There is also work afoot to make an anthology of poems written during WoPoWriMo. This will be available as both an e-book and a physical book, and will very much count as published! Any profit from sales will be split between WoPoWriMo (to do site maintenance and the like for next year) and the Wikipaedia Foundation (they have an awful lot of infrastructure that costs money and they give us a valuable resource! Plus they are involved in many smaller projects that should help relieve poverty in the long run).

We hope you will wish to take part in one or both of these projects! Send up to five of your poems in the body of the email to books@wopowrimo.org with the subject line Chap and Anthology or if you wish to only take part in the Chap book just Chap. A short bio or informative bit about yourself complete with any personal blog links etc. would be good too. The maximum word count is 500 for the biography.

We are very excited about these projects and hope you will be too!

From Team WoPo

Just save it too your own computer and then place it where ever you want The only provisos are that it mustn’t be altered (re-sizing is ok) and you mustn’t make money from it

For those with the know how here is the html snippet so you can put it straight into your site

<img src=”http://www.wopowrimo.org/images/turquoise-monster.png”>

The monster will look good on you desktop or website or just in a blog post

Well done everybody.

Don’t forget the Pledge which will still be open until tonight So if you haven’t signed it yet sign it and tick completion too!

And remember this is not the end but rather a beginning – there is a lot of work ahead polishing and perfecting those poems you’ve been beavering away at, and also the constuction of a Chap book for those who are interested.

Later there will be a charity anthology – but more on that later! (This is seperate from the chapbook, and we will ask for submissions for the two projects separately)

Information, events and advice will continue to be posted on the site year round so come back and check, or use the RSS feed

And lastly thank you to everyone who has taken part – from the guest bloggers, to the admin team, to you guys the poets who have worked so hard for this month of poetic abandon!

We hope it has been an enjoyable month for all

This picture is beautiful, elegant and entrancing – look at the single figure reflected in its own private world. Write the feelings and emotions this photograph engenders in you.

To start you off you may wish to just describe the colours and contrasts or the set up of the scene – why is he there?

Was he frozen by some hysterical god of old?

Ponder these things and write.

So start your writing off with “In the beginning…” and see where it takes you!

Write for at least 5 minutes without stopping to assess what it is you are putting down on the paper!

Image by [Peter Ciccariello’s](http://invisiblenotes.blogspot.com/) “Credible report III”

Visual Poetry

Visual poetry (also called VisPo and concrete poetry) is poetry in which the visual element is as important—or sometimes more important—than the verbal one. It’s meant to be seen. All poetry has a visual component, but visual poetry self-consciously emphasizes and exploits images in the creation of meaning. To many, these poems are not just literary works, but works of art.

While some claim that visual poetry has existed since humanity’s first use of writing, many see its modern Western beginnings either in 1896 with Mallarmé’s Un Coup de Dés or around 1914 with the work of Guillaume Apollinaire and Italian Futurist F.T. Marinetti.

Visual poetry experienced a renaissance in the 1950s and 1960s on the European continent and in Brazil with the movement known as concrete poetry.

Eugen Gomringer, “Wind”

Haroldo de Campos, “Nasce Morre”

Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s—and afterwards—people also created poetry incorporating more complex pictures. Some labeled it “visual poetry” as a category distinct from concrete poetry. How concrete and visual poetry are classified and related to each other is still open to debate.

Carol Stetser, “Hierogram”

K.S. Ernst and Sheila Murphy, “Vortextique”

Peter Ciccariello, “Proposed monument to the language of rupture”

Today many visual poets have incorporated sound and motion in their poetry:

http://vispo.com/

Visual poetry takes a variety of forms. The genre has an elasticity that leads to ever-widening avenues for creation of meaning. The links to the poets here give are just a tiny taste of its rich world.

……..

Guest blogger Melissa D. Johnston

Her own visual poetry and art work can be seen on Artwalk

Learn more about her at Windspirit Girl (also includes flash fiction and essays)

First find a lemon, then on the top of separate pages write down these questions:

What does it look like?

