April brings NaPoWriMo, or as I call it, the month when I throw 30 poems down a well.
Actually, the truth is a little more nuanced than that: I’ve found that it’s possible to get poems published even if they’ve appeared on your blog … IF you first check the guidelines for any statement to the contrary and IF you divulge this sort-of previous publication when you submit. (Editors don’t like surprises.)
Anyway … Starting on April 1, you’ll find a new poem here each day, based on the prompts at the link above. If you’re doing NaPoWriMo, too, please let me know in the comments here, and I’ll make sure to include you on my circuit of blog visits.
And if you are a poetry appreciator but don’t consider yourself to be a poet, I highly recommend NaPoWriMo as a way to try your hand at it. The prompts are challenging but approachable. And while you don’t have to blog your results, if you do take that risk, I bet you’ll find that people are supportive. April seems like a time to try something new, doesn’t it?
See you next month — allllll month long.
Marilyn Rauch Cavicchia 
This is often a grey area. Some don’t consider a blog a ‘published’ even if the blog has more followers than their magazine has subscribers. 😉 I have also had publishers find a poem they like on my blog, and ask if they may include it in their publication.
I’m trying to get something together for a big competition that doesn’t allow previous blog publication. It’s a challenge to post regularly on the blog while writing separately for it.
Basically- just get out those words! It’ll work out! 🙂
Wow! I’ve never had someone scoop up a poem from the blog, though last night I dreamt that this happened. It was a poem about pancakes, picked up for a very prestigious anthology about such. Maybe I should get writing. 🙂 Good luck with your competition!