PassionPoetry Newsletter

Issue 24
March 2009

~In This Issue ~

PassionPoetry Announcements:

Here are some announcements about poetry and creative writing in Artella Land:

1. Ready to make a living doing what you love? An amazingly diverse group is assembling for the new Complete Idealist's Blissness Action Camp Program, which begins this coming Monday. From writers to artists, singers to teachers, coaches to MDs, we've got a great group of creative entrepreneurs ready to finally make a living with their creativity.

The Complete Idealist's Blissness Action Camp begins this coming Monday, March 30, and there's only a few days left to sign up for the Pilot Program and save over 1/2 off the regular price, in exchange for your feedback on the course. You can get all the information about the Pilot Group, here! Every new course we offer only gets one pilot group, and the last date we are accepting purchases of The Complete Idealist's Blissness Action Camp Pilot Program is March 31, 2009. At that point, the Pilot Program is permanently removed from the Artella Store and the workshop will be sold at full price.

We also still have a few scholarship slots left, so if you've thought about being part of all the fun but the cost was of concern, we do encourage at least applying for a scholarship since it is a quick, easy process, and we try to get back to you with an answer usually within 24 hours. You can get all the Scholarship info, here.

The Complete Idealist's Blissness Action Camp pairs five fun and dynamic live teleclasses with an unprecedented super-packed list of "Blissness FreeBees"…designed to help you and your just blossoming business get Queen Bee-sized amounts of the "buzz" that has become vitally essential in today's marketplace. Artella's Complete Idealist Blissness Action Camp is currently the only workshop in America that actually helps MAKE your goals a reality by giving you tools, services, and opportunities that can't be found anywhere else for both launching your blossoming business and even more importantly, for MARKETING it powerfully, continually, and widely.

So if you read through the series description and the power-packed FreeBees list, and you get that deep-down excited feeling about what is truly possible, then I hope you'll join us. I can't wait to work with you live on our first call on Monday! (If you can't make the call live, don't worry - they are all recorded for you to enjoy at any time!)!

I'd love to work you and your wonderful creative "blissness"!

2. April 30 next Poetic Idol Deadline! The deadline for the next Poetic Idol Competition is April 30, 2009. You can submit up to 3 poems, and win groovy prizes (including the $200 top award). We've sponsored this contest for several years, and it continues to be one of the most exciting things that happens in Artella Land! Once again, the voting will be done by the Artella Community! Make sure that you get your poems (you can submit up to three) in by midnight EDT on April 30, Submission details are here. Good luck!

Please note that contestants winning 1st, 2nd, or 3rd prize in Artella's Poetic Idol will be ineligible to win another top prize (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) in the following 12-month period. All other prize winners remain eligible for all Poetic Idol Prizes. Poems previously submitted to any other Artella contests are not admissible.

3. New Artella goodies for Writers! Here are the latest additions to the Artella Store to inspire the poet in you:

• NEW! Artella's Metaphor Machine — this booklet contains a fun, unique tool to spice up your writing! Ann Parks said, "Aha! this is the "gentle shove" I needed...Thanks for this tool to put in my apron pocket and get busy!"





• NEW! Artella's PicturePrompt Passion: Unique Prompts for Art Journaling - We've taken the best "PicturePrompts", which are distributed weekly as part of the Luxury Art Journaling Cabin Membership, and laid them out in a new, beautiful eBook!





• NEW! The Art Journal Journey e-magazine! The first three issues of The Art Journal Journey e-magazine, published monthly as part of the Luxury Art Journal Cabin, are now available individually! Each issue is at least 50 pages of art journaling inspiration, presented in an animated Flash format. Take a look at some sample pages, here!
  





• Artella's AlphaBetter Muse Workshop!This inspiring e-course is getting raves from artists and writers, alike! Meet a friendly family of 26 Muses who are ready to lead you through an unforgettable journaling journey of self-discovery, inner healing, sacred inspiration, creative fun, and all-around BETTER living!

4. Final Days for Art Journaling Member Ship "Sail" — We've designed our Luxury Art Journaling Membership so that it's equally applicable for both artists and writers. Writer Kate Chadbourne wasn't sure if this was the membership for her, since she wasn't an "artist". But she's been thrilled with her membership:

"I love: THE WHOLE THING. It is juicy, fresh, and exciting to get these treats in my box every week. As I've told you, I really like the combination of words and images in the picture prompts. I can't emphasize enough how impressed I've been with the way the questions "read" and probe the pictures. Time and again I open them eagerly and find myself saying, "Well! How clever! And how full of feeling!" I look forward to the audio every week and save time to enjoy your words and inspiration. And I'm thrilled by The Art Journal Journey which provides a dose of pure visual pleasure. Love the quotes, the section header pages (the design of which I study with appreciation), and the mix of articles. I read the whole thing, cover to cover. More than once!"

If you're interested in signing up for The Art Journal Luxury Membership, note that the last day for The Muse Cruise "Sail" is Wednesday, April 1. So there is still a bit of time to hop on board, when you sign up for more than one Luxury Cabin, each new Membership is permanently locked in at just $5.00!

5. Don't want to miss anything? If you want to be sure to be the first to know about everything happening in all corners of Artella Land, sign up for the Artellagram with your current email address. Then you'll be sure to get all the exciting announcements during 2009, plus all the regular fun stuff that comes in each Artellagram, like art projects, creative writing tips, interviews with artists, and more! (Take a look at our new, inspiring format by checking out the current Artellagram issue, here!)

By Marney K. Makridakis

One of the lessons in my new e-course, Mixed Media ME-flections: 30 Self-Portrait Projects to Change Your Life, presents a challenge to create a self-portrait based on a phrase written in this format:



I ___________ the world, the world ________ me.

For example, my self-portrait shown here is an illustration of the phrase, "I paint the world, the world paints me."

This very sentence can also inspire some interesting poetry! Try it: fill in the blank in the following sentence with the FIRST thing that comes to mind:

I ____________ the world, the world _______ me.

Then repeat this at least a dozen times, so that you have at least a dozen sentences, i.e.:

I challenge the world, the world challenges me.
I flirt with the world, the world flirts with me.
I take care of the world, the world takes care of me.
I cuddle with the world, the world cuddles with me.
I question the world, the world questions me.

Now you have some wonderful fodder for poetry! Pick one of these sentences and create an entire poem around it, or keep your list as-is, but add other phrases to mix up the rhythm and structure.

This exercise works great with any poetic phrase that you like. For example, try it with the phrase:

It was a ___________ ago

For example:

It was a river ago
It was an oak tree ago
It was a baby's giggle ago
It was a whisper ago

You get the idea! Give it a try, and I invite you to share your results in the WordPlay forum in the newly-renovated Artella Café, right here!

Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers.

In today's recording, Artella Founder Marney Makridakis shares tips for opening yourself to new layers of creativity by creating mindlessly.

To listen to the recording, click here!

This recording is an example of the recordings sent out each and every week to Luxury Art Journal Members. Get more information about The Art Journal Membership for artists and writers here!

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Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends!

If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it’s really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-plaza.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle!

See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter

Issue 21
April 2008

• PassionPoetry Announcements
• Feature Article: "Altered Poetry"
• Feature Recording: "The Altered State of Writing "



PassionPoetry Announcements:

1. Vote for your favorite poem and get a free eBook! ! The 12 Finalists for Artella's Poetic Idol Competition have been posted, and they are ready for your votes! You can read the poems at this link. To view the poems and vote, simply join the Cafe, if you have not already done so (it's fast and free - just click "Join" in the upper-right corner of the screen).

When you vote, you'll get to download a free copy of the eBook, Writing the Carousel: going full circle in colorful poetry writing. Whether you're a beginner or experienced poet, if you run through this process, this eBook will give you some fun new tips for spicing up your writing! And all you have to do to get your free copy is select your favorite poem. The voting ends May 15. The winners -- including the $200 top award -- are completely up to the Artella Community, so your vote counts!

The next deadline for the Poetic Idol Competition is June 15, 2008, so you have plenty of time to write and polish your poems. Get Poetic Idol entry guidelines, here!

2. Congratulations to our most recent winners! Since we sent out the last PassionPoetry newsletter, the following winners have been selected for our free PassionPoetry contests. You can read the winning poems in The Poetry Gardens.


January 2008 PassionPoetry Winners:
• 1st Place: Kate Chadbourne
• 2nd Place: Carissa Wilbanks
• 3rd Place: Kelly Athena Richards
• 4th Place: Carol Moore


February 2008 PassionPoetry Winners:
• 1st Place: Lindy Carol
• 2nd Place: Dr. Niama L. Williams
• 3rd Place: Catherine Sullivan
• 4th Place: Carol Moore


March 2008 PassionPoetry Winners (to be posted in the Poetry Gardens soon!):
• 1st Place: Carol Moore
• 2nd Place: Brandi S. Henderson
• 3rd Place: Carol Ayer
• 3rd Place: Tara Douglas-Smith

Congratulations to all these talented writers! Remember, you can enter our free PassionPoetry contest every month, and we've recently updated our prizes for this free contest. See the new prizes, and get the PassionPoetry Contest entry guidelines, here.

3. Artella's New Blog Writing Contest! Since the beginning of the New Year, we have been sponsoring a weekly Topic of the Week for our talented Artella Cafe Bloggers! At the end of the week, the Artella staff chooses their favorite post, and that blogger receives a terrific prize!

If you do not yet have a blog in the Artella Cafe, it's easy to start one! All Membership Levels get a free blog with their Membership. And if you're new to blogging, since the Artella Cafe is all about making creative spirits comfortable and inspired, there's simply not a more supportive, encouraging, and user-friendly place to host a blog anywhere online.

To see both the current Blog Topic of the Week, as well as previous topics and the responding posts, go to this forum.

4. Poetry Blossoms in the Artella Cafe! And speaking of the Artella Cafe, if you haven't stopped by recently, you're missing all kinds of wonderful opportunities to dive deeper into your love of poetry. The Word Playground Forum is full of opportunities for collaborating and sharing group poetry. It's tremendously inspiring, whether you simply read the contributions or add your own writing, yourself! And the Novel Ideas Forum is full of great opportunities for sharing and connecting with others -- including the extremely popular 10-Minute Friday Poems With a Buddy project. Come join in the writing fun!


Feature Article:

ALTERED POETRY by Marney Makridakis

Here in Artella Land, the artists talk a lot about "altering", which basically refers to the creative act of taking something and changing it…to create something entirely new. We alter books, clothing, jewelry, furniture…not to mention Artella's latest invention of Digital Altered Books™. If you're primarily a writer, you may not have much of an interest in "altering"…but I encourage you to think again! Altering poems, to create new poems, is a fascinating activity that is sure to stretch your poetry-writing muscles in new ways.


You can alter your own poems, or the poems of someone else. Here are some favorite suggestions on how to write "Altered Poetry", using, as an example, Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" as the original poem. Try some of these exercises, and then post your altered poetry creations, here!



1. Discover a new poem in an existing one by highlighting select words. For example, I created the following short poem by highlighting words from Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day":
   
   The original:
   
   Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
   Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
   Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
   And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
   Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
   And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
   And every fair from fair sometime declines,
   By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
   But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
   Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
   Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
   When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
   
   
   So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
   
   
   My new "found" poem:
   
   Art may lease a heaven
   When eternal time breathes long
   
   
2. Take the last line of an existing poem, or a portion of the line, and make it the first line of a new poem your write. (Note: if you publish this poem in any format, be sure to give proper credit for the original source of the first line) For example, I could start a new poem that beings:
   
   
   This gives life:
   A perfectly round circle
   I drew without thinking
   
   if I squint
   I can see the twirl of the earth
   within
   
   
3. Select one word, at random, for each line of the original poem and write them in a column. Create a new poem by filling in the lines.
   
   For example, I could create this column, based on Shakespeare's first five lines:
   
   Day
   Lovely
   Rough
   Short
   Gold
   
   
   And here is the poem I could write, to fill in the blanks:
   
   
   Day come, day gone
   Lovely tango in the sky
   
   Rough patches
   Short distances
   Gold sunset punctuates it all
   
   
   These are just a few suggestions for creating Altered Poetry. The nice thing about this exercise is that once you've created altered poems, they can either stand alone, or you can use them as inspiration for new works. For example, if one of these exercises yields a line or phrase you really love, you can build a new poem based on that one.
   
   What are your favorite altered poetry techniques? Post them, here!



Feature Recording:


"The Altered State of Writing: Tips to Enter the Flow" by Jill Badonsky

Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers.

In today's recording, Jill Badonsky shares tips for yet another kind of "altering" - that is, altering your state of mind so that you can tap into truly flowing writing.

Click here to hear the recording.



Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends!

If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-plaza.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle!

See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter

Issue 18

View this issue on the Web by clicking here

PassionPoetry Announcements
Feature Article: "How to Write the Perfect Love Poem"
Feature Recording: "If not you, WHO?"


