"A Day in the Life"

I've never done this before so I had to borrow some ideas (please check out the link, it's a great idea for a challenge but I'm hopeless at acrostic poetry because my mind always goes blank. All of a sudden I can't think of any words beginning with V. I apologise).

But I think I've started this based on the fact that now, we are basically fighting to prove we are actually writing what we're writing. It's a sad state of affairs but here we are. I've chosen to platform the poets of our space by creating this unofficial challenge for all of you to enjoy. I have tried to articulate this the very best way I possibly can and my purposefully obtuse references and horrifically weird metaphors have been left on the back-burner for now.

Well, the first thing is that I've chosen poetry because it's so easy to tell which poems have been written by AI and which have been written by people. And that is becoming easier as AI gets better at administrative and clerical tasks, it shifts away from the poets - its ability hopefully dwindling.

I don't know, I think it's also a feeling that permeates through the page, you definitely don't get that with an AI piece of verse. The next thing is of course, what is it actually about and how does someone qualify?

Well, here we go.

A Day in the Life - An Unofficial Poetry Challenge

• First thing is first, you need to write a poem that showcases a mundane and very usual day in the life of YOU. The more poetic you can make the mundane, the better!

• You then need an original photograph that YOU have taken of part of that day.

(It could be for example: your espresso cup, or even a picture of what you chose to wear etc. something that has a connection to parts of the day mentioned in the poem. It does not have to be pictures specifically showing your face if you are not comfortable with that).

(It also doesn't need to be the main image if you don't want it to be. The thumbnail can be something else and you can put your photo in the piece somewhere).

• It should be between 50-150 words long and posted to the 'Poets' community with your link pasted in the comments on this post, so that I can see it.

***

You can structure it whichever way you desire. If you want to write something like a haiku, go ahead. If it's a sonnet - do that. If you want to write free verse, an acrostic poem, a villanelle or even a cinquain then do that. There's no limit to structure.

***

Yes, I'm offering tips for winners - we got there in the end!

• 1st = $10
• 2nd = $5
• 3rd = $3

God speed, good luck and submissions close 31st May, 2025.

Winners will be announced on the 7th of June, 2025.