Wanna submit to the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for their horror book of poetry? If you are published in HALLOWEEN PARTY, you can. Gravelight Press is part of the Old Scratch Press family, and we pay every author in HALLOWEEN PARTY $25 (and give each author a free copy of the anthology), and that $25 check is enough to qualify for membership in the HWA.
The HWA is currently soliciting for a volume of poetry. Why not submit?
Here’s a little horror ditty (I’m not saying it’s very pretty…).
Little Bo Weep (by D.Pearce)
Now I lay me down to sleep and thinking ’bout dismembering sheep. No hooves to leap no baaaaahs to bleep just nightmares in the meadow’s deep. Like a tea with too much steep the blood into the wool will seep. I chopping chopping as she weeps that simpering whimpering dopey BoPeep. Then I round the herd will creep for bones and fuzz and tails to sweep And when the sheep are in a heap what will be the reap I reap? At lastly long and blissful sleep.
April is the month for poetry, and in the part of the United States where I live, I’m fortunate to have a hiking trail where years ago small signs were posted with quotes from poetry. What a delight, to only hear the sounds of my shoes crunching into the dirt and the twitter of birds and insects, blue sky overhead, surrounded by green. I pause and read the poem painted on a wooden sign. If I am with a friend, I read it to them aloud. If I am alone, I still read it out loud to myself, because poetry is meant to be heard.
National Poetry Month was established in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. According to the Academy, it is the largest literary celebration in the world. Listening to a poet read their own work is a treat. Click on the previous link to see and hear Joy Harjo read one of her exquisite poems.
One of the earliest poets I was introduced to in school was William Shakespeare. Today, due to the evolution of the English language, his works are not as frequently read. Some of the words and phrasing may seem “odd” to your modern ear, but listen to the phrasing and the selection of vowel sounds and consonants. Read him aloud and his work may start to grow on you.
Discovering new poets and rediscovering forgotten favorites, is part of the fun of National Poetry Month.
Writer and Artist Morgan Golladay, a founding member of the Old Scratch Poetry and Short Form Collective, created this beautiful piece of artwork featuring a flower found in many spring gardens, Impatiens.
Sonnet 98: From You Have I Been Absent in the Spring
OLD SCRATCH PRESS 