PassionPoetry Announcements:

1. Free Event Tomorrow Night - Interested in Getting Published? We are so excited about the different events we've been presenting as part of the Artella Member Ship Creativity Cruise Series, that we thought we'd open the next event to everyone, and not just Members, just so you can get a sense of how nifty these events are!

So...you are very cordially invited to join us for a truly exciting panel on "Getting Published", to be held TOMORROW night (Thursday, August 23) at 8:30pm Eastern Time.
 
You'll get to meet seven published authors who will be there to answer your questions about all types of published books, including traditional publishing both with and without an agent, self-publishing, and e-Publishing.

This is one of our highlighted summer events, and we are honored to have such notable published authors on the panel, including:
 
• Kathy Cano Murillo, author of five books, including Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul (Rayo/HarperCollins), and La Casa Loca (Rockport)
• Janice Taylor, author of Our Lady of Weight Loss (Studio)
• Jill Badonsky, author of The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) (Penguin) and the forthcoming The Awe-manac: A Daily Guide to Creative Brilliance and Agelessness (Running Press)
• Karen M. Jones, author of The Difference A Day Makes (New World Library)
• Dan Gremminger, co-author of Deep River Dark, a self-published children's book
• Constance Bates, author of Supping On Roses, a small press poetry compilation
• Alicia Forest, successful online e-publisher

While the Creativity Cruise events are usually just for Cabin Members, we've opened this one to be free for one and all. Space is limited, so reserve your spot here, and I'll see you tomorrow night!


2. REMINDER: Next Poetic Idol Competition Deadline Is August 31! Perhaps our most important announcement is that it's Poetic Idol time again, which means that you can submit up to 3 poems, and win great prizes (including the $200 top award). For the last Poetic Idol, we tried something a bit different: the winners were determined by the Artella Community, who voted on their favorite Finalist poem in the Artella Cafe. This was such a hit that we're doing the same thing again. So make sure that you get your poems (you can submit up to three) in by midnight EDT on August 31. Submission details are here. Good luck!

Please note that contestants winning 1st, 2nd, or 3rd prize in Artella's Poetic Idol will be ineligible to win another top prize (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) in the following 12-month period. All other prize winners remain eligible for all Poetic Idol Prizes. Poems previously submitted to any other Artella contests are not admissible.

3. Congratulations to our most recent winners! We are very excited to announce these winners who were chosen by the Artella Community in the most recent Poetic Idol Competition:
• 1st Place -- Kevin Craig
• 2nd Place -- Dee Hedani Andrilla
• 3rd Place -- April Johnson
Special Recognition Awards went to Vicky Chavis, Michelle Retterath, Michael Strayer, Kenneth Mowery, and Christopher Angell

Read these wonderful winning poems in The Poetry Gardens.

4. Artella Land is a Great Place for an End-Of-Summer Vacation! Summer is coming to an end, but the vacationing doesn't have to stop. In case you haven't seen it yet, there is a brand new Artella Land, a collection of Inspired Isles that are filled with creative destinations, including the new Artella Cafe community spot (with several forums for writers!), lots of new goods available in the new storefront, the new Artella Member Ship Online Creativity Cruise, and much more! We hope that you enjoy exploring all of the fun nooks and crannies!

5. Poems in Artella 10 Getting Great Reviews! Our latest issue of Artella, "Body of Art: passion & projects of universal creation", is creating a lot of excitement among writers all over the world. We've posted a few sample pages so that you can get a glimpse of what this issue is all about! Congratulations and thank you to all the PassionPoetry readers who have work published in this issue! This 40-page, full-color, 100% ad-free magazine is just splashing with poetry and all kinds of other creative goodness.

6. Writing and Poetry Celebrated Every Day in the Daily Muse The Artella Daily Muse is the only daily creativity newspaper in the universe, and it's full of relevant information for the writers in the Artella community. The cornerstone of our features for writers is the "Write InStyle" section, which features a new article for writers, every single day. The daily poem in the "Poem and Garden" section is bound to inspire, and there are 18 other daily features that are designed to help creative individuals live fuller, more inspiring, more joyful lives. You can try out a free two-day sample of The Artella Daily Muse, or enjoy one of our three Cruise Cabins, all of which include a daily subscription to the newspaper!


Feature Article:

How to Write the Perfect Love Poem
by Adam Bell

It is easy to express your true feelings and thoughts in free verse rather than rhyme. You don't need to be a Shelley or Shakespeare to write a great love poem. All it takes is sincerity, a little effort, and a loving feeling.

Steps
• Write a page of standard prose, as fast as you can, about how you felt the first time you saw your loved one, how you felt the first time you knew you were in love, and how you feel right now about being together. These three moments in time will create the structure of your poem.
  
  
• Replace any weak verbs with stronger verbs and any pronouns with proper nouns. Words depicting taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound work really well for love poems.
  
  
• Reread your passage and pick a central metaphor to tie the three moments together. Choosing a metaphor is the most challenging part, but don't hesitate to be wild with it. An opening flower is a tried and true metaphor for love, but a slow-motion explosion in reverse or a baby's first step might work even better.
  
  
• Rewrite your passage using the metaphor to describe the three moments.
  
  
• Read your page out loud, changing anything that sounds off to you. Make notations where you feel there's even the slightest pause in the flow of writing.
  
  
• Write the poem on paper, putting a line break where you made the notations.
  
  
• Type the poem neatly or write it in your best handwriting. Consider framing your poem. Your loved one may want to keep the poem as a memento!
  
  
• Read the poem out loud to the person you love, or wrap it in special wrap, and present it as a gift for her or him to open when alone.
Tips

You're not trying to write the "Greatest Poem Ever". Your poem is for the one you cherish the most. What matters is that it's personal.

Sit in a quiet room, and think about your "love", how you feel when you are together, and apart. Think about what you miss most when you do not see each other, and how you feel when you again see each other. As you ponder this, write your thoughts and feelings. Poetry should come from the heart, and your heart and your thoughts will create a love poem based on you and only your feelings.

There's no need to be intimidated by complex rhyme schemes. Remember, most contemporary poetry doesn't rhyme. Former Poets Laureate Robert Pinsky and Louise Gluck and current Poet Laureate Ted Kooser all write poetry that does not rhyme.

The best writing advice is simple: omit needless words. One strong verb steamrolls any three weak ones.

Poetry and almost all artful prose is about how the words reveal your feelings. Take time when you read your writing out loud to yourself, and see if you feel what your words are saying. If they stir up emotion within you, be assured they will do the same for the person you are writing it for.

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Adam Bell shares a collection of love poems at http://lovepoemcentral.blogspot.com.
Article Source: www.theleadingarticles.com


Feature Recording:

Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers.

In today's recording, you'll hear Karen M. Jones (founder of BenevolentPlanet.com, and who, incidentally, is one of the panelists to appear in the "Getting Published" Event tomorrow night) offer an encouraging approach toward getting your creative work out there.
 
It is called "If not you, WHO?: How to Turn the Odds of Success in Your Favor".
 


Play it here:


 

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Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends!

If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-plaza.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle!

See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter

Issue 17

View this issue on the Web by clicking here

PassionPoetry Announcements
Feature Article: "Why Poetry?"
Feature Recording: "Bridging Prose and Poetry"


PassionPoetry Announcements:

1. The New Artella Land Launches! In case you haven't seen it yet, there is a brand new Artella Land open for exploration! The new Artella Land is a collection of Inspired Isles that are filled with creative destinations, including the new Artella Cafe community spot, lots of new goods available in the new storefront, the new Artella Member Ship Online Creativity Cruise, and much more! We hope that you enjoy exploring all of the fun nooks and crannies!

2. Vote for Your Favorite Poem! The 12 finalists for the most recent Poetic Competition have been posted. For the very first time, the Artella Community is doing the selecting to determine who wins the top prizes (including the increased $200 top award)!

If you read the poems and vote for your favorite, you get a free literary-themed collage sheet. Read the poems at http://artellacafe.com/forums/t/768.aspx. (Note - you must have joined the Cafe in order to reach this forum link. It's quick and free to do so!)

After you have read them all, go to http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-vote.html to cast your vote.

You may only vote ONCE, and for one poem, so be sure to read all the poems before you vote. Artella reserves the right to disqualify votes if we find that any individual has voted more than one time.

The voting closes July 31. Thank you for participating in this exciting community event!

3. Next Poetic Idol Deadline Is August 31! You can submit up to three poems in the next Poetic Idol, and once again, the winners will be chosen by the Artella Community. Make sure that you get your poems (you can submit up to three) in by midnight EDT on August 31. Submission details are here. Good luck!

4. Artella 10 Is Overflowing with Poetry! Our latest issue of Artella, "Body of Art: passion & projects of universal creation", is creating a lot of excitement among writers all over the world. This 40-page, full-color, 100% ad-free magazine is just splashing with poetry and all kinds of other splendid goodness. Congratulations to all of the readers of this newsletter whose work is in the issue!

5. Announcing our latest winners! Congratulations to the winners of the May/June PassionPoetry Contest:
• First Place -- Kelly Athena Richards, "The Hearth"
• Second Place -- Sonja Smolec, "Silver Bells"
• Third Place -- Victoria Luwisch, "Feel Again"
• Forth Place -- Sarah Yang, "Hidden World"
You can read their winning poems in Poetry Garden 0507. Don't forget - you can submit one poem a month, every month, in our ongoing free PassionPoetry contests. Get those pens writing!

6. Interested in Getting Published? One of the perks of having a Deluxe or Luxury Cabin aboard the Artella Member Ship is that you get free admittance to all of the events in the Summer 2007 Online Creativity Cruise Series! There are lots of events planned for the rest of July and August, as you can see on the Cruise Events Calendar, and one of them is a "Getting Published" panel to be held on August 23. Published writers in all genres will be there to answer your live questions! If you already are a Member, you can login to the Showroom with your username and password to get more information and to reserve your spot. Or find out more information about the Member Ship, here.

7. Do you read tne news every day? The Artella Daily Muse, that is! The Artella Daily Muse is the only daily creativity newspaper in the universe, and it's full of relevant information for the writers in the Artella community. The cornerstone of our features for writers is the "Write In Style" section, which features a new article for writers, every single day. The daily poem in the "Poem and Garden" section is bound to inspire, plus 18 other daily features that are designed to help creative individuals live fuller, more inspiring, more joyful lives. You can try out a free two-day sample of The Artella Daily Muse, or enjoy one of our three Cruise Cabins, all of which include a daily subscription to the newspaper!


Feature Article:

So...Why Poetry?

Oscar Hammerstein, the lyricist of great musicals like The Sound of Music, Carousel, The King and I, and many others, said that songs in musicals are effective when you can sense that the character could not express herself in any other way but to break out into song. He cautioned against placing songs in musicals just for the sake of doing so, but rather to use the song as a way to move beyond ordinary speech.

I think when we choose to write poetry, we should keep the same thing in mind. There is a difference between writing a poem for the sake of writing it, and consciously selecting the poetic format because what you want to say will not be as effective if written in prose.

As I was pondering this idea, I posted a question in the "Novel Ideas" forum in the new Artella Cafe. My question was:

Why do you choose to write something in poetry, rather than in prose? How is the experience of writing poetry different from writing anything else? How is the experience of reading poetry different from reading other written forms?

The answers were wonderful, and I wanted to share a few excerpts from them, here. Perhaps these words will inspire you the next time you begin writing poetry, to consciously choose poetry...opening a door for the words to choose you.

Constance Bates wrote:

I write poetry under three main influences -- pure emotion; an event or situation; a word or turn of phrase that grabs me. There is a clarity to poetry -- at least the sort of poetry that appeals to me, and the kind I write. Take an idea, an emotion, a complaint, a moment in time, a life, and you could write pages, or volumes. Writing poetry, you distill, choose each word with care, not just for its "meaning", but also for its nuances, its rich history, and how it rolls from the tongue. In poetry (this is not original), every word carries its weight.

"poeticjava" wrote:

I write in poetry because as weird as it sounds, that's the way I think when, like Constance, something hits me emotionally.  When I write, I can feel where a line should stop or where a word would be better placed -- there are very few poems that I re-write because since I write based off of emotion or thought, I just let it roll onto the paper and when its there, I'm done.  Using poetry as therapy both in facilitating workshops and on a personal level, poetry reaches to the heart of the matter for me quicker than anything else. Poetry is more concise, more magical, getting to the root of the situation - almost immediately.

Goya Toledo wrote:

(I write in poetry) because poetry is the instant. Poetry is a mask. Poetry is my silent heart. It is a mental state that becomes a written text. Poetry could be short, it goes with the fast epoch we live in...with the obscure times. Every poem could be a sketch of precise lines that evoke confused, ambiguous states of being; or it is a protest to the world; or is a vision or a desire....or a single memory, a tree or a story painted with words....and colors and music and not many details. When I write poetry I write myself. "Eventually you see me," says Atwood. The act of writing in prose, for me, fosters narrative tension, strategies (like the uses of dialogues and others techniques, etc.). Prose for me is more multivalent. Prose broadens the text in regard to voice and perspective while simultaneously expanding its temporality.

