Summary

Paper Poetry invites poets to participate in the March 2024 prompt centered on the theme of "Light," requiring authentic, human-written poetry with the word "light" referencing physical or metaphysical energy, and including visual elements with a handmade touch.

Abstract

The Paper Poetry platform has announced its month-long poetry prompt for March 2024, titled "Reveal the Light." This initiative calls on poets to explore the concept of light in all its forms, whether tangible or intangible, and to express their interpretations through poetry. Submissions are expected to be original works, with the editors reserving the right to refuse AI-generated content. Poets are encouraged to incorporate the word "light" in their poems, ensuring it aligns with the theme of energy rather than weight or color. The prompt allows for flexibility in poetic form and includes guidelines for titling, tagging, and the use of images. Contributors are required to include at least one handcrafted element in their visual aids, adhering to Paper Poetry's submission guidelines. The submission period runs from March 1 to March 31, and participants are also encouraged to extend the invitation to other writers, fostering a community of poetic expression centered around the enlightening theme.

Opinions

The author finds inspiration in unexpected places, such as a Netflix series, and reflects on the broader spectrum of light beyond human perception.
Light is symbolically associated with goodness and life, contrasting with darkness as evil and absence of life.
The article emphasizes the importance of light as a lifeblood, essential for survival and hope, and underscores the unique sensory integration in humans as a privilege.
The author muses on the capability of blind individuals to perceive an internal form of light, suggesting that human senses and sensibilities can simulate light in its absence.
The prompt is seen as an opportunity to bring forth the poetry that resides within each individual, serving as a beacon of light and hope in the lives of others.
Gratitude is expressed to those who contributed to the previous month's prompt, highlighting the diversity of perspectives on love and encouraging readers to engage with the varied poetic interpretations.
The prompt's guidelines are presented as a means to ensure authenticity and creativity in the submissions, with a clear preference for human-generated content over AI-generated material.

Paper Poetry’s March 2024 month-long prompt

Reveal the Light

All the light you cannot see

Photo by author — taken with an iPhone, unedited and off-centre!

All the light we cannot see we are its power, its energy absorbed within; part of you and me transformed by our spirituality

Greetings to our Paper Poetry friends,

I don’t know about you, but for me inspiration to create poetry comes from the most unexpected places and at the oddest times. I was inspired to write the opening twittle while watching the Netflix series, All The Light We Cannot See, an intriguing drama set in WWII Europe and based on Anthony Doerr’s novel of the same title.

The story had me pondering our perception of light, and how the spectrum of light is so much broader than the bandwidth humans are capable of perceiving — the seen vs the unseen.

I thought about the symbolism of light and how we contrast the goodness of light with the evil of darkness. Light is the absence of darkness, just as goodness is the absence of evil.

And then I thought about blind people who somehow simulate an internal light in the perpetual blankness of nothing — light as a human construct that draws upon our senses and sensibilities so we ‘see’ with our ears, hands, feet, mouths and noses.

I marveled at the incredible privilege it is to be born human and for each of us to have a central nervous system that integrates billions of sensory receptors in ways that are unique to each individual.

We talk about oxygen and water being vital for our survival and forget, or at least undervalue, how light is our life blood.

Without light we are dead.

Without light there is no hope.

With light, life is eternal.

With life there is poetry.

Let us bring to light the poetry that dwells within us.

Let our poetry be the light others long for in their lives.

Let us be the light.

Reveal the light.

Before I enlighten you with the details for our March prompt, please join me in thanking those who contributed to Indubala Kachhawa’s February prompt where poets were invited to reflect on love from one of two perspectives -

Track A which drew upon Sophocles’ profound wisdom, ‘One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love,’ and,
Track B, ‘Love is the heaviest burden for those who feel it most’ — Mark Antony.

Please take a few minutes to read, reflect upon, and respond to these unique takes on the prompt -

💙Love Is No Burden — by Toni Crowe ❤️And a Little Child Shall Lead Them — by Sherry Atkinson and Pedro Rafael’s Locked in Time series - 💔#1 Murky Crystal Vault 💔#2 All That & All Those 💔#3 If You Don’t Mind

This is the light I photographed from below to create the header image

Reveal the Light Prompt Details

Theme: Light

Form: any form of poetry will be accepted Please note: only authentically written poetry will be accepted. The editors of Paper Poetry reserve the right to reject any submissions that are deemed AI-generated.

Word/line limit: no restrictions but the word, light, must appear somewhere in the body of the poem and must refer to light as some form of physical or metaphysical energy i.e. not light as low in weight, or light as a soft colour tone.

Title/subtitle/kicker: please use ‘Reveal The Light’ as the kicker; your choice of title and subtitle

Tags: please use ‘Reveal The Light’ tag when submitting your poem

Images: maximum two images Please note: as a mandatory requirement, at least one of your images must incorporate a handwritten/handcrafted element in either paper or digital format in accordance with Paper Poetry’s submission guidelines. Suggestions: a handwritten segment of your poem, a decorative title, an illustration that depicts an aspect of your poem, a digitally enhanced photo (free-to-use or personal) that relates to your poem. AI-generated images are acceptable providing you include your source link as evidence in the caption, or explain how the image was derived. Please refer to Paper Poetry’s homepage for more examples.

Extensions: please include a promotional link to this prompt and invite (@ handle tag) up to five other writers to join the prompt.

Submission period: Friday, March 1 (UTC-10hrs, Cook Islands 12:00am) — Sunday, March 31 (UTC-10hrs, Cook Islands 11:59 pm)

We welcome new writers to join the prompt. Please leave a comment requesting to be added as a writer and include your Medium @ handle; or email us at [email protected]

May the light be upon you,

Carolyn Hastings