Now I don’t n…[Read more]

And yes, it is in reference to “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Here it is. Hope you enjoy it (and that the forum formatting doesn’t mangle it too badly)!

Boo Radley

By Cainon Leeds

Some of my poems have adjusted well.
They can tie their own shoes and walk out the door
and down the streets of…[Read more]

As for the tanka, it’s a short Japanese style of poetry that’s defined by its use of syllables, as well as certain themes if you’re being strict about it. It has 5 lines, with the 1st and 3rd lines consisting of 5…[Read more]

I don’t know as though I would say that genuineness is the heart of poetry; but I have…[Read more]

Dakota, I think you’re onto something there. By no means do we want to condone or encourage the kinds of dark things in our lives or the lives of our characters. But at the same time, what will the light be triumphant over if we glaze over the darkness or…[Read more]

I really enjoy the works of Billy Collins, T. S.…[Read more]

I’ll break the ice with a few ideas I’ve had lately. Hopefully I’ll actually be able to…[Read more]

I think, in addition to the reasons you listed, two reasons that the movie’s gradual slide from tradition to progressivism is so convincing, especially to modern conservative Christian audiences, are that 1) the movie started at least a step to the…[Read more]

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So glad to hear that our feedback has been helpful to you! Can’t wait to see the next draft of this poem. And here’s the poem you asked for. Like I said earlier, Story Embers turned it down mostly because it wasn’t embellished enough, but I really didn’t want this one to be overly embellished. I liked the straightforward language…[Read more]

I’m working on a research paper that’s exploring the state of Christian poetry for my graduate coursework and I would love to interview any poets who would be willing to chat or email or whatever.

Essentially, I’m trying to address concerns in articles that I’ve read that claim that Christian poetry is terrible and get to the bottom…[Read more]

There are some good lines here. I especially enjoyed:

“It isn’t so heavy

When it’s quiet.”

And “The limp leaves are still dripping

In the after-silence.”

It seems like this poem is trying to show mood changes through the seasons. Is that right? If so, you seem to be doing well at showing instead of telling and engaging the…[Read more]

I love “This is Just to Say” and other poems like it, but more often than not, my friends frown when I read it to them and say, “That’s not poetry.” I wish there was more good nonconformity like you described in point #1 among poets and publications.

Point #2…[Read more]

1) I’m split on keeping the wording as it is because I think it stands out a bit more and makes the reader think a bit more concretely about some of the horrors of martyrdom than otherwise, but I also don’t want to come across the wrong way. I really appreciate your input on this.

2) Yeah, I hear you.…[Read more]

Hi everyone, I’d appreciate some help with this free verse poem. Here are a few things I’d like to draw your attention to specifically, but I’d greatly appreciate any feedback you may have for me:

1) I’d like to submit this to a Christian publisher, but I’m not sure if the rewording of Hebrews 11 is too…[Read more]

I agree with Katherine. Most great poetry I’ve seen tends to walk a fine tightrope, with extreme ambiguity on one side and extreme straightforwardness on the other. And to me, this piece is leaning towards too much straightforwardness.

Here’s something else to consider: what kind of poetry does Story Embers normally publish? I don’t…[Read more]

I have 221 words to contribute

#poetlife

By the way, I get that the ideas of NaNoWriMo and word wars work wonders for motivating certain writers to action, but I have to admit that I’m not one of them (maybe my genre of choice doesn’t help with that. I don’t know).

Anyway, I just wanted to offer some encouragement…[Read more]

I’m looking at 549 words.

#poetlife

My final word count for this week is 117.

#poetlife

2) The “vibe” I get from this poem is one of “being in the moment”. It kind of reminds me of Frost’s “Passing Through the Woods on a Snowy Evening” in what it’s trying to capture.

3) I wouldn’t say it sounds choppy or disconnected to me. My…[Read more]

Either way works for me. You could post something in one of the critique sections here and tag me in it or you could email me at mr.cainonleeds@gmail.com

I’d be willing to help out. It’s been a little while since one of my pieces has gotten published too, but I’d be happy to help in whatever way I can. How would you like to share what you’re working on?

Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into your stories. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to balance a short story and with fantasy. There’s the detail that it takes to build an imaginary world and immerse the reader in it and then there’s the brevity of the short story. Best of wishes to you with both of your…[Read more]

Seems like you already have two great projects underway. What are they both about?

I’m kind of in a writing rut right now. I have ideas but I’m struggling with how to bring them to life.

Example: I’ve had a poem…[Read more]

I’m an aspiring amateur poet and I have a few ideas for poetry chapbooks, but their completion is still a few years down the road.

I’d love to hear from all my poet friends here about your experiences getting poems published. If you’ve published a chapbook or book of poetry, what was the process like? What are your future plans for…[Read more]

In…[Read more]

I’ve gotten a few poems published through magazines or literary journals and thought to myself afterwards, “I wonder if anyone actually reads these besides those who contribute to them.” And the thought of taking a book of poems to a publisher without any big awards to my name sounds like a waste of time to…[Read more]

I’d love to get a discussion going about getting published. Have you published any of your work? What was the process like? Are there publishers that you’d recommend to others in the same genre?

Also, what do you think about platform? Regardless of whether or not you’ve gotten work published what do you think about the future of…[Read more]

And I can see what you mean about the first part being kind of bland. What do you think about cutting the first line and the Lazarus line out…[Read more]

I’d agree with the general consensus here. Story #1 gets my vote.

Here’s the meaning I get out of this one:

The narrator starts out hopeful in adversity, then the match and flint metaphors seem to explain how adversity can produce hope, and the last part kind of puzzles me with the word “even”.

Candles burn. That’s their thing. So the word “even” seems out of place to me unless this is a…[Read more]

I’ve tried publishing this one multiple times, but it’s fallen short every time. I’ve taken it to friends who are better at poetry than I am and this is the third or fourth draft from that process.

This one came from a writing prompt in the Poet’s Companion book that challenged me to…[Read more]

It might be cliche, but what if we had a noteworthy British historical figure who lived to see the Empire in it’s glory days and then fall apart into the Commonwealth watching the sun set and thinking…[Read more]

I’ve written more of a sad poem about sunset. I’ve seen a lot of happy ideas and themes around sunset here, so maybe something sad could add to the creative mix.

In the poem, I use the sun going down on the evening of  autumnal equinox as a setting for a story of a family coping with…[Read more]

1) Haha nice pun! And I agree with you, there is a lot of leeway. I’ll experiment with both.

2) I guess I wanted to communicate the feeling of being a big fish in a little pond and a little fish in the ocean. When you’re the big fish, I feel like it’s really easy to feel good about yourself and where you are in life, but it’s also…[Read more]

It does pull me in. I want to know what happened to the sister, why only the brother can calm her down, etc. and that pushes me forward. Do you plan to answer those questions in the future or leave them as they are? I know there are different schools of thought on this, so there is no right or wrong answer. I’m just curious.

I…[Read more]

I agree with @rolena-hatfield on this one. He’s made some bad decisions, but there’s an attraction to someone who’s good and in a “world of light” so he tries to bridge the gap and (it seems like) he fails.

From the line “But I’m too ruthless to be tamed,” I get the vibe that he’s not willing to give up his dark ways to get what…[Read more]

It really depends on the poem for me. Some poems have titles that come so naturally while others are harder to come up with than the poems themselves. I have a friend who numbers his poems but also has titles for most of his poems, so if he ever struggles with a title, he substitutes the number until he can…[Read more]