oliviaswriting

[oliviaswriting]

Poetry Resources

bold = my favorite 

Places to Find Poetry (most also have information on poetry as a whole and specific poets) 

this website is the best it’s got so much poetry, information on poets, and general poetry resources. cool articles here here and here 

another general poetry website, but on this one you can also sign up to receive a poem a day here 

this site is a little clunky, but it’s got great poems, and is focused on american poetry pre 1920

this website features contemporary american poets that are not as well-known as some of the other sites, but that’s kinda it’s beauty. poets that i skimmed and liked here and here

this is another website focused on older poetry, this one is organized by period which is cool

this site has a whole bunch of translated international poems next to the non-translated version. poems that prove only reading english poems is a bummer here, here, here, here and here. 

this website has a bunch of poetry as well as some cool visual ways of examining poetry. cool articles here and here.

a school based poetry website with a poem specifically for teenagers for each day of the school year. 

Prompts 

this website is for teachers, but it’s pretty cool, there’s usually a lesson plan and then one+ prompts, they also take student submissions. cool articles here and here 

this website has a prompt every two weeks, an archive and allows readers to submit.  

this is one list of poetry prompts with links to others on the page. 

a huge list of in depth poetry prompts. 

my absolute favorite list of poetry prompts, oh goodness i love these. other years here, here, and here. plus this year’s here. 

Contests 

this contest has to be done through high school, but they are willing to talk through exceptions 

five students are picked through this contest each year, representing each geographical region of the united states. the application process is through the national scholastic program. 

this is a masterlist of 70 different places to submit poetry. a list of only resources that pay you here.

this website includes links to websites to: publish your work, promote your work, find your community, look at other’s work, and workshops. 

Classes 

this class is already done, but you can access all the videos and assignments for free, and it’s focused on contemporary american poetry. 

like above, this class is done,but this one is just generally on poetry. 

Responses to Poetry 

this website is a personal favorite and great for research papers, it has tons of critiques, biographies, interviews, and more. some cool articles here, here and here 

this website has the start of interviews for free, and then you have to pay for a subscription to see the rest for most of them, interesting interviews though so still worth checking out, it also only does authors from 1950′s to 2000′s, but includes all types of literature not just poems. there’s also poetry on the website, but it’s cutoff as well, so not worth it. interesting interviews here and here (not poetry but still cool)

Poetry with Specific Communities (i’m not picking favorites for the specific communities, because that feels not good)  

an interesting cite that hosts workshops, tours, anthologies, contests, jobs, and more for for black poets. cool pages here and here

a cite that focuses asian american readers and writers of poetry, it includes, but is not limited to: retreats, a youth intensive, and a 1,000 dollar cash poetry prize/publication.

this website has a large amount of latinx programs, this specific one is for latinx writers and has two poetry prizes.

this website features poetry about social justice. interesting pages here and here.

Writing/Editing  

some tips on writing. 

some tips on editing poetry. 

a checklist to make sure readers will enjoy reading your work. 

a list of interesting ways to edit your poetry. 

a downloadable checklist on editing poetry. 

some more tips on writing poetry. 

cool words to use.

[oliviaswriting]

Mirror Maze Smiles (Haibun)

We spend stolen nights talking about the things daylight can’t reach. You tell me about phantom bruises lingering below collar bones, skin turned scarecrow, nobody is allowed to look too close. I tell you of the noose always hovering around my baby sister’s neck, how the rope is twisted out of strands I’ve coughed up, can she feel my saliva oozing down her body. You tell me how a finger feels when it’s made a home at the back of a throat, how fingers can bring in furniture and brighten the place up, but paintings can’t hide cracks in walls forever. I tell you of the muzzle guarding my mouth, how my nails feel clawing against the screws, and how every night I tighten them further. We both live in funhouse mirror mazes, and no matter how hard our hands swing together the walls won’t break. But there’s something to hold onto now. Someone to acknowledge our location, and draw shot guns on mirrored elongated bodies. This shouldn’t be as funny as it is when you’re holding my hand. You hide scarred skin with bloody bandages and I hide bleeding body with maroon red, but interior wounds are similar. It’s too early to see if we’re parachutes or lead shoes.

Just go to sleep hon It’s just too close to sunrise But you’re still awake

[oliviaswriting]

Wowza, I sure am Gay!