You can read the entire discussion, and add your own thoughts, at http://artellacafe.com/forums/t/578.aspx. Come hang out with these thoughtful writers!


Feature Recording:

Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers.

For today's recording, Artella Founder Marney Makridakis presents "Bridging Prose And Poetry", in which she discusses one of her own story poems, "Rolling Colors: a true story", which appeared in Artella 8: The Dreamworld.

Listening to the recording, here!

Download a PDF of the poem in its printed form, here!



Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends!

If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-plaza.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle!

See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 16 Happy National Poetry Month! ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Feature Article: "The Performance of Poetry" Feature Recording: "The 672 Month Pregnancy" Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: 1. New Changes for April's Poetic Idol Competition! It's time for the Poetic Idol Competition again... This time, however, we're going to do things a bit differently. Our wonderful panel of judges (and no, we don't have a Simon amongst them) will choose the finalists, and then the Artella community will actually choose the winners of the contest. That's right - YOU (and everyone else in Artella Land who chooses to join in the voting) will select who wins the new grand prize of $200!  Because of the continued increase in entries, we are expanding the prize money and increasing the number of entrants who will be awarded a prize.  And all the winners will be determined by the votes from the Artella community! Details on voting will follow, but in the meantime, make sure that you get your poems (you can submit up to three) in by midnight EDT on Monday, April 30th.   It's National Poetry Month, so it's the perfect time to get writing! Submission details are here. Good luck! 2. Announcing Our Latest Contest Winners! Congratulations to the winners of the March PassionPoetry Contest: First Place: Sandy Keefer, for "Wish List" Second Place: Julie Loi, for "You" Third Place: Suzanna Bond, for "That Night We Prayed" Fourth Place: Lucy Rolf, for "Are you falling in love, you say?" Their winning poems will be posted in the Poetry Gardens shortly, so be sure to take a look! Don't forget -- you can submit one poem a month, every month, in our ongoing free PassionPoetry contests. Get those pens writing! 3. Artella has free gifties for writers! Have you visited Artella's Free Creativity Seeds page lately? There are 25 gifts for you there, including special goodies for writers, like the booklet 101 Topics and Triggers for Explorations in Collage and Writing; a 5-day sample of the "Writes and Passages" e-course; a Reading Room full of resources; and more. Check out the list of goodies here! 4. Do you read the news every day? The Artella Daily Muse, that is! The Artella Daily Muse is the only daily creativity newspaper in the universe, and it's full of relevant information for the writers in the Artella community. The cornerstone of our features for writers is the "Write InStyle" section, which features a new article for writers, every single day. The daily poem in the "Poem and Garden" section is bound to inspire, plus 18 other daily features that are designed to help creative individuals live more full, inspiring, joyful lives. You can try out a free two-day sample of The Artella Daily Muse, or enjoy one of our three Membership programs, all of which include a daily subscription to the newspaper! There's a Membership for everyone, and when we work on the newspaper every day, we make sure to remember our beloved Artella poets!   5. Work with Marney in person!  If you are an artist as well as a poet, you may be interested to know that Marney will be presenting both the keynote address and a full-day workshop called "The Blissness Plan Art Journal" at the Art Unraveled mixed media art conference in Phoenix, Arizona this August.  See the above links for all the details, or if you have any questions about the Blissness Plan workshop, please feel free to email Marney. Feature Article: The Performance of Poetry by Dominick Montalto           Poetry [the written text of a poem] originates from a place of emptiness, from a silence in an undefined space. The performance of a poetic text--by which I mean the silent reading of the work--exposes the silence that encompasses the speaker/reader of the text. The silence that is evoked in contrast to the clear and singular voice speaking is analogous to the voice of God in the act of creation. His voice speaking all things into existence amplifies the center-less and un-circumscribed space that He occupies in reference to that which does not yet exist. Essentially, the poetic voice is one that is peripheral to all things. Poetry is fundamentally a speaker speaking and the voice heard in the quiet of the reader's mind as the reader reads the text. Ultimately, the voice reading the text is simultaneously the voice speaking/writing/performing the text. If a poem is written well, the reader's voice (silently reciting the poem) will be the defined, particular voice of the speaker and consequently it will be the voice with which the author desires the reader to hear/read the poem.           Poetry is a choreographed performance. Poetry is art. A poetic text is a thoroughly revised and edited text before it is published. Thus, the poem that one reads is deliberately structured and shaped into the form in which it appears on the page. This implies a certain objective construction to the text. The speaker is "created": artistically, poetically rendered to wear the mask that the author bestows upon him. What I am trying to emphasize is that poetry as it appears in its published condition is a fiction. Technically, unless the author assumes ownership of the speaking voice in the text, there literally is no speaker. The speaker is the poet's creation; he or she is a fictional byproduct of what it means to write a text for public consumption. This has much to do, I believe, with why readers of poetry often confuse the narrative voice with the author's voice. In my view, poetry should be objective, as much as this reality is possible, when it appears in print. This means that the starting point of writing the text is subjective, a personal creation, but what the poet's final work should contain little or none of this subjectivity. There should be limited use of the pronouns "I" or "my". In this way, there will be little if any confusion as to whether the speaker is a fiction or the poet speaking. There are also two further reasons why poetry should aim to reach an objective stance.           Poetry should strive for an objective textual form and voice because it then accomplishes a major, if not the single most important goal of art--expression of the realities concerning the human and cosmic condition. Poetry, like any type of art has as its function the recognition of universal truths concerning the human race and its relationships with God, the cosmos (Nature), society and culture, and oneself. There is no better poetic text or work of art, as I perceive it, than that which accentuates the larger scheme of things and man's position in this scheme. The best work of art or poetry is that which shows the reader or spectator to himself; consequently, one hopes this takes him or her and lifts them out their experience of isolation from the rest of humanity and the world and shows them they are not alone. This is the aim of any form of art in its service to humanity, culture, and society.            The other reason why poetry should strive for an objective texture concerns its fidelity to itself. The creation of art entails an erasure of the self; this blotting out of the artist /poet's ego allows the work of art or poem to achieve a timeless and universal nature. This then enables art to occupy that peripheral, self-sufficient sphere from which it operates: a realm outside of the practical, mundane, and everyday. This is what I mean by art and poetry's fidelity to itself through its attainment of an objective shape and form. If an artist or poet's self (ego) is found in their work, this marks a limit and boundary to the goal of objectivity for the sake of uniting the reader's/spectator's experience of the world with that of art: that despite appearances and other superficial differences, all humans are ultimately the same. If a poet represents himself in his work, he risks not reaching a majority of readers because his existence, though human, is different in a variety of ways to which many readers may not relate. This is the major hazard behind the subjective basis of poetry from which I believe true poetry begins but should not end. True poetry should become transfigured through the poet's imagination and dynamic use of language and move towards a poetic text that objectively, albeit with compassion and a sense of beauty, seeks to make tangible the nature of reality, and the human condition that progresses as it declines in the midst of that reality. Dominick Montalto lives and works in Queens, NY, as a part-time English professor. "I am a poet and critical prose writer whose literary interests include the 19th Century in Britain and France, particularly the Gothic, Romantic, and Decadent, even Symbolist poets and authors of the period. I have been writing poetry for just over 15 years, and have several publication credits in both genres within the last year." Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers. This week's recording is presented by Constance Bates, and is titled The 672 Month Pregnancy: Giving Birth to Supping on Roses: A Sampler of Fiction & Poetry.   You can listen to Constance's journey about publishing her poetry at this link: http://www.artellaland.com/SuppingonRoses.mp3 Lyrical Links: This isn't a poetry-related link, per se, but instead, it's a resource to help make your everyday life flow in a more lyrical manner. If you go to www.lifeorganizerbook.com, you'll find a very helpful resource in Jennifer Louden's free journal and audio recording, which are samples from her book, The Life Organizer. Helpful for finding more peace in between writing poems. You'll find a huge collection of "idea generators" at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. The site may be a bit confusing to navigate, but once you figure out some favorite generators, you may enjoy using them to help prompt great writing ideas. One note of warning: seeing what the generators create is very entertaining, and becomes addictive after a while. So if you're using this as a writing tool, it can be distracted. Be careful not to get carried away with clicking...instead, keep writing. Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 15 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Feature Article: "Three Reasons Why a Regular Meter Dash Will Help You Stay in Shape" Feature Recording: "Setting Son" Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: 1. Announcing Our Latest Contest Winners! We've got two sets of winners to announce! All of the winning poems mentioned here can be found in the Poetry Gardens, so be sure to visit the Gardens to read their fine poems. Congratulations to the winners of our most recent Quarterly Poetic Idol Competition, ending January, 2007: First Place: Matt Beatty, for "The cristening" Second Place: Karen Stone, for "Mermaid Heart" Third Place: Deborah Gilchrist, for "Passing" Honorable Mention Audette Sophia, for "Alchemicalogic" Mark Moss, for "November" Brenda Silberman, for "Lineage" Dawn Richerson, for "Splinter" Christopher Angell, for "Flower Shop"   We're also happy to announce the winners of the PassionPoetry Contest for the combined months of December 2006/January 2007: First Place: Carl Palmer, for "dinner theater" Second Place: Melissa Kulhanek, for 'Winter Tale" Third Place: Jennifer Adkins, for "Feeling the Green Grass" Fourth Place: Erica Staab Westmoreland, for "Surrender" 2. Next Contest Dates! The next deadline for the Poetic Idol Competition is April 30, so be sure it's on your calendar. And don't forget - you can submit one poem a month, every month, in our ongoing free PassionPoetry contests. Get those pens writing! 3. Do you read the news every day? The Artella Daily Muse, that is! The Artella Daily Muse is the only daily creativity newspaper in the universe, and it's full of relevant information for the writers in the Artella community. The cornerstone of our features for writers is the "Write InStyle" section, which features a new article for writers, every single day. If you have an entrepreneurial side, the "Blissness" section will be a treasure trove of resources. The daily poem in the "Poem and Garden" section is bound to inspire, and there are 18 other daily features that are designed to help creative individuals live more full, inspiring, joyful lives. You can try out a a free two-day sample of The Artella Daily Muse, or enjoy one of our three Membership programs, all of which include a daily subscription to the newspaper! There's a Membership for everyone, and when we work on the newspaper every day, we make sure to remember our beloved Artella poets! Feature Article: Four Reasons Why a Regular Meter Dash Will Help You Stay in Shape by Marney K. Makridakis More than likely, you studied iambic pentameter at one point. You know, the "Shakespeare thing". True iambic pentameter consists of a line that is ten syllables long that is accented on every second beat (da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM). As in: Now is | the win-| ter of | our dis- | con- tent While we think of Shakespeare, Keats, and Chaucer as literary masters because they perfected meter, it is undeniable that most respected contemporary poetry is free verse. In fact, contemporary poetry that has a meter is very often looked down upon, thought gimmicky at best or juvenile at worst. But no matter: writing in meter, which simply means writing in a regular, repeated rhythmic structure, is a wonderful exercise to help you discover your own writing voice and style, even if your metered words never meet with another reader's eyes. Here are four reasons to engage in writing in meter regularly: It helps you be more aware of rhythm. If you're writing a poem that sings da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM, and you are filling the poem's structure while keeping that meter in your head, your awareness of rhythm becomes more finely tuned. This will spill over into all poetry you write. Even if you have no interest in writing metered poetry "for real", you can't ignore rhythm. The rhythm of a line is what makes it not just words, but poetry. So exercise that rhythm muscle by forcing yourself to hear the rhythm and fit into it. Think of it as a musician doing scales to learn the basics. It helps you stretch your use of language. When you have to fit words into a set structure, you have to be more selective about the words you use, and reach a little harder than you would if you were writing free verse. Again, this stretches your muscles and spills over into any poem you write. For example, I wrote a poem in which the meter I was following went like this: da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM I knew the thought that I wanted to convey, but I only had the rhythm right for the first half of the line. The part that I've underlined below represents the part that doesn't fit in the meter: When I thought of dolphins, tears welled up in my eyes I had to reach to find a two-syllable word, with the accent on the first word, that meant "welled up in". I came up with: When I thought of dolphins, tears crowded my eyes Exercising this kind of muscle is going to serve me well, no matter what I'm writing. It can give you some lovely phrases to use in other pieces. Mixing metered and unmetered lines is a fascinating way to approach a poem, and so if you create a metered poem in your "meter dash" and come up with a few lines you like, hold on to them. You may find the perfect home for them in a future poem. Meter can be used for specific purposes in poetry.  Meter can be used to convey urgency, emotion, timing, and much more.  In the recording below, you can see that I use a regular meter, interspersed with lines of free verse, to create the experience of  accelerating overwhelm from the little boy's point of view. The bottom line is, don't write off meter just because it seems difficult, corny, trite, or because it "isn't your style". Writing in meter from time to time is a great way to build your poetic muscles! Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers. This week's recording is a recording of a poem by Marney Makridakis called "Setting Son", which uses meter, interspersed with lines of free verse, to convey accelerating overwhelm.   Listen to the MP3 recording of the poem here: http://www.artellaland.com/settingson.mp3   View the poem with the art that inspired Marney to write it for Artella Issue 5 here: http://www.artellaland.com/settingson-page.jpg  Lyrical Links: allpoetry.com - The strength of this site seems to be its many different forums.  The topics appear to be current and the members contribute and are supportive.  While the format of the classes is a bit confusing, the shere variety of offerings, from kids to genre poetry to adults, is intriguing.  Also interesting to note is that they offer a function where you can start your own poetry contest hosted there on the site. PlacesForWriters.com is a site that is mainly geared for Canadian writers, but one page in particular may be of interest to international poets.  The contest listing page has a good number of contests for poetry included.  However, note that it does not appear that these have been screened for integrity, and unfortunately poetry contests are a particularly vulnerable area for fraudulent operations.  (Let face it: it's hard to find an authentic poetry contest like Artella's Poetic Idol contest, with a low entry fee that is only used to cover the prizes and not to make profit, so we actually give away issues of e-Artella in exchange for your entry fee.  