avatarMartin Rushton

Summary

The "Share The Love" initiative by Martin Rushton celebrates poetry on Medium, encouraging readers to engage with and share poetry, while also providing a platform for poets to showcase their work and participate in a monthly poetry challenge.

Abstract

The "Share The Love" post for May 2020 marks the beginning of a monthly series dedicated to celebrating poetry on Medium. Martin Rushton, the creator of the initiative, reflects on his first month on Medium, highlighting the viral success of his poem "Shart" and the subsequent increase in his daily viewership. The initiative includes "Share the Love" rules, which promote active reading, clapping, and responding to poetry on the platform. Rushton also shares his top five poems from the Medium Partner Program list and an additional ten poems that resonated with him. The post concludes with a poetry prompt for the community, incorporating the words "Emergency, Archive, Doctor," and encourages participants to tag Rushton to ensure he sees their contributions. The initiative aims to foster a supportive environment for poets and readers alike.

Opinions

  • Rushton emphasizes the importance of genuine engagement with poetry on Medium, criticizing the "post and run" approach.
  • He expresses a personal commitment to continue writing poetry, driven by his passion and the positive reception of his work.
  • The "Share the Love" rules are designed to maintain a culture of mutual support and recognition among poets and readers in the Medium community.
  • Rushton's appreciation for the diverse range of poetry on Medium is evident as he highlights a selection of poems that made a significant impact on him.
  • The inclusion of a monthly poetry prompt serves as a creative catalyst for the community, encouraging participation and interaction among poets.

Share The Love - May 2020

The first in a monthly post celebrating poetry on Medium.

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Welcome to the first issue. I am now at the end of my first month on medium and what a month. It started slowly and my poems were well a little rubbish. Then I wrote Shart and the world exploded. Comments, laughter and above all my stats. I was averaging around 50 views a day if I was lucky. Now I’m averaging 180 a day. Not made $20 dollars yet but I don’t care.

I’m finding that if I sit and think about what I want to write nothing happens. Social media takes over and I end up browsing. I will stumble across a comment, laugh then boom a poem. Shart only took 30 minutes to write and I hardly edited it.

I got the bug and it isn’t going away any time soon. So I’m going to keep on writing.

This is where I got the idea to share the love. You post a link on social media and read through the other posts. But when you check hardly anyone else has done it. They “POST AND RUN”. I love going through the threads as you find some real gems and can let them know you loved it.

"Share the Love" Rules

To keep this going we need some basic rules. Simple easy ones to keep the sharing going.

  1. Have a read of all the poetry on here.
  2. Clap for each one and respond. Include "seen on Share The Love May 2020 by Martin Rushton”

See! Said it was simple.

My top five poems based on my Medium Partner Program list.

Ten Poems I've read and absolutely love.

Was going to be five but there was no way I could get it down that low. If you didn’t make the list, it doesn’t mean your poem wasn’t good.

These are ones that just stood out to me for various reasons, have a look as there is some amazing work out there.

Prompt

Write a poem in any form which must include these three words.

"Emergency, Archive, Doctor"

Don’t forget to include at the bottom of your poem “A prompt from Share The Love May 2020 by Martin Rushton" Don't forget to tag me otherwise I might not see it.

Rather than pick my favourite prompts, I'm going to share all of them. Bookmark the prompt page. As they come in I will add a link on the page.

Share the love readers - click on them and check out their fantastic work 🤠

Respond if you wish to be added as a reader.

Melissa Speed - Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers - Connie Song - Tim Ebl - Martine Weber - Marla Bishop

Poetry
Poetry On Medium
Journal
Sharing
Love
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