5 Word Poetry

[oliviaswriting]

A Modern Retelling of Howl by Allen Ginsberg Part One

I

I saw the softest hearts of my grade roughened by pressure flashing        shaking manic, huddled in the blighted parking lot between bureaucracy itching for        thrumming cigarettes, straight-a students carving flesh from bone for systemic miracles from        the screwed god in the freedom of classrooms, who kneeled teeth dwindling and throats fucked raw blinded by the hollowed       porcelain bowl, filled the room and their very human fingers with the       smell of regurgitated breakfast, who chain-smoking their own splintered ribcages ruminated on the inherent       possessiveness of very adult and very teacher and very real hands on       shoulders or claiming eyes focused on developing breasts, who whispered fuck as an act of quiet rebellion, formed Revolution on the ways       they watched classmates and the school crumble beneath them, who scratched off assaulter’s gargantuan body using purposely dulled       nails, purgatory penetrating haze of marijuana smoke, quiet       rap music, poem wreckages, who fist fought walls in last week’s dirty laundry found Enlightenment by       pissing in the advancement of the new buildings, cock out territory       marking territory, who waited in the designated weed waiting place, fingers tapping out       apprehensive melodies for best friends who aren’t coming back, who waged a war against the machine of the hills cannibalistic & flowering       omnivore rage’s uterus, who got smashed off parent’s liquor and molotov’s cocktails swayed their       grinding bodies against someone else’s mom jeans until the ache       of muscles and spinning worlds reminded them of the consequences       of frugal teenage reality, chugged rubbing alcohol from the drawers that were supposed to be       locked between scenes of a play in middle of being written actors       melodramatic fragments of the director’s regulated Artistic       Freedom, open roads & hitchhikers of temporarily permanent habitants the twisting       cobblestone path, trees menacing shadow puppets, talked about ways         to run away on the way back to school, played russian spy against the ever watching Big Brother of the rotating         cameras put up posters with the head of school saying we care       about you like a campaign promise, who carved messages to god in all too pliant skin, raving ruining madness       masked by large & sometimes ominous tree outside the library, captured       bees by using other bees’ dead bodies, apocalyptic light filtered       out by gardener’s design of Eden, stringy unwashed hair falling out in pious clumps painted shower walls       as new aged hipsters gossiped over their non fat soy lattes about the       fucking Patriarchy, who midnight meandered, walking past a noticeable political figure’s make       shift house blunt in one hand gasoline drenched fingers in the other       mumbling fragments of a found Atlantis, who slouched from behind prison bars called ‘for your own good’, homework       lying untouched as they sank further into sweet sweet isolation, who staged sit ins beneath their unwashed and sweat soaked hand me         down sheets lying in their own food crumbs dust dirt filth and       shit cursing the benevolent gods, who checked Stanford’s acceptance rate on their overloaded computers daily       see if they’re good enough to be accepted, talks of Future Future       Future, who professed obscenities the entire school year long a new person in       their vendetta with every thrashing breath,       an abandoned orphanage of vilified teenage boys tying rope around       a school project ceiling fan setting up the recently painted       chair just in alignment clobbering pummeling exorcizing striking noses and cheek bones and       stomachs and red cats cradle and retaliation of parents and failing       grades and let down families, who stood Safeway frozen for hours debating popcorn classmates         reactions temporality of life, panic attacks in bathroom stalls       clawed out of their skin and then went to class still lumps of       bloody & exposed flesh who shouted panicked prayers from the bottom of pill bottles saw the school       on fire and teachers burning read their expellment email with baited       breath until the words were bruised & bloody, who collected class As to hide their bruised bodies, shovel and suffocating       dirt numb looked down at the corpse, screamed obscenities to       tripping gods joined the body in the dirt pleading parents to throw       the dirt themselves, instead watched the Buildings wrench shovels       from sobbing hands and start burying, who carried knives pressed against the soft of stoner’s anathematized bellies       puncture wound freckles, metallic cottages painted the color of students nos swaying in manufactured       wind, collapsing roofs & prison walls & floor & concrete &       tables & nostrils, who broke bookshelves as an act of rebellion against the collapse of the       old Athenian, threw chairs, threw bricks, threw whiteboards, threw       students who crawled out Phoenix ash covered body from the bones of chairs &       bricks & whiteboards & students crowing tales of how they       almost died who whispered a shouting declaration to the neverending teenage angst of       cultural suicide, who drank coffee by the gallon sat in classes refusing to share poisoned       ambrosia eye twitching fingers on homework triggers money into       computer screens casual death of millions talked about their kills using       holy words and rape jokes, who foreplayed while driving fucking rhythmic beats with the windows rolled       down and knowing anyone could look in and see them come undone to       the bumbling sound of a breaking car over unpaved roads,   who clawed defiance in the form welting possession into sweetheart’s back       raw & exposing nail marks, they bled like humans too, special       gluten-free noodles with that one sauce and that one side from that       one restaurant thirty minutes away, who matched curves and angles to body types moaning prayers to lesbian me       and lesbian you they laughed sanctified and carried condoms in their bags       for those who need it, were one of the boys, flannel clad pedestrian       touched without permission,   who LOLed and WTFed and OMGed their way their way through the unwanted       unneeded unappreciated change,       the drug of choice was billowing clouds of marijuana that wrapped tendrils        around throbbing throats or the recently destigmatized nicotine shakes                declared exorcism,   and vaping gaping bruising vocal chords dysfunctional against school system       machinery, ambulance declared a necessary act of evil, banishment                    declared a necessary act of evil, evil declared a necessary act of evil,      with the destruction of poetic musings from the off beat thrumming of                 lackluster hearts declared acts of lawful mutiny.