Plus, I have to add we have the coolest, most generous and heart-felt judges anywhere, who love reading your poems and really honor all of you!)            All that aside, there are other good contests out there :-) ... so if           checking out lists like the link above is time well spent, if you're            motivated to enter contests.  This site also has a list of "Calls" for        submissions of all kinds -- soup to nuts.                Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 14 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Feature Article: "Walkin' in a Poet's Wonderland" Feature Recording: "Tips for Holiday Journaling" Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: 1. It's Poetic Idol Time Again -- Deadline December 31! Yes, it’s the time of year that Artella poets love…time for the Quarterly Poetic Idol Competition! The Quarterly "Poetic Idol" Competition awards a top prize of $150, plus all kinds of wonderful creative prizes for winning poets. You just can't find an easier, more writer-friendly poetry contest than Artella's Poetic Idol Competition. If you're not already familiar with this contest, for only $5.00, you can submit three poems for the opportunity to receive cash awards and other wonderful prize packages. AND just for entering, you receive your choice of any e-Artella issue, which regularly sells for $4.95. This includes e-Artella #e-9, our newest 84-page extravaganza which was recently released, and has writers and artists everywhere talking! See the mouth-watering Table of Contents and sample pages of e-Artella #e-9, here! Top prize is $150 plus many free products from Artella that are aimed to expand your exposure and inspire your Muse. Plus, other awarded poems and honorable mentions all get Artella-style awards to celebrate your talents! The firm deadline is December 31, 2006, midnight EDT. (So if you aren't out partying up the New Year, you can be writing poetry!) Get all the submission details and lists of prizes at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly. We want to read your poems, so we hope to be reading YOURS! 2. Artella is seeking writers! By now, you may have heard about Artella's new adventure, The Artella Daily Muse, our new daily creativity newspaper. Take a look at today's front page at www.artelladailymuse.com, or better yet, sign up for a free two-day subscription at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/members.html! We're seeking new writers for articles for all sections in The Daily Muse (including our daily "Write In Style" section for writers)! When you sign up for your free two-day subscription, you'll find links throughout the newspaper for our writer's guidelines. We'd love to see your work on our pages! 3. Latest Poetry Contest Winners Announced! We are delighted to announce the most recent set of winners for the monthly PassionPoetry Contest. These poems will be posted very soon in the Poetry Gardens, so stay tuned. Congratulations to … 1st Place -- Mary Ann Potter for "Post Script: New Orleans in April" 2nd Place -- Celia Sadlou for "Rumpled Socks" 3rd Place -- Patricia Boutilier for "ShapeShifter" 4th Place -- Sarah Stack for "Suburban Mermaid" Remember that the PassionPoetry Contest deadlines are ongoing, every month! Details and guidelines are here! Feature Article: Walkin' In a Poet's Wonderland: 5 Ways To Bring Your Poetry Into The Holidays by Marney K. Makridakis You are reading this newsletter because you love writing poetry. As you no doubt realize, there are several times that having a knack for poetry comes in handy -- say, being able to compose an impressive ditty at traffic court, or perhaps a lyrical sonnet after a great first date. Another time that poetry comes in handy is this very time of year: the winter holidays! When most folks are struggling to figure out unique ways to decorate, entertain, and give gifts, we poets have got it in the bag (and not The Gap bag!) Here are five ways to incorporate your own poetry intro the holidays: Give poems as gifts…but "wrap" them in a unique way. It sounds obvious for a poet to write a poem to give someone as a gift, and obviously, it's a very special present that will be cherished by the recipient for life. But if you want to give a poem that "extra something", consider presenting it in a unique, handmade way. For example, you could paint or collage a frame yourself, and then frame the poem. Or enclose it in a handmade card. Even if you're not a "paper artist", making handmade cards for the holidays, or any time of year for that matter, is a rewarding experience. Make just a few for special people, and it turns a poem into a work of art. The new Artella eBooklet, Stunning and Simple Seasonal Salutations: 10 Holiday Cards in 5 Steps or Less, includes pictures and ideas for all skill levels, fitting for every type of lyric. Create a poetic scavenger hunt to lead someone to their gift. If you're giving a physical gift, why not use your writing skills to send the recipient clues to find the gift. For example: "For the next clue, I'm sure you'll be happy To make a phone call to dear old Pappy" (and the clue is hidden in the family telephone book, under Grandpa Pappy's listing.) Not only will the recipient be delighted, but everyone else in the room will be, too. Write holiday parodies for party entertainment. Whether you're the host or the guest, parodies of holiday songs and holiday stories are fantastic additions to holiday parties. If you like, look up "Christmas carol parodies" and "Christmas song parodies" in a search engine to lead you to some fun sites to get some ideas. Decorate your home with poetry. Take any traditional holiday décor and add poetry to it. For example: with a metallic paint pen or gold leaf pen (I like Krylon's gold leafing pen, myself), write your own holiday haiku poems on plain glass ball ornaments and place them in a large glass bowl. The bowl will glisten, and your guests will be absolutely intrigued as they look through the bowl to read the poems. Engage in the waltz of technology and art! And speaking of haiku, if you enjoy writing haiku, or other short holiday poems, Artella has an easy, artsy way to send your poems to your friends and family. We have 11 diverse holiday ecards to choose from, and they are all free, so you can send as many as you like. Pick out your own Holiday Poste stamp, too! Just pick your card, pick your stamp, add your own poetry, and send! Send your Artella Holiday eCards here! The bottom line is that if you love writing poetry, then it is your gift. This holiday season, why not share that gift with others? It's a lot more exciting than what's in The Gap bag! Marney Makridakis is the Founder and Publisher of Artella. Among other wonders and whimsies, the Artella Web site includes e-courses and eBooks for writers and other creatives. Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers. This week's recording is presented by Zura Ledbetter. It's titled "Tips for Holiday Journaling". After listening to Zura's recording, take your pen and journal in hand and do some fresh new writing of your own. If you're a regular journaler, do Zura's thoughts bring any new ideas or approaches to mind? If you do not journal regularly, give it a try, right now, and as Zura says, give yourself the gift of this kind of self-expression this year. It can fuel your poetry in new and exciting ways in the year to come! Play It Here: Lyrical Links: Here is a link for Poetry Prompts given by WritingFix.com. Lots of good stuff here! Enjoy! The Artella Daily Muse includes a new article with advice and tips for writers every single day in the Write In Style section, plus daily features in 19 other sections to keep you inspired. Sign up for a free two-day subscription at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/members.html Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 13 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Feature Article: "Publishing Poetry in Newspapers: Where to Submit" Feature Recording: "Excerpts from Magnolia Moon, Texas Sage" Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: 1. Artella is seeking writers! By now, you may have heard about Artella's new adventure, The Artella Daily Muse, our new daily creativity newspaper. Take a look at today's front page at www.artelladailymuse.com, or better yet, sign up for a free two-day subscription at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/members.html! We're seeking new writers for articles for all sections in The Daily Muse (including our daily "Write In Style" section for writers)! When you sign up for your free two-day subscription, you'll find links throughout the newspaper for our writer's guidelines. We'd love to see your work on our pages! 2. Give a poem, and get a gift! We are now taking sign-ups for the Sixth Annual Mystery Muse Exchange, an anonymous creative gift exchange among folks in the Artella community. It's sort of like "Secret Santas", except that the gift that you send to your Muse-ee, at some point around the Winter Solstice on December 21 (before December 31, for sure), has to be something that you, yourself, create. A poem you wrote is an ideal Mystery Muse gift…although the possibilities are endless for absolutely anything, as long as you create it yourself. Sign up to be a Mystery Muse here, and take part in this longstanding, special Artella tradition! 3. Latest Poetry Contest Winners Announced! We are delighted to announce our three most recent set of winners to our Poetry Contests! All of their poems can be found in the Poetry Gardens, so be sure to visit the Gardens to read their fine poems. Congratulations to the winners of our Quarterly Poetic Idol Competition, for August, 2006: First place: Kevin Craig for "The Wild White - A Journey" Second place: Anne McGovern for "Becoming an Artist in Mallorca" Third place: Lisa Tobe for "The Journey Home" Fourth place: Matt Beatty for "Arcturus Found a Pencil" Fifth place: Mark Ross for "Rodin's Rebuke" Honorable Mention: Carole Trickett for "Enigma" Laurie Cuneo for "Untitled" Kathleen Ivanoff for "True North - A Sestina" Wendy Warren for "Paean to Thanksgiving" Amy Smith for "No Reverse" Also, congratulations to winners of the September and October PassionPoetry Contests: September: First place: Jari Thymian for "A Woman on a Bicycle" Second place: Jay Tilley for "A Mistaken Glance" Third place: Deepanjolie Sonya Figg for "Quietude (The stillness within)" Fourth place: Lori Pike for "Little Man" October: First place: Bonnie Amon for "Left of the Remote" Second place: Melissa Kulhanek for "Portrait in Red" Third place: Elizabet Clark for "Defining Me" Fourth place: Tom Foliano for "Where They Are Now" 4. Poetic Idol Competition Deadline EXTENDED to December 31! To accommodate all the busy-ness of the holidays, Artella's most popular poetry contest deadline has been extended to the end of the year, to December 31! The Quarterly "Poetic Idol" Competition awards a top prize of $150, plus all kinds of wonderful creative prizes for winning poets. You just can't find an easier, more writer-friendly poetry contest than Artella's Poetic Idol Competition. If you're not already familiar with this contest, for only $5.00, you can submit three poems for the opportunity to receive cash awards and other wonderful prize packages. AND just for entering, you receive your choice of any e-Artella issue, which regularly sells for $4.95. And yes, this DOES include e-Artella #e-9, our newest 84-page extravaganza which was recently released, and has writers and artists everywhere talking! See the mouth-watering Table of Contents and sample pages of e-Artella #e-9, here! Top prize is $150 plus many free products from Artella that are aimed to expand your exposure and inspire your Muse. Plus, other awarded poems and honorable mentions all get Artella-style awards to celebrate your talents! The firm deadline is December 31, 2006, midnight EDT. Get all the submission details and prizes at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly. And remember, EVERY entry gets a free e-Artella issue! Feature Article: Publishing Poetry in Newspapers: Where to Submit by Melanie Simms According to Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, "Daily newspapers no longer review poetry. There is, in fact, little coverage of poetry or poets in the general press". (Can Poetry Matter, Dana Gioia, 1991). John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer Commentary page editor, adds: "Today, in my opinion, most newspaper people are afraid of poetry. They're afraid readers won't understand it, especially poetry they (these newspaper people) find 'hard' or 'experimental'. It amounts to a fear of the verbal. (Kelly Writers House, 1999). One could argue Gioia and Timpane's claims today, as print media seemingly loses ground, with technological advancements in communications, and as the art of poetry and its society becomes increasingly associated with academia, thereby making it less user-friendly to the general public. However, there is, even today, life in the press. This article addresses the newspapers that currently accept poetry from the people; listed below are the following newspapers in the United States (list compiled by Melanie Simms) that presently accept poetry submissions. (If anyone has information on additional listings, please e-mail them to Melanie Simms at moonspinner@pa.net or contact her at her website at www.poetmelaniesimms.net). Current List of Newspapers that Publish Poetry: Philadelphia Inquirer: Contact: John Timpane at jt@phillynews.com The York Daily Record: Contact: Bill Diskin: bill@billdiskin.com The Oregonian: Ask for the Poetry Editor or call: 503-221-8100 The Santa Cruz Sentinel: Contact: 831-423-4242 and ask for the Poetry Editor The Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Contact: 412-263-1100 and ask for the Poetry Editor The Christian Science Monitor: Contact: 617-450-2000 and ask for the Poetry Editor Clearly this current list is small (albeit still in development) which only forwards the concerns of the American public that "poetry in the newspapers" is a dying breed, but thanks to the "die-hard" efforts of these remaining voices in today's newspapers, America still has hope to see the art rekindled. Every poet and citizen who appreciates the art has an opportunity and obligation as well to assist. The newspapers depend upon its readers. Share your voices of concern so that the press realizes that Dana Gioia, John Timpane, and your humble author are not alone in their desire to see poetry in the news again. You can do so by contacting your local poetry editor and requesting a poetry article be developed, or, if you're creatively (and financially) inclined, start a poetry column of your own from your own small newspaper press. Let the voice of the people be heard in the art of poetry and thrive once again in the newspapers! Poet Melanie Simms has been published in over 100 newspapers, ezines and literary journals including The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, The Santa Cruz Sentinel and The York Times. Learn more about Melanie Simms or contact her for information on newspapers that publish poetry at http://www.poetmelaniesimms.net or moonspinner@pa.net. Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers. This week's recording, presented by Janice Rose, "your saucy grandmother poet", is from her book Magnolia Moon, Texas Sage. After listening to Janice's poetry, take your pen and journal in hand and do some fresh new writing of your own. How do Janice's cadence and rhythm influence words that you write? OR take some of your own old poems and read them out loud with a newfound audacity. Play It Here: Lyrical Links: Fiera Lingue is an international collection of contemporary poets and poetry. The Artella Daily Muse includes a new article with advice and tips for writers every single day in the Write In Style section, plus daily features in 19 other sections to keep you inspired. Sign up for a free two-day subscription at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/members.html Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 12 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Guest Article: "Making a Difference" Feature Recording: "Beyond Penniless Poets" Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: 1. Poetic Idol Competition Deadline Extended to September 15! To accommodate those who are on summer vacations (and hopefully writing poetry about their travels!), Artella's most popular poetry contest deadline has been extended two weeks, to September 15! The Quarterly "Poetic Idol" Competition awards a top prize of $150, plus all kinds of wonderful creative prizes for winning poets. You just can't find an easier, more writer-friendly poetry contest than Artella's Poetic Idol Competition. If you're not already familiar with this contest, for only $5.00, you can submit three poems for the opportunity to receive cash awards and other wonderful prize packages. AND just for entering, you receive your choice of any e-Artella issue, which regularly sells for $4.95. And yes, this DOES include e-Artella #e-9, our newest 84-page extravaganza which was recently released, and has writers and artists everywhere talking! See the mouth-watering Table of Contents and sample pages of e-Artella #e-9, here! Top prize is $150 plus many free products from Artella that are aimed to expand your exposure and inspire your Muse. Plus, other awarded poems and honorable mentions all get Artella-style awards to celebrate your talents! The firm deadline is September 15, 2006, midnight EDT. Get all the submission details and prizes at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly. And remember, EVERY entry gets a free e-Artella issue!   