What does it smell like?

What does it feel like?

What does it sound like? (sound can be a bit tricky but ping it with your fingers, drop it or cut it, or just hear its silence!)

What does it taste like?

How does it make you feel, does it stir any memories or associations for you?

Now answer the question – fill up as much of each page as you can, the more material you have the easier constructing a poem from it will be!

Now examine them, touch them, and if it is safe to do so taste them! Are they rough or smooth? Think about the associations you have with specific textures.

Write all this down and mix in a few colours. From the resulting jumble of phrases there may well be something a poem can grow from If you are really lucky you might even get a poem right off – happy composing

There are many advantages to expressing yourself creatively. Have you ever wondered why for example poetry and art is so expressive, why it brings about such strong feelings in the person reading/seeing it? When you’re angry, upset, frustrated – or happy for that matter – do you ever grab a pen and just write it all down? A letter to a friend, a journal entry, a poem…

We were asked by WoPoWriMo to write something about the advantages of using poetry to express creatively some of the struggles faced by those suffering from mental health problems. Many of those reading this will already be poets – experienced or budding – so you will already be aware of the advantages writing creatively can bring to your own mental wellbeing, whether you suffer from mental ill health or not.

There are many studies highlighting the positive effects of writing or expressing oneself creatively to overcome difficult times – and indeed art therapy seems to be increasingly popular. That creative outlets are so encouraged in many branches of care speaks volumes to its effectiveness. An example of such a study is Mcardle, S. & R. Byrt (2001) “Fiction, poetry and mental health: expressive and therapeutic uses of literature” in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Volume 8 Issue 6, Pages 517 – 524; however there is an abundance of literature out there supporting these advantages.

The National Self Harm Network’s ‘Silent Voice’ poetry book is an anthology of poems written by members of the charity’s support forum. It is a collection of works, written by those with personal experience of self harm, exploring a variety of topics and feelings. It is a collection, which encompasses both the positive and negative emotions which may be felt, exploring both the despair of darker days, as well as hope for the future. As stated in the foreword, it’s a book in which ‘the reader is invited to follow a journey from the darkest time through recovery from self harm – through times of sadness and happy moments, with humour and compassion.

“Self-harm happens when we can’t communicate our feelings, when words fail us, and pain is written out instead upon the body. But words don’t fail these young writers; they deal honestly with the pain, frustration and anger that lie behind such desperate acts. I hope the writing itself has helped them come to terms with their feelings; I’m sure it can go on to help others, whether self-harmers themselves, or the people who love them.” – Jo Baker, author of ‘Offcomer’,’ The Mermaid’s Child’ and ‘The Telling’, and lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University

The idea for the book was conceived from the support forum’s Creativity board, a place in which people are encouraged to find alternative outlets for emotions, through the use of poetry, words and art. Self harm is complex and an individual’s relationship with self harm will vary greatly. However the charity takes a pro-active stance in trying to help members find an alternative form of expression and outlet for emotions and believe that activities like poetry can be an effective aid in helping a person move towards recovery and help reduce the incidences of self harm.

We have seen from many of our online members how writing – in general, although poetry seems to be the most popular way of expressing oneself on our Creativity board – has helped them express some of the thoughts and feelings they never dared talk about elsewhere. It’s helped many come out of their shell and eventually express themselves (through poetry or otherwise) to family, friends or health professionals which has meant they have been able to get the help they need and deserve.

It is hoped that Silent Voice will highlight the link between creativity and mental health, in a positive way, highlighting a productive outlet for emotions as well as raising awareness and understanding around the subject of self harm.

You can purchase the book for £5.99 including free postage and packaging within the UK. Please contact us for details of postage and packaging outside of the UK.

Cheques and postal orders can be sent to PO Box 7264, Nottingham NG1 6WJ, made payable to National Self Harm Network. You can also pay via PayPal: if paying by PayPal please note that you are required to also send an email to info@nshn.co.uk to inform us that you have made a payment.