Confession is a strong word. 
What comes to mind when you hear it? 

Write a poem about a confession. It can be a confession you made, a confession to a priest, something you never want to confess, a legal confession, a confession made to you, something hard you had to tell someone once or any combination of the above. 

It can be a confession between you and the higher powers, or you might have your own inspiration from the word. 

​Use the word confession in the poem. 

Obsolete Item You Love

Sometimes we have a hard time letting go of things that the rest of the world has moved beyond, a VHS player, an old cell phone, a certain video game system, or something else.

​Write a poem about an obsolete item you still use and love. It can be any length and any style. 
​

Hello all you poets out there.

Happy Poetry Month 2018!

We’re all very excited for this year’s poetry month.
​The NaPoWriMo Chapbook contest is in full force with a record number of contest entries. 

The publishers of Local Gems Press will be going on tour this April, in MD, DE, NY and CT giving lectures and talks on poetry forms, and publishing.  More info on that to come! 
​
To help the many wonderful poets keep up with the 30 poems in 30 day challenge, Local Gems Press has a gift for you...
 
Below you will find this year’s FREE 30 Day Poetry Prompt Journal.

We have some really great prompts in this year’s edition of the prompt journal.

In the martial arts style known as Bagua, the numbers 64 and 8 make regular appearances--such as in the 64 hands form where there are 8 lines of 8 moves.
 
A Bagua poem applies this same principle consisting of 64 words with 8 lines of 8 words each. It should also consist of 2 stanzas of 4 lines each.
 
(For an extra challenge, try to make your Bagua poem have something to do with one of the 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching.)

This form was invented by Local Gems Press publisher James P. Wagner (Ishwa) who is both a Bagua practitioner and a poet. In his poem "Eight Palms of Bagua" you can see the poetic form as well as the fundamentals of the 8 walking palms of the martial art.



Eight Palms of Bagua

Heaven, father of all energies, swift as swords
Earth, the mother, stable, receptive, a magnetic center
Fire, all consuming, a deep center moving skyward
Water, changing, solid as ice, elusive as liquid.
 
Wind, gentle or forceful from above or below
Thunder, sudden and startling, rumbling sounds and vibrations
Lake, deep and hidden, a clear calm reflection
Mountain, internal and rooted stillness amidst endless turbulence.

~ James P. Wagner (Ishwa)

If you are interested in more poetry prompts....

Then enjoy this free 30 Day Poetry Prompt Journal!

A Renga was a collaborative form of poetry in Japanese culture. There would be a starting Hokku (often misinterpreted as a haiku) written by a literary figure, or whoever happened to start the correspondence, in the form of 5-7-5 that would serve as a prompt of sorts for the rest of the poets included in the Renga to reply to.

In the 1980's, Renshi became popular--a more contemporary form of Renga which made it possible for poets to collaborate on a Renga from all over the world. Traditionally, poets would alternate between the 5-7-5 verse and the 7-7 add on to create a series of linked Tanka. But for our purposes we will be replying with full tanka  5-7-5-7-7.
 
Hokku Prompt:

One thousand years
of Japanese poetry any
no time to learn it
 
Now your task?

Write a continuation of this opening Hokku---reply in the form of a Tanka:

5
7
5
7
7
 
Make it relate to the Hokku, a continuation, and let's keep the poem going! If you get several ideas, send them in, and we'll see which ones work with the other verses we get!
Please submit your responses to the Hokku to

otarenga@gmail.com

please include your name and a 1-2 line bio in the 3rd person.
We are going to try to string the response verses together to make a coherent and interesting Renga!

We've done this live with amazing results. If we have success with this experiment we will kick-start a new project of contemporary Renga.

Form poetry can be a great tool for prompts. With our focus on so many classical forms sometimes we forget that newer forms of poetry can be fun too!

A Fibonacci poem is a newer poetic form that bases itself off of the mathematical Fibonacci sequence.

In poetry, the sequence translates to syllable count.

The typical fib is a six line, 20 syllable poem with a syllable count by line of 1/1/2/3/5/8 - with as many syllables per line as the line's corresponding place in the Fibonacci sequence.

An example of a typical fib:

    "One
    Small,
    Precise,
    Poetic,
    Spiraling mixture:
    Math plus poetry yields the Fib."

