Gavin Bennett's Blog: 2015 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 8

I hope everyone is having a great poeming experience so far this month. I know each day has been a bit of a surprise for me.

For today’s prompt, write a submerged poem. When I first think of submerged, I usually think of water, but folks can also be submerged in work, depression, and even happiness. Heck, a person could be submerged in about anything–even pillows or marshmallows, I suppose.

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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 Submerged poem:

“The Carter House”

They were submerged in darkness as they cut out of
the old clubhouse. Walt and Barbara had to be convinced,
but Marcus was convinced this was the thing to do,
and Eddie just wanted to do anything remotely insane.
So they ran and walked and complained, but eventually
made it to the foot of the hill leading up to the Carter house.

“Why are we here again,” asked Walt. “Because this,” started
Marcus, “is where Jesse used to always do all his crazy stuff–
like set off bottle rockets, shoot his BB gun, and hide
his nudie mags.” “Eww, gross,” said Barbara, as Eddie said,
“Awesome!” “So, why are we here,” asked Walt again.
“Because if Jesse had any crazy plans, they’d be here.”

Just then, a light turned on in the Carter house, though not
a house light–more the light of a lantern or a disembodied orb.

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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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