2. Announcing Two Months of Contest Winners! We are so pleased to announce the winners for our most recent PassionPoetry Contest. Remember, you can enter YOUR poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Weekly to join the ranks of our winners! Enter one poem every month! These winners have been posted in The Poetry Gardens at www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry06-06.html. They are: First place: Benedicta Dannette Wallace OSB for "Alchemy" Second place: Arlene L. Mandell for "Summer Symphony" Third place: Lauri Elliott for "Ghost House" Fourth place: Kaylesha Cooper for "Rubies" Congratulations to our winners! Feature Article: Making A Difference by Jenna Glatzer I watched Awakenings for the millionth time the other night. Great movie, but it wound up depressing me for more than the obvious reasons. At the end of it all, I was left with the sinking feeling that I wasn't doing anything important with my life. In the movie, Dr. Sayer finds a drug that helps catatonic patients regain their awareness of life. Although the drug's effects aren't permanent, he gives them their lives back for a few months. He gave hope to families, friends, and everyone who suffers from mental illnesses. And what have I done lately? What troubled me most is that, in the film, Dr. Sayer didn't want to work with patients. He was a researcher, and that's all he wanted to be. But he was needed elsewhere, so he did what he had to do, and that's where he made all the difference. Me? I have a big brain. It occurred to me that I am smart enough to be a doctor, a scientist, a researcher, a surgeon... I never wanted to be any of these things. In fact, the thought of any of them turns my stomach. But what if I'm robbing the world of the potential cure for cancer? What if, in my studies, I might have ended the AIDS epidemic, or wiped out Parkinson's disease? If Dr. Sayer hadn't answered that call -- if he had stayed in his lab and continued doing what he "wanted" to do, that miraculous summer would never have happened. Maybe I was being selfish by writing. Maybe I was supposed to be doing something that would make a difference in the world. Improving conditions in South Africa. Finding water on the moon. Disarming nuclear weapons. And then I had a thought that let me sleep: I would never have known about Dr. Sayer if it weren't for Steven Zaillian. The screenwriter. And Steven would never have known about Dr. Sayer if it weren't for Oliver Sacks, who wrote the book. And Oliver probably wouldn't have known about him if a journalist hadn't reported the story. All of those people made a difference in my life. They brought the message to my living room. They told me what Dr. Sayer was doing. They taught me an important lesson about hope and determination and never giving up on people. They inspired me, and undoubtedly, countless others. If no one reported important medical findings, doctors would be in the dark. Thanks to journalists, an isolated scientist in Wyoming who's been working on isolating a breast cancer gene can learn that a team in New Jersey has just found the exact link he needs to connect the pieces in his puzzle. A dying man can find out about an experimental drug study that might save his life. And, speaking of medical findings, someone had to write all those textbooks that were the basis of doctors' learning. Someone had to translate confusing research into language that medical students could study, interpret, and improve upon. Someone like me, or you. Perhaps writing is a more humble form of making a difference, but it is possibly the most important piece of the puzzle. You know the saying "if you don't learn from history, you're bound to repeat it"? Well, how is anyone supposed to learn from history if someone doesn't write about it? All of these traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation... all of the lessons we've learned... word-of-mouth would never have sufficed. No, today, we search for records of the earliest writers. When someone uncovers an ancient manuscript, it's a huge triumph, because it helps us unlock the secrets of the universe and of our history as human beings. Even diaries... Anne Frank... writers don't have to believe they're writing for publication to make a difference in this world. Every time we take pen to paper and note what our world is like today, we have the potential to change the world. We can further understanding, bring insight, teach, inspire, entertain, comfort, and delight. As we're writing, none of us have any idea of what impact our work may have. Our words may be read in schools two hundred years from now, or they may be read tomorrow by a single woman in another country who just happened to need those words at that moment. Or they may only be read by our friends and family--and that's valuable, too. Maybe your siblings or your old best friend will smile today at a poem you wrote. Maybe that smile was the only bright spot in that person's day. It's already happened to me. I've gotten letter after letter from people who've told me that something I wrote changed their lives. A woman fighting a battle for her disabled son learned that she was not alone because of a piece I wrote; she is using my writing to help her explain her case to government officials. Another woman wrote to tell me my advice helped her to sell her first book. Even less-obvious forms of writing make a difference. Press releases I've written have helped to launch people's careers. That, in turn, has helped someone support his family. And I'm not even dead yet. Lordy, everyone knows that good writers are never fully appreciated until after they die. At this rate, I expect there to be a national holiday in my name someday! At this moment, if you've ever put out a piece of your writing for public consumption, you have no idea what kind of impact you may already have had. A very small percentage of readers respond directly to writers (especially if contact information isn't included), but that doesn't mean they haven't been moved or changed because of your work. What we are doing has value. Every one of us. Writing is a noble profession. Long after we're gone, our words can live on and carry the message of our lives. What's your message? Be it fiction or non-fiction, books or poems or technical reports or reviews or plays or screenplays or greeting cards, you have the potential to improve lives. How many times have you picked up a greeting card that helped you express your love to a person with whom you can't always easily communicate? Or seen a movie that took you away to a great fantasy land that helped you escape the troubles in your life? As a child, how many times did your mother re-read that same old well-worn book for you, animating the voices and teaching you about the value of your imagination? What we put "out there" in the world should be the best representation we can give. Tell the stories that matter. Don't guard them. Don't hide away your own true stories for fear of privacy intrusion. Your own story may be the most important gift you can give the world, because it shares the wealth of knowledge, insight, and beauty that you've earned through your time on this planet. Figure out what it is that you care about deeply, what has made a difference in your life, and what you wish you could share with others-- and then share it. Spread that joy, understanding, hope, and enlightenment that comes directly from you. And when your work is rejected (like all of ours is), pick yourself up, dust yourself off, revise as necessary, and get it back out there again. If you know that what you are writing is important, then don't let anyone stop you from sharing it. Bang down those doors to publication any way you can. Lend your talents where they are needed. Give a voice to those who can't express themselves. Give clarity to those whose lessons should reach an audience. Give your words to children, to teenagers, to adults, to senior citizens, to the sick and dying, to the healthy, to the leaders, to the poor, to the rich, to the quiet ones and those who will shout your message from the rooftops. Keep giving your gift. You WILL make a difference. Jenna Glatzer is the Editor-in-Chief of Absolute Write and Absolute Markets. She has written for hundreds of national and online markets, recently including Woman's World, Woman's Own, Salon.com, and Writer's Digest. She is also the author of The More Than Any Human Being Needs To Know About Freelance Writing Workbook and Sell The Fun Stuff: Writers' and Artists' Market Guidelines For Greeting Cards, Posters, Rubber Stamps, T-shirts, Aprons, Bumper Stickers, Doormats, and More! Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry includes a link to a recording that presents high-quality information for writers.   This week's recording is called "Beyond Penniless Poets", presented by Artella Founder Marney Makridakis.  Listen to the Audio Recording, here!   If you are interested in The NEW Wealthcare Program, Marney's program that makes stopping "starving artist syndrome" FUN, go to www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/workshops.html#Wealthcare  Lyrical Links: Evocative Words is Artella's community for writers. Post your work; share your thoughts! Poetry Superhighway is a reference site with contests, forums, and ideas for poets. Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 11 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Feature Article: "Squinting to Make the World Look Different" Feature Recording: "How to Create Characters: A 3-Part Exercise" A Word for Poetic Entrepreneurs Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements:   1.  Esteemed Contest Winners! We are so pleased to announce winners for our most recent PassionPoetry Contest.  You can read these winning poems in The Poetry Gardens at www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry05-06.html. And you can enter YOUR poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Weekly.  Enter one poem every month!   First place: Paulette Weaver for "Sweet Vintage" Second place: Amy Smith for "Alone" Third place: Lauri Griffin for "Kaleidoscope Souls" Fourth place: Melissa Kulhanek for "Portrait of an Unknown Young Man by Botticelli" 2.  Next Poetic Idol Competition deadline is August 31! Artella's most popular poetry contest is coming up next month!  The Quarterly "Poetic Idol" Competition awards a top prize of $150, plus all kinds of wonderful creative prizes for winning poets. You just can't find an easier, more writer-friendly poetry contest than Artella's Poetic Idol Competition.     If you’re not already familiar with this contest, for only $5.00, you can submit three poems for the opportunity to receive cash awards and other wonderful prize packages. AND just for entering, you receive your choice of any e-Artella issue, which regularly sells for $4.95.  And yes, this DOES include e-Artella #e-9, our brand new 84-page extravaganza which was just released, and has writers and artists everywhere talking!   See the mouth-watering Table of Contents and sample pages of e-Artella #e-9, here!   Top prize is $150 plus many free products from Artella that are aimed to expand your exposure and inspire your Muse.  Plus, other awarded poems and honorable mentions all get Artella-style awards to celebrate your talents! The next deadline is August 31, 2006. Get all the submission details and prizes at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly.  And remember, EVERY entry gets a free e-Artella issue!   So whether you've already been published many times over, or if you simply have an inner writing voice that has been quiet for way too long, I hope you'll enter our lauded Poetic Idol Competition! Remember that the deadline is Thursday, August 31, at midnight EDT. Enter at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly   Feature Article: Squinting to Make the World Look Different: Poetic Silliness with Random Poem Prompts by Jill Badonsky "There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle."   ~Albert Einstein "I think that physicists are the Peter Pans of the human race. They never grow up and keep their curiosity. Once you are sophisticated, you know too much, far too much." ~ I.I. Rabi, Physicist Well there you go.   That's exactly why I personally shun sophistication. Silliness begets ideas. And ideas beget delight and delight begets kindness "and in the end, only kindness matters." Note to Self: Watch the movie Big again, eat a purple Popsicle, follow a blade of a slow turning ceiling fan with my eyes, and give credit to Jewel for that kindness quote.   Extra credit: write a poem using these words and phrases, add more as playfully directed: silly, note, miracle, bubble gum, secret decoder ring, wrinkle my nose,  Peter Pan, far too much … Toying with the notion that there are similarities between the mind of the child and the mind of the creative adult is satisfying. Not only have I always wanted to justify my immaturity, but it also reminds me to remind YOU that creativity can come from a simple and enjoyable place -that of the child-mind.   In my quest for more mojo on the subject, I came across this passage that Howard Gardner wrote about Albert Einstein in his book (which is still in print) called Creating Minds. Listen to this: "Einstein was aware of the parallels between his thought patterns and those commonly associated with children. He once asked, with perhaps undue self-deprecation: ‘How did it come to pass that I was the one to develop the theory of relativity? The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to thinks about problems of space and time. These are things which he has thought of as a child. But my intellectual development was retarded, as a result of which I began to wonder about space and time  only when I had already grown up. Naturally I could go deeper into the problem than a child with normal abilities.’" Now, um, I just don't consider Einstein's thinking to be retarded, do you? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but let's imagine that it was his naivete'  rather than retardation that kept his approach unfettered by rigid, unquestioned thought. Naivete'  is another feature of both the child and the creative adult. What's this mean for you? It means believe in freedom. Believe that, when you base it on fun, poetry is even more freeing than you formerly might have thought. You are given permission to  BREAK THE RULES versus adhering to rigid boundaries of a  previously-determined-protocol- of-there's-only-one-way-to-be-poetic  mentality.  And voila, you've entered the process of creativity. And had fun. I'm pretty sure Einstein might have said, "Vhen people say to me, 'Hey, you can't do dat, I zink 'So vat, Ill do it anyvey.'" So explore inventing your OWN way of putting a poem together. Make a list of ways to invent a poem AS IF you were a Poem Inventor. In fact, take a deep breath in.  Go ahead. That inspiration has HAILED you a Poem Inventor. You can exhale now. So to wax even more creative in your poetic pursuits conjure up child-like thinking and use it as an adult. Naiveté opens doors of possibility where sophistication closed them. And possibility is the enemy of limitations. Pretend you forgot everything you know about writing a poem, and then write a poem. Write a poem about writing a poem. Be the  miracle in waiting.   (Prompt: take the miracle quote by Einstein at the top and keep going with it in child-like poetic splendor). Email me at jillbadonsky@hotmail.com with any results you would like to have published. Children have novel perspectives because they have not developed habitual obedience to the norm.  They are curious, optimistic and open to exploration. They squint to fuzz up the world so that only the contrast is clear, to blur the line that make things separate, and to fade to the color of eyelids as they close completely. I invite you to join Marney Makridakis and myself on July 19th for a teleseminar that will give you the tools you need to awaken the child mind for the adult brilliance. It's called Squinting to See the World Differently. Go directly here and sign up: http://www.artellawordsandart.com/ecourse.html#squinting As Einstein said, "The normal adult never stops to think." I guess normal isn't all its cracked up to be ...  another relief. (Keep going with THAT quote in poetic freedom). "Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time.     Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility."  another relief From Creativity - Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. "Basically my wife was immature. I'd be at home in the bath and she'd come in and sink my boats."   ~Woody Allen, Creative Guy  ------- Jill Badonsky is author of The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) and the upcoming book, Nine Anti-aging Potions (and a Spot Remover). To be a part of the secret anti-aging network go to http://themuseisin.com/newsletter.html enter your email and click on anti-aging . Shhhhhhhh. Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry will include a link to an audio recording of a class or lecture that presents high-quality information for writers.   Do you integrate characters into your poetry? This month's feature is "How to Create Characters, Even If You Never Thought You Could", a presentation from Artella Founder Marney Makridakis. It’s a three-part, interactive exercise, which you should listen while you have a pen and paper (or keyboard and screen) in hand. Play part 1 here: Play part 2 here: Play part 3 here:   A Word for Poetic Entrepreneurs If you've been following information about SiteBuildIt (SBI), the Web service and suite of marketing tools that is truly Artella's "secret weapon", there's a new installment in the case study about Artella! Ican't say enough good things about this company and what it has done for  my business!   Earlier this Spring, I gave a teleclass about SBI, and about starting a Web business in general. Listen to a free recording of this class, called “Make Your Creative Web Site FLY”, at: http://www.artellaland.com/creativewebsite-RS.mp3 Lyrical Links: 1.  Sign up for a complimentary 5-day sample of Artella's "Writes and Passages" e-course athttp://www.artellawordsandart.com/ecourse.html#Writes. Experience a helpful hand to guide you to develop a daily writing practice and stretch you to develop a stronger, more confident writing voice. (Hint: there's a big discount for the course at the end of this trial! Shhhhh....) 