It's officially Oct/POEM/ber!
Throughout the month of October, join other poets in this monthly challenge designed specifically for poets by Michigan Poet Donny Winter. Participants will be challenged to write one poem per day for 31 days.
After the challenge is over, participants can submit their work to the Friends of Roethke. Submitted poems will then be reviewed, and some will be selected for publication on our website.
What is Oct/POEM/ber?
Back in 2019, Donny grew envious of artists and fiction writers because of the many monthly challenges for them to participate in (like Inktober and NANOWRIMO). So, he decided to create a monthly writing challenge for poets and thus, Oct/POEM/ber was born. Each year throughout the month of October, Donny challenges himself and other writers to write one poem per day not only for the fun of it, but to also expand their content and improve their craft.
Ways to Participate
Open up a word document or notebook and just start writing! Some writers benefit from having guidelines, whereas others benefit from not having any, so there are two tracks for completing Oct/POEM/ber:
The Prompt Track provides you a daily prompt to follow.
The Independent Track is self-guided and expects you to write a poem per day without the assist of prompts.
How to Submit Your Work
Your poem has a chance to be PUBLISHED! After the challenge, submit your work to info@friendsofroethke.org with the subject line “Oct/POEM/ber Submission”, from November 1 until November 2024. The Friends of Roethke Foundation will review poems submitted by participants and select a number for publication on our website. If your work is selected, you'll receive an email from info@friendsofroethke.org with further details. If your work is not accepted, you'll receive an email thank you for your participation and interest.