      — Pincus, Gregory

 
However, some Fibonacci poets try to challenge themselves to make the poems go longer than 6 lines.

The Fibonacci poem, like the mathematical concept it's based on, is named for Leonardo Pisano (1170 - 1250), the Italian mathematician also known as Fibonacci . The poetry form , although recently resurfaced, in all likelihood probably goes back much earlier than Fibonacci himself as  Fibonacci is said to have found instances of his sequence used in Sanskrit poetry of the 12th century.

Gregory K. Pincus coined the term Fib in his blog , to refer to a six-line, twenty syllable version of the form. Pincus then challenged his readers to attempt the form, sparking interest in the Fib, a mention on Slashdot , and a great number of examples proliferating online as a result.

One of the most interesting things about the Fib poem is it becomes one of the useful tools for lovers of both poetry and mathematics to come together as the two disciplines are often thought to be far apart.

Test out your skills at a Fib!

The Poets' Almanac is a GREAT tool to have during poetry month and a great tool to have for when poetry month is over! Poets can never get enough prompts!

Hello all you poets out there. Happy Poetry Month 2016!

We’re all very excited for this year’s poetry month. The NaPoWriMo Chapbook contest is in full force, and there are many excited projects happening. April is a writing month for sure.
And so we have a gift for you here at Local Gems Press.
 
Below you will find this year’s FREE 30 Day Poetry Prompt Journal.

We have some really great prompts in this year’s edition of the prompt journal.
Including some prompts and instructional information on some newer, up and coming poetic forms!

These local and community publications have been an interesting topic of conversation in recent times. While many people are very excited about them, they have garnered a little bit of criticism as well.

“A Poetry Anthology from Astoria, Oregon, whose going to read that?” one might ask.

It might be true that of the many poetry anthologies out there of various topical and interesting themes such as autism, breast cancer, politics, romance, comedy and many others, a publication based on region is not going to have much appeal—at least outside of the…well, region. (Although, there are some exceptions here.)

But what someone who might ask this question doesn’t understand is just what a powerful effect this publication might have on that region and the poets within it. Each anthology, review, magazine that comprises poets on a local level is a shared experience, a community effort that enriches all of those involved in it. There are countless readings and workshops and contests. Poets love all of these, they love to read their work in front of an audience, many of them love to get critiques of their works in progress and helpful ideas on where they might go with their pieces. And for some poets, this is good enough. But many of them want to be doing it for SOMETHING. Some kind of tangible goal that they can reach to let them know they have achieved something for their efforts.

One of the interesting things about the creative arts or sports is how many people stop being heavily involved with them once they are out of high school or college. For many of them, it’s not because they lack a continued interest in the activity at hand—and in some cases it’s not even lack of time, but lack of a next step. The gap between school sports and the professional leagues for example is quite large, luckily in some places they have community leagues and teams so that those with a real interest can keep playing.

Quite a few young poets would start out with hope and promise as they got their poetry accepted in their school publications in high school and then maybe college---but like high school and college athletes normally find out when trying to reach the major leagues, poets would find that after those high school and college lit journals, there were usually no more publications out there within reach for them---the fancy elite journals having such a high rejection rate that unless you knew someone who worked there it almost didn’t even pay to bother trying.

The sad side effect of this wide gap between the elite journals and the art and lit magazines of the local colleges and high schools was that many of those poets without a next step to strive for, would simply stop writing---put their poetry in a cabinet somewhere and move in to something else with more apparent and obvious outlets for growth.

“How will this local publication advance my poetry career?” some poets might ask of a local publication—and those people are missing the point of them entirely.

Local poetry publications, like local sports leagues, fill the gap of the post-school activity.
They are not designed to make the poets inside them famous on a national or international level, but instead  are intended to inspire and invigorate the craft in a specific region—stand as proof of the work a poet has already accomplished, and provide avenues for them to encounter and interact with the work of others that they might not have seen otherwise.

But most importantly, these publications nurture and benefit the institution and tradition of poetry that has existed for thousands of years. Without poetry alive and fresh at the local level, we wouldn’t have any at the national level---and this generation’s future famous poets might be left in the dust along with the many athletes whose careers were cut short by lack of opportunity.

So love poetry at the local level, give out copies of the books as gifts to your family and friends, and enjoy being a part of the ever-growing history of poetry!