2.  PoeticVoices.com offers information about conferences, contests, as well as articles and interviews.  A very good resource. Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 10 View this issue on the Web by Clicking here ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Feature Article: "Writing the Carousel" Feature Recording: "Poetic Moments" A Word for Poetic Entrepreneurs Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: Poetic Idol Winners! We are so pleased to announce winners for our most recent Poetic Idol Quarterly Poetry Contest: First Place: Matt Beatty for "Tale of a Frozen Mountain Boy" Second place: Kevin Craig for "Madelaine Ave. Circa '75" Third place: Laurie Cuneo for "My Night Sky" Honorable Mentions: Karen Stone for "It Was Too Fast"; April Cooper for "I Know (for Virginia Woolf)"; Dawn Richerson for "Becoming The Poem"; and Rob McCreery for "The Ancients" There were also 25 Finalists: Vickie Chavis, Maria Stepek Doherty, Lilly Fluger, Marilyn Hansen, Kathleen Ivanoff, Shelley Klammer, Maureen Kusick, Kathlena Luft, Debbie McCallum, Lori Minick, Kate Payne, Nita Penfold, Terre Sadler, Amy Smith, terri st. cloud, Chris Tessnear, Vickie Trancho, Claudia Wallace, and Austen Waters. Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to our judges for judging these wonderful entries. Read these winning poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poeticidol4-06.html. And enter the next Poetic Idol Contest to win up to $150, plus all kinds of wonderful Artella prize collections. The next deadline is August 31, 2006! Details are at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly Passion Poetry Winners! We are also pleased to announce the winners from April's PassionPoetry Contest: First Place: Julie Arendt for "Before Going Home" Second Place: Christopher E. Earley for "The Stairs" Third Place: Robert Geise for "His Kiss" Fourth Place: Diana Bocco for "10 Things You Took When You Left" Read these winning poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry04-06.html. The PassionPoetry Contest is a free monthly contest with ongoing deadlines. And enter YOUR poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Weekly. Great new prize added!! Artist Pattie Mosca has designed absolutely gorgeous certificates for winners of our PassionPoetry Contests and Poetic Idol Competitions. They are absolutely stunning, and all winners henceforth will receive a personalized, high-resolution downloadable version to print out and frame or put in your scrapbooks. Take a look at these beautiful certificates in the Poetry Portal at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html! Feature Article: Writing the Carousel by Marney K. Makridakis People often ask me how I come up with the made-up words that I include in the Artella PoemPaintings or the Articulation Art-Splashes. While they often just come out naturally, there are, indeed, some specific techniques and tips to help stretch this "made-up word" muscle. Even the serendipitous discoveries that seem to not come from me at all, that seem to fall from the sky, or more accurately, seem to emerge from within the inner spirit, are the result of a mind that is attuned to looking for poetry at every turn. With a few tricks and tools, you can consciously bring more "turns of phrases" into your life, allowing you to "write" the colorful carousel with increased frequency and greater ease. Poetic surprises are around us all the time. Being Open is one of the most important tools there is. If you look for turns of phrases obsessively, you will find them. Many the turns of phrases that I unearth are surprises to me, and while there are tools to cultivate them, more often than not, it is a matter simply seeing them when they are there. Example #1: Typos We all make typos every day, and we usually tend to just laugh them off. But what if we approach them as ripe ground for "turns of phrases", as a chance to "write the carousel"? I remember when I once made a typo to a friend, talking about some physical problems I was having. I meant to write "I am having a tough day, and pain continues" but I wrote "I am having a tough day, and paint continues", and I immediately was in heaven at the imagery. I love the idea of paint continuing in hard times; paint being an overarching thread in our lives. I didn't use the exact phrase in a poem, but the typo was the direct influence of a line I used in a PoemPainting for Artella Members a few weeks later: "People who leave colorful footprints have to walk through lots of puddles." The more you start listening, the more you will start seeing these little gems everywhere. Example #2: Things overheard One of the best things you can do to expand the palette in your poetry's colors is to start listening when you are out in the world. There is poetry everywhere from the sounds of nature to the rhythm in the way people speak. Poetic surprises can happen in the things you overhear in conversations in the grocery line. What do you perhaps misunderstand someone to say? Like typos, what might you normally "laugh off", but instead, can you learn to turn into something poetically fruitful? Write these ideas down, so you can use them later! These are just two examples of the kinds of things that come into our lives every single day, offering fantastic fodder for our poetry. Remember: poetry wants to be written, read and shared. The carousel wants to be written! Write on! This article is an excerpt from the eBooklet, Writing the Carousel: Going Full Circle in Colorful Poetry Writing, by Marney K. Makridakis, the Founder and Publisher of Artella Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry will include a link to an audio recording of a class or lecture that presents high-quality information for writers. This month's feature is "Poetic Moments", a presentation from Artella Founder Marney Makridakis, which was recorded in April 2005 to celebrate national Poetry Month. Play it here: A Word for Poetic Entrepreneurs If you've been following information about SiteBuildIt (SBI), the Web service and suite of marketing tools that is truly Artella's "secret weapon", there's a new installment in the case study about Artella! If you're looking to create a Web site for your writing business venture, SBI is the answer to a prayer…a true Muse-send! Lyrical Links: Sign up for a complimentary 5-day sample of Artella's "Writes and Passages" e-course at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/ecourse.html#Writes. Experience a helpful hand to guide you to develop a daily writing practice and stretch you to develop a stronger, more confident writing voice. (Hint: there's a big discount for the course at the end of this trial! Shhhhh….) Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 9 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Guest Article: "Live Life Like a Romantic" Feature Recording: "Top 5 Reasons Poets Need a Web Site" A Word for Poetic Entrepreneurs Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: Announcing our esteemed Contest Winners! We are so pleased to announce winners for our most recent PassionPoetry Contest: First Place: Bonnie Amon for "Painted Hero" Second place: Jennifer Hu for "The Story Teller" Third place: Dara Albert for "Two Million Tiny Stories " Fourth place: Tanaskidis G. Alexander for "An Odd Prelude for my Mama” Look for these winning poems in the next couple of days in The Poetry Gardens of Fame! And enter YOUR poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Weekly. Enter one poem every month! Have YOU entered the April Poetic Idol Competition? Artella's most popular poetry contest is, without a doubt, the Quarterly "Poetic Idol" Competition, which awards a top prize of $150, plus all kinds of wonderful creative prizes for winning poets. You just can't find an easier, more writer-friendly poetry contest than Artella's Poetic Idol Competition. In fact, this very Competition is one reason that Writer's Digest magazine selected Artella as one of the 101 Best Web Sites for Writers for two years in a row! If you're not already familiar with this contest, for only $5.00, you can submit three poems for the opportunity to receive cash awards and other wonderful prize packages. AND just for entering, you receive your choice of an e-Artella issue which regularly sells for $4.95. Top prize is $150 plus many free products from Artella that are aimed to expand your exposure and inspire your Muse. Plus, other awarded poems and honorable mentions all get Artella-style awards to celebrate your talents! The next deadline is April 30, at midnight EDT. Get all the submission and prize details at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly. So whether you've already been published many times over, or if you simply have an inner writing voice that has been quiet for way too long, I hope you'll enter our lauded Poetic Idol Competition! Remember that the deadline is Sunday, April 30, at midnight EDT. Enter at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly. What do our winning poems have in common? Visit http://www.artellawordsandart.com/PassionPoetry1.html#pp5 to read an article in a previous PassionPoetry Newsletter on this very topic! Would you like to write for Artella? ? If you'd like to submit poetry for the Artella magazine, please note that guidelines, and sign-up for our "Projects Seeking Partners" list can be found at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/submit.html. Or perhaps you'd even like to try creating some art? Our brand new Creative T.W.I.S.T. Challenges are the perfect opportunity to stretch your creative wings. Entries for the new "Artella Magic Mini Quilt Challenge" are due May 15, 2006. Get all the details at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/creative-twists.html Guest Article: Live Life Like a Romantic by Cassandra Key William Wordsworth, John Keats, Percy Shelley -- what do these men have in common (besides the whole poet thing)? They, among other artists, were the creators of the Romantic Period; this period being a time when creative expression, love for all things natural and spiritual, and rebellion were, in a sense, pop culture. Although the Romantic Age is way over, that doesn't mean we 21st century people can't learn from the great Romantics. In fact, adopting some of their attitudes can lead you to a whole new outlook on life. Work some of these Romantic characteristics into your daily routine: Nature was deeply appreciated by the Romantic. Take time out of your busy schedule to admire the simple things Mother Earth has to offer. Observe the colors of a flower petal, watch the clouds drift by, really listen to a bird's song. Even one minute of "becoming one with nature" will help you gain a deeper appreciation of it. Create, create, create. Write a poem, paint a picture, make a collage -- create something that means something to you, and don't criticize your work. Anything that comes from your heart is something to be proud of. Do a little daydreaming. It's okay to let your mind wander every now and then. Letting your imagination take over helps you feel more at ease and happy during stressful periods of time. Take a walk on the beach, walk through a secret garden or fly with the birds, all while lounging on the couch! Become one with your spirit. The Romantics loved to let their spiritual self guide their physical self. It allowed them to experience pleasure that the physical world could not offer. It will do the same for you. Whatever task you choose to do, whether it is dancing, writing, painting, taking a walk, or meditating, put your whole spirit into it. Focus on the internal self and you will experience something far deeper than any pair of new shoes can offer you. Become an individual. I'm not talking about showing up to work with spiky, pink hair. Just realize that being different is okay. So what if you don't look like Nicole Kidman or paint like Picasso. It's the little things that make people special. Be a little rebellious. Romantics were constantly breaking the rigid rules of the 18th century. Poetry didn't have to be in one distinct form and not everything had to make sense. By learning to break away from "the norm" and opening up your mind, you can appreciate what life has to teach you. Embrace bad times. The good times are easy to take in and enjoy, but to become a stronger person you must walk right through the rotten parts of life. A Romantic would say that you can't fully enjoy happiness without having experienced sadness. Cassandra Key is currently a senior in college studying English and journalism. She loves to write in her spare time and she’s also a ballet dancer. Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry will include a link to an audio recording of a class or lecture that presents high-quality information for writers. This month's feature is "The Top 5 Reasons Poets Need a Web Site", a presentation from Artella Founder Marney Makridakis. PLAY THE RECORDING, HERE (Recording powered by AudioAcrobat If this recording resonates with you, take a look at the unique offer in the "Word for Poetic Entrepreneurs" section, below: A Word for Poetic Entrepreneurs If you're building a new Web site for your business, you might be interested to know that SiteBuildIt (SBI), the Web service and suite of marketing tools that is truly Artella's "secret weapon", is offering a 2-for-1 sale on Web sites to the Artella community only, in a special arrangement that I've made with them. This special expires this SUNDAY, April 23, 2006. If you are interested in starting (or expanding) a creative Web site yourself, I encourage you to go to this link: http://www.artellawordsandart.com/creative-web-site.html, where you'll find: The information about the 2-for-1 special on Web sites that SBI is offering to the Artella community until next Sunday night A free recording of the class I gave last week, called "Make Your Creative Web Site FLY!" A free recording of an SBI Q&A session that I presented on Monday night A form where you can write Marney with any particular questions about SBI I can't say enough good things about this company and what it has done for my business! (In fact, you can click here to read a case study about Artella on the SBI Web site). I hope you'll consider this special company for your creative Web site, too! Lyrical Links: Sign up for a complimentary 5-day sample of Artella's "Writes and Passages" e-course at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/ecourse.html#Writes. Experience a helpful hand to guide you to develop a daily writing practice and stretch you to develop a stronger, more confident writing voice. (Hint: there's a big discount for the course at the end of this trial! Shhhhh….) Does Spring inspire your poetry? Tell us WHY in the Artella News Blog and get a pass to be an Artella Member for 30 days…free! It's the current BlogJog "sneaky" sale! You can access it in the current news post at http://artellacafe.com/blogs/artella_news Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue #8 -- March, 2006 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Guest Article: "Be Your Poetic Muse" Feature Recording: "Loud Music and New Shoes: A Poem About Your Day Made Easy" A Word for Poetic Entreprenurs Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: Announcing our esteemed Contest Winners! We are so pleased to announce winners for our most recent Poetic Idol Quarterly Poetry Contest: First Place: Kathleen Ivanoff for "Anatomy of the Star Goddess" Second place: Tara McDaniel for "The Harvest" Third place: Ingrid Goff-Maidoff for "Fever Or Forgotten Wings" Honorable Mentions: L. Darlene Simmemon for "AN ANALOG OF ONENESS (A pantoum)" Sherrell R. Wigal for "Funeral Roads" Sue Neufarth Howard for "Clouds at Play, Hammock View" Megan Elaine Davis for "Fascinating Creature" Shelley Klammer for "The Pages of Books" Barbara Burtchett for "Cries from Within" Read these winning poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poeticidol1-06.html. And enter the next Poetic Idol Contest to win up to $150, plus all kinds of wonderful Artella prize collections. Details are at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly And even more winners! We combined all of the entrants for our free PassionPoetry contests in January and February and came up with four wonderful winners: First place: Jennifer Gomoll for "Skin" Second place: Connie Reichert for "If I Were" Third place: Tara McDaniel for "Waiting for the Reverend" Fourth place: Amber Ann Van Kirk for "Cold Togetherness (A Terza Rima) Read these winning poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry02-06.html. And enter YOUR poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Weekly. Enter one poem every month! CONGRATULATIONS to the poets in Artella 9! The unanimous feedback is that Artella 9, THE JOURNEY: Destination & Imagination, is Artella's greatest issue yet! This issue is full of poetry that has been illustrated by all kinds of art. Congratulations to all of the contributing poets in this issue. The issue also contains an article devoted to resources for writers. Writer Jaime Adcock writes: As a writer, I particularly appreciated your resource page with 75+ internet sites aimed at keeping our pencils and pens "on the move" - can't wait to explore these more in depth. Marney, you and your wonderful staff have outdone yourselves with this issue. Congratulations! You've taken the print version of Artella to a whole new level. Click here to read more comments about Artella 9! Would you like to write for Artella? If you'd like to submit poetry for Artella magazine, please note that guidelines, and sign-up for our "Projects Seeking Partners" list can be found at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/submit.html. Or perhaps you'd even like to try creating some art? Our brand new Creative T.W.I.S.T. Challenges are the perfect opportunity to stretch your creative wings. Entries for the new "Artella