Unity Poetry Challenge

March 7, 2022 at 12:00 a.m.

...by Ariele M. Huff

I’m pulling together a new book called Unity Poetry and hoping you’ll contribute to it.

I’d love to have you share my Unity Poetry Challenge with other writers, too.

Submit your non-divisive poems to Ariele M. Huff, author of several anthology books of writing and poetry under the brand of Candy Bar Books. Ariele has solicited poetry for and edited Northwest Prime Times Poetry Corner for over twenty years.

If a poem is selected for the book, the poet will get a free eBook version that they can share with family and friends.

I do edit most poems I receive for Poetry Corner (rarely I only use excerpts) and will certainly do those as needed for Unity Poetry.

Please send poems that address non-divisiveness in any groups—male/female, black/white, Democrat/Republican, city/rural, chocolate lovers/those who like other candies, etc. Extra points for submitting a list of types of divisions. The most important rule for inclusion in the book is that no negatives about either side are in the poem. Feel free to send limericks, haikus, tankas, free verse, classic rhyming, prose poetry, Sestina, Villanelle, English or Italian Sonnets, Cinquain, Quatrain, Spoken Word, even sagas or epics though really lengthy poems will have a harder time winning a position in the book.

FYI—some of the selected poems will also be used in the website segment (Sharing Stories) that I host for Northwest Prime Time.

Position in the eBook and in Sharing Stories is a nice opportunity to have published poetry for a portfolio and to help other people get through this time with more comfort and hope.

Send poetry to ariele@comcast.net. Submissions will be copyrighted in the anthology.

Example of a unifying, non-divisive poem follows, re-written from a published original:

Parties
“Everything’s-for-Sale” sale.
Ten-dollar local antique—so frail.
Newcomer leaving for a “safer, redder” place…
wants to leave without a trace.
Old lady Dem and young bearded GOP,
we talked and laughed without a stop.
He carried my new/old treasure,
his kindness a touching pleasure.
Sad to see you go, departing friend,
but thanks for sharing at the end.
--Ariele Huff