The Battered Angel Symphony, K. Taylor

Have you seen Robert Okaji’s 30/30 Project? This is his second go around with the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project. Each month, Tupelo Press, a non-profit literary publisher, features a series of volunteer authors writing 30 poems in 30 days, as a fundraiser for operations.

The poets have various ways of obtaining sponsors for each day. Robert’s include incentives for various donation levels, including writing a poem using three words or a title provided by the donor. Other incentives for donations include a collection of books from another independent publisher, Dink Press, and the critique of a donor’s poetry by one of five participating magazine editors.

Some of the titles and word suggestions can be pretty challenging, but Robert has been up to it, posting on his blog, O at the Edges, each day of the project, with a few lines of the poem and a link to Tupelo Press with the full poems by each of the nine participating authors. (After a month, each month’s poems are removed from the archives.) I sponsored Robert on Day 30 of August 2015 with a donation and the title, Pinecone on a Pedestal, Open Poet. This year, on Day 8, I sponsored him with a donation and a title, Tupelo TripTik. I made an additional donation to Tupelo Press and received three chapbooks and a full-length collection of poetry, as well as a painting by K. Taylor, founder of Dink Press.

The month is half-over, and Robert’s poem for Day 16 of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project can be found here.

Ken G.