Ah--at last. A poetry challenge. I'm especially looking forward to this one--I do read poetry, just about every day, but not in a particularly organized manner. Mostly it's a case of "oh look I got my daily poem from Writer's Almanac or in the New Yorker". I own poetry books, but have left them languishing for far too long. So! I'm in, in, in for the Clover, Bee, and Reverie challenge.
There are four levels of participation:
Couplet: Read 2 books of poetry
Limerick: Read 5 books of poetry, and finish at least one badge
Octave: Read 8 books of poetry, and finish at least two badges
Sonnet: Read 14 books of poetry, and finish two badges, and one expert badge
What is a badge? A badge just means you need to read two books of poetry that are connected in some way: same time period, some subject matter, same form, same author, etc. An expert badge means four books, same constraints.
Finally - the Free Verse Option. We know that some people want to read lots of poems from lots of different authors. Because of this, we've set up an equivalency: 20 individual poems = one book of poetry. So, if you WANTED to, for instance, for the couplet level, you could just read 40 individual poems, instead of two books of poems.
I am going to go all wild and crazy and sign up for the Octave level. The badges will be challenging, and I'll have to put some thought into that. But in the meantime, I have books by Jude Nutter, Heyden Carruth, and Jeannine Hall Gailey all waiting for attention. I want to read some older poets too--maybe revisit Dickinson? Or the Bronte sisters, since I'm a Bronte fan. And of course, my closet fascination with Sylvia Plath will probably have to be revisited.
Won't you join me?
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