Magic Mini Quilt Challenge" are due May 15, 2006…get all the details at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/creative-twists.html. Guest Article: Be Your Poetic Muse by Kevin Craig Aoide, Melete, and Mneme were the daughters of Gaea and Uranus. They were also the three original Greek Muses, Aoide being the muse of song, Melete of meditation and Mneme of memory. Why am I telling you this? These lovely ladies are each instrumental in the creation of your poetry. All have something to share and enrich your poems with. All poetry reaches to attain music, or at the very least a lyrical melody. All poetry, either while being written or read, should feel like a meditation. And lastly, all poetry is contingent on the poet being able to capture those initial creative sparks and commit them to memory long enough to work them into their eventual poetic states. The idea of a creative muse has become something close to cliché these days, but for the sake of this article, let us imagine that there are three omnipotent muses found within each poet. (You're a poet -- use your imagination!) Whether you're new to poetry or a seasoned professional, these three aspects of musedom can assist you in your poetic quests. Your own inner-muse of song would do well to remember to read aloud everything you write. Don't underestimate how helpful it is to hear your poetry. You don't have to jump on stage, microphone in hand, and spout off your words to an assembled audience. What I mean is that you should, while writing, read your words aloud, give them life and listen to the sound their collaborations make. What looks good on paper doesn't necessarily translate harmonically to the ear. A good poem will always appeal to the ear. You have this muse within you at all times. You need only speak to employ it. It is in the quiet moments of creation that meditation helps breathe life into the poet's work. Do not turn your back on the peace this inner-muse can provide. After a wired day of work, traffic, shopping and family responsibilities, the poet will often sit down to write and be surprised when they come up with nothing. The thoughts racing through your head are only the reminders of tasks undone, deadlines looming and the myriad stresses of your everyday life. It's a good idea to allow your meditation muse a few moments of quiet reflection before attempting the intangible world of poetics. Sit and relax in a quiet inner-sanctuary before you tackle poetry. You will not believe how invigorating it is to just let the day's struggles fall away. Your thoughts will then slowly turn to creativity and you will find yourself slipping into that place of initial sparks needed to enter the more calming world of poetry. When you write from a relaxed state of mind your poetry will reflect this harmony and your reader will get a sense of the meditation you employed to create your work. They will find themselves sharing that meditative space with you. I have long ago realized that, as a creative person, I have absolutely no steadfast hold on my memory. Thoughts blink across the landscape of our minds at an immeasurably alarming rate. When you have a fleeting glimpse at a poetic thought your first reaction is to capture it and put it into words. Here is where the practical muse of memory comes in handy. This muse carries paper and pen with them at all times. Don't trust yourself to remember a brilliant idea you think can be parlayed into an award-winning poem. The thoughts that race across your mindscape during a hectic day are intangible. You will lose the good ones if you don't commit them to memory. Stop what you're doing and jot down the thought. If not, you will have this lingering sensation that a great poetic line has come to you, like a train pulling into a station, and is now slowly fading away behind you. You will see it as it evaporates out of sight and you will sense its greatness, but its essence will leave you completely if you don't map its memory to paper for a future writing session. So be your own memory-muse. Carry pen and paper with you everywhere you go. Don't trust your golden nuggets to be there later, when you're ready to use them. Thoughts don't work that way. To recap, you can ignore the cliché that muses have become. But don't ignore what they initially represented: Song, meditation and memory. These things are all helpful to the process of poetics. Always read your work aloud. Always step into a poetic mind frame gradually, after releasing the menacing baggage of your workaday life. And always, always be prepared to jot down those brilliant initial sparks before they fade away. Your inner-poet will thank you for following these three simple rules. Kevin Craig's poetry has been published in Poetry Canada, Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, Jones Av. Journal and Regina Weese. His fiction has been published in Word Weaver, Captains of Consciousness and Inkspotter. He is also a freelance writer, currently writing for a holistic health and wellness publication in Kentucky Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry will include a link to an audio recording of a class or lecture that presents high-quality information for writers. This month's feature is a 10-minute lecture by Jill Badonsky, author of The Nine Modern-Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) called "Loud Music and New Shoes: A Poem About Your Day Made Easy". This Audio Presentation was originally presented to Artella Members as part of the series of free weekly Audio Presentations. Click here to play the audio presentation. Take a look at the " Children's Menu" Sub-Kid-Tion series of 10 teleclasses that Jill and I are co-teaching…fun, juicy, inventive stuff about using kid-like wisdom to make grown-up living fuller, richer, more creative and alive. A Word for Poetic Entreprenuers:   If you'd like to market a product or service that is relevant to our amazing, creative readership in an upcoming e-Artella issue, please send an email to eartella@artellaland.com for more information. We are committed to bringing e-Artella readers information about fantastic opportunities out there!   AND, if you're building a new Web site for your business,  make sure that you look into SiteBuildIt (SBI),  a  Web service and suite of marketing tools that is truly Artella's "secret weapon"!  (In fact, you can click here to read a  case study about Artella on the SBI Web site).  I can't say enough good things about this company and what it has done for  my business!     Lyrical Links: 1. Octopus Magazine is a great online poetry magazine. Click and read…very inspiring! 2. The Poetry Society of America is a great resource for keeping tabs on the national pulse of poetry. From contest listings to reviews of recent publications, to the evocative Poetry in Motion program, this is an intriguing and informative Web site to visit.     Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 7 In This Issue... PassionPoetry Announcements Guest Article: "Making Your Way to a Poem: Write from the News" Feature Recording: "Connect the Words" Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: Poetic Idol Competition Deadline Extended! Because of the craziness of the holidays, and the creativity that overflows into the new year, we the deadline for our current Poetic Idol Competition has been extended to the end of THIS month, January 31, 2006. Win up to $150, plus all kinds of wonderful Artella prize collections. Details are at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly. Announcing our esteemed Contest Winners! We are so pleased to announce winners for our last Poetic Idol Quarterly Poetry Contest: First place: Ann McGovern for "Einstein's Theory" Second place: Janice Rose for "Tenth Summer" Third place: Allen Taylor for "Love and War" Honorable Mentions: Ariel for "Leda's Advice", Jaime Adcock for "South of Slow", Tina M. Marks Shirley for "What Life is Not", Pattie Mosca for "Upon Meeting", Dawn Richerson for "What the Sand Dollar Has to Say", and terri st. cloud for "Yin Yang" Read these winning poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poeticidol8-05.html. And even more winners! We combined all of the entrants for our free PassionPoetry contests over the past several months and came up with four wonderful winners: First place: "Contact" Second place: Dawn Richerson for "Confession" Third place: Danny Lewis for "Beasts on Medication" Fourth place: Raven Kaliana for "Golden" Read these winning poems at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry12-05.html. Would you like to write for Artella? If you'd like to submit poetry for Artella magazine, please note that we have updated the themes and deadlines for our upcoming issues at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/submit.html. Or perhaps you'd even like to try creating some art? Our brand new Creative TWIST Challenges are the perfect opportunity to stretch your creative wings. Entries for the new "Artella Mae Altoid Doll Challenge" are due February 23…get all the details at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/creative-twists.html. Guest Article: Making Your Way to a Poem: Write from the News by Dawn Richerson Ready to make your way to a poem, but not sure where to start? Get real. No, really, write from the news. See, when I'm looking to inject a dose of reality or want to write about something that matters to people now, I just become a bit of a newshound, sniffing out stories and mining them for the essence of and inspiration for good poetry. Poems inspired by current events, people, and places in the news have the potential to inform, to raise awareness, to provoke thought and action, to provide a means of connection with complex issues, to be a catalyst for healing, change and growth. They enrich the individual lives of the poet and readers, who are often exposed to a deeper or broader story communicated through verse; such poems may also prompt further discussion or a closer examination among both casual and organized groups. In some cases, a simple poem may be the seed of social change. Newspapers, from the front page to the obituaries, are a goldmine of ideas, as are magazines from National Geographic to People to the New Yorker. If you don't have time to read, watch and listen. Tune in to CNN or broadcast news or peruse the latest Internet headlines. Sometimes, even community circulars or church newsletters include tidbits on human behavior, whether at the community level or on a global scale. Making your way to a poem can really be as simple as that. Just clear your mind, breathe in, and take in the latest headlines. Absorb the facts. If a story strikes you in any way, jot down questions, reactions, thoughts, emotions and other associations. Poetry composed about current events can begin with a telephoto view (a single image or detail) or wide-angle view (a big-picture look at an entire issue). If you feel comfortable engaging with the issue in a very personal way, do so. This was my choice in "Soul Cries," composed after a confluence of images in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina. The poem speaks directly to those caught unwittingly inside this tragedy. My goal with this poem was to take an issue that was overwhelming and far-reaching and to narrow the focus in speaking from my heart to an individual affected by the devastation. This kind of personalization of an issue or event may even help readers to find their own ways to respond. Some poets chose to paint an unforgettable and detailed picture of the event itself. Others asked difficult questions or conveyed the confusion and anger evacuees must have felt in the midst of the storm and its aftermath. When fishing for a new idea for a poem, consider current events which have impacted your own life or community in some way. I wrote "Six Feet to Forever" nearly a year ago after seeing a brief story on the local news about a mother who had lost her son in Iraq. I began to imagine the circumstances of his death and how he had felt serving his country. What had the mother and son said to one another? My intent with this particular poem was not to report what had happened or to make a political point about the war. Neither was it to communicate directly with the mother or the son. Rather, I wanted to convey the emotional lives of one mother and son to others familiar with the context of the Second Gulf War. Having a clear intent will strengthen poetry drawn from real-life events. Before you begin to write, ask yourself: Do I want to report what happened? Tell the story behind the story? Become a voice for one without a voice within this story? Demonstrate the impact of current events on individual lives? These are just a few possibilities. If you're ready for reality poetry or verse inspired by current events, it's a simple matter of gathering the facts and letting the stories that are "out there" impact you "in here." So, poets, stay tuned for striking images and underlying truths. Reach deep into the heart of a story or peel back its layers in order to uncover and then convey something meaningful or, sometimes, just fun. The world is waiting. For now, I'll be making my way to a poem. Dawn Richerson is a poet, freelance writer and marketing communications consultant from Atlanta. Contact her at writerdawn@earthlink.net or visit http://www.authorsden.com/writerdawn to read her poetry. Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry will include a link to an audio recording of a class or lecture that presents high-quality information for writers. This month's feature is a 10-minute lecture by Artella Founder Marney Makridakis called "Playing Connect the Words". This Audio Presentation was originally presented to Artella Members as part of the series of free weekly Audio Presentations. Play it here: Lyrical Links: thepoetrymarket.com offers a free e-zine with poetry markets, book reviews, and a message board. If one of your New Year's Goals is to get into a practice of writing every day (and REALLY doing it), take the free 5-day sample of the Artella e-course, "Writes and Passages: A Guide to Becoming an 'Every Day' Writer". About the full 30-day course, Marilyn Hansen said, "Your incredible prompts in the Writes and Passages #20 exercise shocked me with what came forth, so I couldn't resist sharing what I came up with....Thanks for putting together such an inspiring set of exercises. I am writing every day without fail!" Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 5 - Special "Poetic Idol" Edition - August 2005 ~In This Issue ~ 9 Things That Artella's Winning Poems Have in Common "Poetic Idol" Competition Entry Instructions 9 Things That Artella's Winning Poems Have In Common Artella's most popular poetry contest is, without a doubt, the Quarterly "Poetic Idol" Competition, which awards a top prize of $150, plus all kinds of wonderful creative prizes for winning poets. With the deadline for the Poetic Idol Competition coming up on August 30, we thought it would be interesting to ask the individuals who have judged these contests to express what they feel our winning poems have had in common. For this special edition of the PassionPoetry Newsletter, we've gathered their answers and assimilated them into a list of 9 things that seem to be present in winning poems. Please take note, however, that by no means must a poem have all or most of these things. They are just meant to be looked at as a helpful guide, and not in any way as mandatory. Very often, the best art breaks all convention! Just have fun! 9 Things That Our Winning Poems Tend to Have In Common: There's often an element of the unexpected; be it a phrasing or an image or the way a narrative unfolds. There is a sensibility of rhythm in the words that makes the piece come alive, both when read on the page and when read out loud. There is often some element of identity or experience in the piece to which the reader can relate. The words in the poem flow in a consistent manner and are illuminating and well-chosen. There's an image or expression in the piece that just sings with originality and newness. The piece invokes emotion and/or original thought in the reader. The poem's content and form have a relationship that seems to make sense. The piece often expands perception about what can happen in a small amount of time or space. The poem tends to take risks; the writer bypasses the obvious, easy ways to express things and instead makes bolder, more unconventional choices. Poetic Idol Competition Entry Instructions If reading the above list has inspired you to get those poems out of the drawer or out of your head and onto paper, then you can't find an easier, more writer-friendly poetry contest than Artella's Poetic Idol Competition. In fact, this very Competition is one reason that Writer's Digest magazine selected Artella as one of the 101 Best Web Sites for Writers for two years in a row! For only $5.00, you can submit three poems for the opportunity to receive cash awards and other wonderful prize packages. AND just for entering, you receive your choice of an e-Artella issue which regularly sells for $4.95. Top prize is $150 plus many free products from Artella that are aimed to expand your exposure and inspire your Muse. Plus, the top 25 poems all get Artella-style awards to celebrate your talents! Get all the submission details and prizes at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly, and enjoy the poetry of past winners in our Poetry Gardens of Fame. So whether you've already been published many times over, or if you simply have an inner writing voice that has been quiet for way too long, I hope you'll enter our lauded Poetic Idol Competition! Remember that the deadline is Tuesday, August 30, at midnight EDT. Enter at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html#Quarterly * * * * * So…that's it for this Special Edition of PassionPoetry. Look for the complete edition in September. Archives of PassionPoetry can be found here. Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html! Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!

