We’re coming up on the last Poetry Friday in January. You know what that means. It’s almost time for our annual daily writing workout!

For the past four years, my blog has hosted a community poetry project.

• This started as a birthday project. In 2013, I wrote every day in response to vintage postcards. I mailed the postcards, with their response poems, out to people by request. (Find the list of postcard poems here.)
• In 2014, over a dozen poets joined me for the project. Fourteen poets wrote 144 poems about Pantone paint colors. (Find the list of Pantone poems here.)
• 2015’s project was writing in response to sounds. Fourteen writers participated and we wrote 177 original poems. (Find the list of sound poems here.)
• I was unprepared for the response our project had in 2016. The theme was found objects. Twenty-eight poets wrote 346 poems in the month of February. (Find the list of found object poems here.)

This year, the project has moved to a closed Facebook group to accommodate the number of people who want to participate. A group of us have been testing out the process with warm-up exercises. I’m excited to report that the Facebook platform is working well.

2017 Theme: 10 Words Found in the News

The theme of this year’s project combines current events and found poetry with an exercise borrowed from one of my mentors, poet Grace Cavalieri: 10 Little Words.

Beginning January 31, I will post 10 words in our project’s Facebook group for the next day. Along with the words, you’ll see a link to the source from which those words were drawn. Sources might include news articles, transcripts of political speeches, interviews of politicians and activists, the headlines of the day. Your daily task is to build a poem that includes those ten words.

Why this prompt?

Over the past several weeks I’ve resisted the urge to disengage from the language our government is using. Instead, I encourage everyone to look at that language as a poet. We can create found poems and word art to reflect what’s happening in our country and world.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PROJECT NEWBIES: As always, the point of this exercise is to practice the habit of writing regularly, even if it’s just for one month. Members of the project post response poems the same day so that we can focus on generating ideas and giving positive feedback, rather than polishing for publication.

Interested in joining us? You can request to join the closed 5th Annual February Daily Poem Project here.