Gavin Bennett's Blog: 2015 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 5

I’ve been writing narrative poems this month. It just so happens that Poetic Asides regulars Jane Shlensky and Nancy Posey are assembling an anthology of narrative poems with a February 20, 2016. If you write narrative poems, you may want to have a look at submitting your work. Click here for the submission guidelines.

For today’s prompt, write a festive poem. It doesn’t matter the occasion, and the festivities can just be the backdrop for the poem. Remember that even a sinister story like Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” happened during a carnival time. So no matter the mood, write with festivities in mind.

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Re-create Your Poetry!

Revision doesn’t have to be a chore–something that should be done after the excitement of composing the first draft. Rather, it’s an extension of the creation process!

In the 48-minute tutorial video Re-creating Poetry: How to Revise Poems, poets will be inspired with several ways to re-create their poems with the help of seven revision filters that they can turn to again and again.

Click to continue.

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Here’s my attempt at a Festive poem:

“Trick or Treat”

Of course, Halloween took on a more sinister mood
in the days after Wilcox went missing. Of course,
parents shadowed their children closer than ever.
Walt could feel it as he ran outside and down the street
to the old clubhouse. Marcus texted for Walt to meet
him immediately, no questions asked–as if he had any.

“Trick or treat; smell my feet; give me something good
to eat.” He heard the song that he once sang, but there
seemed to be a somber silence for tonight’s festivities
as if a ghoul might strike out of the shadows at the first
crack of a smile. Walt ran harder and was out of breath
when he reached the clubhouse to do the secret knock.

Marcus threw open the hatch and said, “Get up here;
I know it’ll sound crazy, but I just had a wild idea.”

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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of the poetry collection, Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He edits Poet’s Market and Writer’s Market, in addition to writing a free weekly WritersMarket.com newsletter and a poetry column for Writer’s Digest magazine.

This is his eighth year of hosting and participating in the November PAD (Poem-A-Day) Chapbook Challenge. He can’t wait to see what everyone creates this month–not only on a day-by-day basis, but when the chapbooks start arriving in December and January. Fun, fun, fun.

Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.

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