PassionPoetry Newsletter Issue 4, August 2005 ~In This Issue ~ PassionPoetry Announcements Guest Article: "Tips to Build Your Poetry Inventory" Feature Recording: "WildChild Writing Warmup: 1 Hour Class Recording" Lyrical Links PassionPoetry Announcements: A New Home for Artella Poets! We proudly announce The PassionPoetry Portal, a new page that you can access at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html. This page contains information about our current Poetry Contests, back issues to the PassionPoetry Newsletters, and links to The Poetry Gardens of Fame, where all of the winning poems from our contests are featured. Next Poetic Idol Competition Deadline Approaches! The time for our Quarterly Poetic Idol Competition draws nigh, with a firm deadline of midnight EDT on August 31, 2005. For $5.00, submit three poems for the opportunity to receive cash awards and other wonderful prize pacakages. Included in your entry fee is your choice of an e-Artella issue which regularly sells for $4.95. Top prize is $150 plus many free products from Artella that are aimed to expand your exposure and inspire your Muse. Get all the submission details and prizes at http://www.poetry-portal.html#Quarterly. Bi-Weekly Contests continue! Our Free Bi-Weekly Contests continue every two weeks, awarding the authors of four top poems with a variety of fine prizes. Find submission instructions at http://www.artellawordsandart.com/poetry-portal.html, and enjoy the poetry of past winners in our Poetry Gardens of Fame. Prize Poems + Art = Dream! The latest issue of Artella, The Dreamworld: Night Sees the Day, is filled with poems that have won both of the above contests, paired with artistic illustration that bring even more meaning to our talented poets' words. Our current Dreamworld Reverie sale offers a dramatic reduction in a 6-issue subscription (50% off the cover price)! Get information on the sale, and take our Intuitive Art Quiz to see if your taste in art can predict your dreams, at: http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/dreamworld-sale.html. Guest Article: Tips to Build Your Poetry Inventory by Sarah E. White One thing most businesses have in common is that they have products they want to sell. As a poet, your poems are your product and magazines, ezines, and book publishers are your potential customers. Though thinking about writing poetry as a business can take some of the poetry out of it, if you really want to make money from your words you will have to start thinking that way. The main tactic you can take from the world of business and adapt to your poetry business is the concept of inventory. Businesses that sell products keep a certain inventory on hand so that customers can find what they want, buy it, and take it home with them. Building your poetry inventory will give you a stock set of poems that you can market diligently and in an organized manner, instead of just sending out a poem whenever the spirit strikes and never following up. Your poetic inventory will allow you to send a poem out quickly when you see a call for submissions or a contest that you would like to enter. It will help you become more organized in your pursuit of paid publication because you can keep records of when a poem was sent where and what the response was (a simple database will allow you to do this). Once you have built up your poetry inventory your business side will become more productive and you'll probably start making more sales. Poetry, like most types of writing, is often a numbers game. You have to have a certain number of poems circulating all the time, and you often have to approach the same publications numerous times before they will accept your work. Persistence is critical, but it is difficult to remain persistent in the face of rejection without a process for systematically sending out your work. Having an inventory you can pull from will help you keep a handful (or more) poems out for consideration at all times, and you will consistently add more poems to your rotation as you write more. So how do you build a poetry inventory? Start by going through your old files, flagging poems you like and that you would like to see published. You can also make note of any good lines in bad poems, which you can then recycle into new poems. Once you have your keeper pile, read through each poem, slowly and carefully, with a critical eye. You'll want to print these out if they're on your computer, and you'll probably want to read the poems aloud so you can hear any false notes or places where the words don't go together right. Edit for word choice, cadence, theme, and length. I know poetry is supposed to be about art and not require something as pedantic as editing, but if you want to be a successful (as in well-published) poet, you'll need to take some time to refine your work. This process should take from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the number of poems and how much time you have to devote to editing. Take your time with this part of the project. While you're busy editing you should also be on the lookout for poetry markets. Start a Word file or a spreadsheet that includes the publication name, contact information, web address, payment and any special themes, deadlines or guidelines. When you are ready to start submitting, it will be a great help to have a long list of potential markets. Of course during this process you should also be writing new poetry, adding keepers to your editing queue and sending finished manuscripts to publications from your list, always documenting which poems you have sent to which publishers, when you sent them, what their response was and how much you were paid or where you sent the poem next, depending on the outcome. Try to write a new poem every day. They won't all be good, but there's nothing like writing poetry to train the poetic mind. Just like any other writer is told to write every day to build their writing muscles, so should poets be encouraged to make verse daily to sharpen their senses and their poetic sensibilities. I know all this organization and consistency sounds like work, not at all like art. But if you want to share your words with other people, and especially if you want to be paid for it, you need to think about, build and maintain your poetry inventory. And if that's not enough motivation for you, just think about how much easier it will be to write your book once you have everything organized. Sarah E. White is a freelance writer, editor and poet living in Arkansas. Her home on the web is http://www.sarahewhite.com. Contact her at sewwriter@gmail.com. Feature Recording: Each issue of PassionPoetry will include a link to an audio recording of a class or lecture that presents high-quality information for writers. This month's feature is a recorded one-hour teleclass with Jill Badonsky, author of The Nine Modern-Day Muses (and a Bodyguard), and Artella Founder Marney Makridakis. The teleclass is titled "WildChild Writing Warmup" and is a preview to a "Jilly con Marney" workshop that this duo will be presenting at Artella's WildChild Wisdom Weekend,a 3-day retreat in Litchfield, Connecticut on October 6-9. The retreat, which will feature a special presentation by SARK and workshops by many other presenters, is a full-sensory experience into the childlike wisdom, intuition, and energy, all of which are essential ingredients to the soul of a poet. Click here to listen to the teleclass. You will need to have audio software on your computer, such a RealPlayer or MediaPlayer. Download the latest version of RealPlayer at www.real.com. To join SARK, Jill, Marney, and constellations of Artella energy at the WildChild Wisdom Weekend, get full information at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/retreat.html. Be sure to download the brainstorming spinner game to help fund your trip! Lyrical Links: 1.Soul Food Cafe is full of resources that encourage daily writing, and so much more. 2. Just for fun, http://www.13d.org/esofword/ presents The Archive of Endangered, Special, or Fun Words. Do you know a friend who would like PassionPoetry? Please forward this newsletter to all your poetic friends! If you are not currently signed up for PassionPoetry, it's really easy to subscribe at http://www.ArtellaWordsAndArt.com/poetry-portal.html. !Thanks for being part of the PassionPoetry Circle! See you next month!