Apr 20 #AprPAD #NaPoWRiMo

Day 20 I’m glad I pre-announced this on yesterday’s post as It’s another day “down the rabbit-hole” and I’m looking for that tidbit that will make me “big” again …

A Quick reminder – I will be one of 10 poets reading this Sunday (Earth Day) at Garden Poems at Gaiety Hollow. Event is 2-4 pm at Salem’s Gaiety Hollow (across the street from Bush House) and is the Mid Valley Poets Assn’ first Poetry in Performance event for this year. I’m attaching the flyer with the details.

So -Only ten days to go on April’s Poem-A-Day challenge! Let’s get to it!

Today’s prompt is “write a sestina”

A sestina is a very formal format with 6 stanzas, ending with a seventh stanza called the envoi. The first stanza, with 6 lines (in preferably iambic pentamenter) sets the six end-words for the next five stanzas – with a prescribed order that they appear. And the envoi incorporates all six endwards into its final three lines. You see why I usually write free verse!

You can find how to write a sestina at Poets.org and a more simplified approach here on Wiki-How.

And to keep track of the order of end-words there are a few online generators around, such as Rena’s Sestina End Word Generator or Dilute.net’s Sestin-a-matic.

My first (really rough) draft? I’m not quite happy with it yet, but I think it’s a good start. It should be in iambic pentameter but that’s the next tweak in polishing (and polishing PAD poems takes place during May!) …

Other PAD challenges are …

Robert Lee Brewer’s Apr PAD challenge (Twitter, search #AprPAD.)
The official NaPoWriMo / GloPoWriMo Challenge. (Twitter, search #NaPoWriMo2018)
The Poetry School NaPoWriMo challenge.
WORDxWord 30/30 challenge on their blog.
Moore School 30 Day Poetry Challenge – a list of prompts for National Poetry Month.
Contemporary Verse 2 2-Day challenge. is a twist, it takes place April 14-15. Registration closed.
Camp NaNoWriMo – for those wanting help starting another novel …