pop up in the forums sometimes. The idea is you don't add your best poem ever, in fact you try to write your very worst! The reason this sometimes helps with writer's block is it makes you shut-down your inner critic and... just write! And sometimes the absurd, the funny, the pushing-the-envelope-a-bit-much, and the just plain weird results end up being kind of great! I've often revised a poem that I threw in that thread into something pretty neat, and it all starts with saying no perfection! NaPo isn't about writing perfect poems anyways!

Poem Spot [-On the Spot]- this thread you may not have heard of yet, but this lovely poetry idea was started by @Hannah 10 years ago, and is still a source of inspiration to me! The idea is once you click that thread, you must leave a thread in it, yes you heard me. If you click the link, you are held hostage by the thread, no escape, no excuses, a poem must be offered. Honestly, some of the most straightforward advice to getting out of writer's block fits pretty well with the idea of this thread - in order to write... just write!! Yes. It is easier said than done. But if you want another poem in your thread you'll have to write one!

NaPo Prompt Central - finally we have a real NaPo life-saver, the "NaPo Prompt Central"! Holding over 100 prompts of all different kinds, this is a wonderful resource to go to if you're feeling stuck and have no inspiration left to write with. Check it out, roll a dice, and choose a prompt! And if you have a prompt to share, feel free to add it to the list to help out another poet in need!

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness! It's time for April Madness! The competitors have been announced, the third 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 25th 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, two poets redeemed themselves to re-enter the main bracket in round three, Euphory and yosh! In the main bracket, SilverNight and niteowl face Euphory. The competition between Hijinks and yosh and myself is sure to be fierce.

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 25th. The final round will be between the two winning poets from the two sides of the April Madness 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!

The Orchard (LadySpark) is hosting several poetry jams this week so that y'all can make sure to grab your poetry jam badges before the month is up!

Don't forget, you can always host your own by posting a link on your wall and seeing who rolls through to visit! It doesn't have to be structured at all, just a meeting of the community to celebrate NaPo!

Tune in April 28th at 7pm Central Time Zone for a Vocal Poetry Jam. There's something a little different about this type of jam, everybody brings a poem they've written along with an audiorecording of themselves reading the poem out loud! It adds a great deal of dimension and vibrancy to poetry, and really helps us dig deep into how vocalizing our words can be so powerful.

On April 30th, I will be hosting an ALL-DAY Write In to celebrate the end of NaPo! This thread will be active all day and be chock full of surprises, fun prompts, and extra special celebration after such a fruitful month. I'll post the link early on the 30th (Central Time Zone).

I'm also hosting a contest to celebrate the end of NaPo and our full-of-poetry Green Room! If you're interested, you can check out more information here. Don't forget to send your list of April poetry reviews via PM to LadySpark by April 29th. The more reviews you have, the more chances you have to win some really great, review related prizes!