Poetry Reader & Assistant Jane Carlton makes 5 unique, summer-ready suggestions for taming the procrastination monster and getting your writing done.

I was going to write this post last week, but I kept putting it off. [...]

By Margo Valentine

White pasty legs in the larkspur //
near the bridge with the broken gaps, //
that kiss underneath //
the gray and the navy brick, //
where sunlight streams through. [...]

We are thrilled to share with you Ned’s latest, “Strike a Chord”—a YARN exclusive short story!

From Ned Vizzini’s first collection of essays “Teen Angst? Naaah…” to his novel “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” (now a major motion picture), there is a running theme throughout his writing—a self-aware teenager is a complex, beautiful, burdened, hilarious, resilient, layered human being.

By high school senior, Amir Tamimi

The Pakro family lived on Nejat Street, among a small community of veterans from the Iran-Iraq War. The father, Omid Pakro, had lost both of his legs under a tank in Khoramshahr, near the border. That was not the worst part. The tank belonged to the Islamic Republic, his own side. Tragic blunder. [...]

By Shirley Kuo

the white witch’s heart

there is plaster peeling //
off from her pale skin, dusty //
circles where she used to be //
touched. her spine is crumbling, frail [...]

What are you waiting for?

(22) Write about a change, a transformation, a decision, a new beginning in a haiku.
(23) Start a poem with a line from something technical or scientific.

It’s not too late! Come to the party!

15) Write a response to something you have read (a cereal box, a children’s book, a note posted on a telephone pole). Address your poem to the person who sent the message.
(16) Hide something in a poem. You can actually hide a word or idea—or write about the act of hiding something.

The second installment of our NPM poem-a-day series! Get writing! Get posting!

(8) Give advice: start—Beware of
(9) Go someplace and eavesdrop. Listen to the voices you hear for a good line or two. [...]