About the Challenge

"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity" ~ William Wordsworth

A Poem A Day Challenge is a week-long (5 days) challenge that runs every third week of the month.

Participants receive writing prompts, daily, for which they write and submit a poem by 10 pm on the same day.

The best THREE (3) poems are selected and published the next morning.

TO PARTICIPATE: enter your email address here http://eepurl.com/eQCM6 and you will receive a daily prompt.

RULES OF THE CHALLENGE:

  • you have to sign up to receive the writing prompts
  • you have to write a new poem for the writing prompt and submitting by 10pm on the same day
  • you may not submit a poem you have already written before.

CHALLENGE PRIZE: From August we are offering a prize for the best overall poem. More info on the prize and how this is decided will follow.

QUARTERLY PRINT EDITION: Poems selected for the publication will be compiled for a quarterly print edition of A Poem A Day challenge. More info on this will follow.

submit here or here make sure to include the words:  APOEMADAY at the top of your submission


April: Freedom Week

When Common asks Assata Shakur 'what is freedom?' at the end of his tribute song, Song of Assata. Assata responds, "You're asking me about freedom? i know a whole lot more about what freedom isn't... coz i've never been free." She goes on to imagine what freedom could be.

It's Freedom Week in South Africa, that historical first vote for the oppressed Afrikan masses of South Africa happened eighteen years ago on 27 April. Now let's writer great poems, interrogate, question, image, dream about freedom.

peace

zamantungwa
editor, publisher

A Poem A Day Challenge, Every 3rd Week of the month

Poems

Showing category "A Dream Deferred" (Show all posts)

A Dream Deferred by Aubrey Mgwenya

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 

from dawn to dusk,
from morning to evening,
from sunrise to sunset,
I sit quietly and lonely.
with nobody to name of mine.
with nobody to embrace me.
with nobody to fall in love with.
with nobody to stay with.and nobody to share my feelings with.

from supper time till breakfast time.
from break time till dinner time.
I have no one to teach me how to love.
I have no one to kiss me good night.
I have no one to tap my shoulder on the table.
I have no one to caress me gently in my sleep.
I have no one to hold ...
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Today is Today by Christine Msibi

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 

Today becomes tomorrow everyday
The chance each day, is wasted away.
This isn't the way that things should stay.

Pick a Colour
Paint your path
Right the wrong
And make your mark

You Dreamt it
You want It
So live it
Don't defer it

Make it True!

Today is today
It's all up to you.


© Christine Msibi

day 4 | 9 June 2011

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A Dream Deferred by Carol Ronaldson

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 

Is not a dream defeated
as we cast our hope
like nets
into never still seas
knowing within the depths of
Disappointment
Despair
Heartache
Dreams swim
in shimmering shoals of
Colour
Light
Love
just below the
dark waves of our fear,
waiting to fill us with 
beautiful possibilities 
once more.

© Carol Ronaldson

day 4 | 9 June 2011

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The Pain and the Promise by Dineo Ramokgopa

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 

Nestled feed in the centre of my being,
I nurture the very purpose of my existence.
No words to articulate the depth of this desire within of,
Patience slowly taking  its toll.
Still, hope stirs in my heart,
A dream deferred is not a dread dead.


© Dineo Ramokgopa

day 4 | 9 June 2011

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Dream Deferred by Reitumetse Johnson

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 
It is to defer the retina 
Of ones true eye,
Skewed by chagrin’s
Of life’s light
residing in our love to be…
what we dream of,
however pliant
there only seems to be 
the so called “reality”
where dreaming is but a 
Past time episode

© Reitumetse Johnson

day 4 | 9 June 2011

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I Wash My Dishes by Esther van der Vyver

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 

I wash my dishes
the long knives
warm under my hands
smooth like my dreams
and as sharp
I dream of love with no loss
of sex with no regret
no misunderstanding
I dream of beginnings
of motion
also of stillness.
I stand here in my kitchen
my hands
curdling in the water
not hoping, dreaming.
 
 
© Esther van der Vyver

day 4 | 9 June 2011


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Elapsed by Jazz Africa

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 

Elapsed
Miles gone by beyond and unreachable
Neatly wrapped like fresh dough inside a tsampa bowl
Memories, hidden well, tucked in like a pappoose under its covers
Hidden behind “doors wide open shut”
 
Comforting it seems, yet…
Yet, so belittling at times, yet…uplifting at times
Who cares? Who gives a damn?
Carefree I am, so I have grown to be
Shielded by powers unknown
Nothing bothers, nothing concerns
 
Years pass by, swift, smooth winds flow, I do not care
Emotionless!
Thinking about tomorrow le...

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A Dream Deferred by Tshego Monaisa

Posted by Poetry Potion on Saturday, August 13, 2011, In : A Dream Deferred 

A dream deferred is not a dream idle
A dream delayed brews in the heart,
Causes one to stir, toss and turn in ones sleep.

So many give up,
Because of a dream deferred,
Never realizing the secret, 
That a dream deferred,
Is not a dream idle


© Tshego Monaisa

day 4 | 9 June 2011

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