Day 29 ~ How to Write a “Poetweet Poem” for “30 Poems in 30 Days” #NationalPoetryMonth

Only two days left of poetry month!! Goodness!

Ever heard of a "Poetweet?"

"I think that I shall never meet / A poem lovely as a Tweet..."  (to paraphrase Joyce Kilmer)

Short and Simple: "Poetweet"

(AND VERY TRICKY)!!

I’m not feeling well today, so let’s do something SHORT – however, don’t assume it’s all that easy!! You’ll see.

Our ever-changing digital age continues to create new modes of communication. Have you heard of “poetweets” yet? It you are on Twitter then you may have, but if you haven’t ventured into “Twitter Land” yet, then it might be new to you.

What I love about limited poetry (those that are specific as to the number of words or syllables you can you use) is that they force us to “tighten things up.” The surprising thing is that, usually, when you manage to say what you mean with fewer words, it packs a lot more power.

According to the “Urban Dictionary” a “poetweet” is a form of poetry which consists of exactly 140 characters. There is no reference to rhyme or rhythm, only 140 characters exactly. All words must be spelled out, no short cuts such as "ur" for "you are" or "b4" for "before." And definitely no "lol"! Normal contractions are allowed.

And remember: Every single letter, space, punctuation mark and/or number COUNTS as a “character” in this 140 character “poem” called a “poetweet”

AND for the purposes of this poetry form (such as it is, ha ha), you may NOT use less than 140 characters. It needs to be exact. (Spaces in between each letter, all punctuation, etc. COUNT as your 140 characters).

Here’s the example of a poetweet offered in the “Urban Dictionary”: Of all the sights I see, there is none so beautiful as your shadow. Knowing you're near, and the sun is shining is enough for me. Beautiful. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=poetweet

It would be fun to come up with one and then share it on Twitter ~ if you share this on Twitter you may use a backslash to indicate a new line. But, again, REMEMBER that each backslash also counts as a character.

Here’s mine this year:

#NationalPoetryMonth has been such fun/ Hard to believe it’s nearly done/ Made new friends; written poems galore/ And now; I’m out the door

EXACTLY 140 characters (including spaces, etc.) ~ in fact, I have already tweeted it:

https://twitter.com/AbneyAuthor/status/858294531510255617     

The TRICKIEST part is getting 140 characters (INCLUDING spaces) EXACTLY – have fun!! See ya’ tomorrow. Our journey through “National Poetry Month” is coming to an end. So, what can you come up with today?

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright for to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Also, if you choose to post your poems on your own blog ~ that’s awesome. But PLEASE don’t just copy and paste my daily instructions, but rather post your poem on your blog or you FB wall or wherever AND LINK BACK TO THIS BLOG POST for others to come here to read the instructions. I’ve spent considerable time researching the poetry forms and writing them up to share with you. Thanks for respecting my work.