Happy National Poetry Month! (Also known as, you know, “April”.)
To celebrate awesome poetry (and the first months of this blog), I am participating in the 6th Annual Big Poetry Giveaway. To enter, simply comment with your name and email at the end of the post! I will draw two winners in the first week of May.
I participated in this giveaway last year as an entrant on several blogs, and as a result was lucky enough to win several books of poetry. How do you say no to the chance to discover new (and sometimes old) poets? Because of this giveaway, I have fallen in love with many poets once unknown to me.
This year, with the new blog officially released, I wanted to participate on the side of giving away.
Most giving participants are poets themselves, giving away at least one of their own books and at least one book from another poet whose work they enjoy. Seeing as I do not have my own book (yet), I am giving away two books from poets I love.
You could win one of these!
The first book, the one on the left, is the complete poems of Joyce Kilmer. Kilmer was famous for the poem that begins “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree”, which I honestly never cared for after having it shoved at me in school. But when I finally sat down with a volume of the rest of his work, I learned that I absolutely love his voice. One of my favorite poems of his is “Prayer of a Soldier in France”. His work is simple, eloquent, and often to-the-point.
The second book, “God Went to Beauty School”, I picked up at a used book sale a little while back. The title kept drawing me in, and eventually I could overlook it no further and brought it home with me. This might be one of my favorite books of all time, and if you think you aren’t much of a poetry fan, this book might turn you. Cynthia Rylant’s book is a beautiful example of spirituality in daily life without the heavy burden of official ‘religion’. This book makes me laugh, smile, and cry. I have one of the poems framed on my desk at work. I want to give this book away to everyone I know. Maybe this month it will be you!
(Fun fact: Cynthia Rylant, among dozens of other things, is the author of the children’s series Henry and Mudge! I totally grew up on those.)
Now its up to you. If you’d like to enter, just drop a comment below! If you’d like to see the other participants in the giveaway, drop by the Book of Kells blog and checkout the sidebar… the full list is there. (Participants have through Sunday the 5th to sign up. Entrants have until April 30th to play along.)
If you want to make this more interactive, in addition to your name and email for the giveaway, leave me a question or two. It can be about me or my writing. If enough people do this, I’ll pick some of my favorites and do a fun ‘about me’ post in May! Get creative!
lissaclouser.com 
That didn’t work right.
Matt Chapmond
MattmanXIII@yahoo.com
Please enter me in your drawing!
Questions:
1. What are your favorite pizza toppings?
2. What is your greatest indulgence?
Test? I posted an entry with questions but it doesn’t seem to have gone through…
It did! Thank you. My blog is just set for me to approve first-time comments from new people. Once first approval is given you shouldn’t have any further delays in future commenting. =) I’ve just had lots of trouble with spam over the years on other blogs I have kept up with and this seems the easiest way for me to weed out the real people from the spammers and computers!
Do you have a writing schedule?
Thanks for the opportunity to enter this wonderful giveaway! These poetry books sound awesome.
Please enter me in the giveaway. I’d be happy with either book.
Questions? Okay, I’ll play along. I’ll go at it from a Barbara Walters angle to make it more fun.
question #1: what is the first poem you remember reading and enjoying?
question #2: If you were a poem, what poem would you be?
question #3: Do your feel your poetry has evolved over time or do you have a style that you’ve stayed true to? And are the topics of your poems more based on personal experience or fantasy or a mix of both?
Linda Hofke
Lnshofke(at)yahoo(dot)com
Glad to see you participating in NaPo and the giveaway! Please add me to the drawing.
Rodney Wilder
roquedog504[at]gmail[dot]com
God Went to Beauty School sounds fantastic.
– Andrea Blythe
andreablythe at hotmail dot com
Please include me in your drawing.
Laurie Kolp
laurie.kolp(at)gmail.com.
P.S. Here’s a question for you. What’s your favorite type of music?
Hi Lissa,
Thanks so much for doing this giveaway. I’d love to be entered in it; my name is Brian Wong and my e-mail is: thebripod@gmail.com
My question: How often does the first line of a poem you write stay the first line when it’s finished? How does the process of getting the first line down work for you?
Happy Poetry Month!
Please enter me in your generous drawing, and thanks!
Jo Lightfoot – wayaclan[at]yahoo.com
I like the name of your website.
– In what way is writing poetry a spiritual endeavor for you?
– Please describe your relationship with your muse.
oops! Here’s my email to enter this giveaway. email: dianealvine@comcast.net
Thank you.
Hi Lissa,
I would love to win either of these books you are giving away, especially the one by Cynthia Rylant since I have read another poetry book by her called “I’ll be back again” and am a fan of her work. What is the title of her poem that you have framed on your desk? Also another question…are you currently working on a book of poems, or are you submitting individual poems to journals, or some other project? I love the postcard exchange you are doing. Thanks for your generosity and inspiration, Marianne Mersereau – marianne4art@yahoo(dot)com
HI Ann Hart annmaryhart@hotmail.com Thanks for participating in the give away!
I would love either book, but especially the Cynthia Rylant one. I remember my kids reading Henry and Mudge books! LuvBritLit at Gmail dot com
Do you read novels? Who are some of your favorite novelists? Do you prefer poetically written novels, or do you prefer more straight-forward, plot-driven prose? Or does it depend on your mood?
I love 2nd hand book so 3rd must be even better.
Thank you for playing. and Hopefully by next year;s you can give your own too (That’s my wish for myself 😉 )
God went to beauty school…..of course he did, and how clever is that title. Having said this, it is perhaps obvious that I would love to enjoy this book also, or the other one, and therefore would be very pleased to be entered in this giveaway. Thanks for this terrific opportunity. Patricia Dowell – pldowell@gmail.com
I feel I should at least tell you I’ve heard you rave about these books (particularly the second) so much that I am going to have to locate a copy and read for myself at some point, even though I also feel I should not enter myself in your giveaway.
I mostly commented, though, because I want to ask you for your about me post – a) What is your favourite ‘studio’ space in which to write? and b) Do you have a favourite form(s) to write or read poetry (do you have a favourite to read and a different to write?) or is it mutable depending on mood/subject?
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