YouTube Video of Poem "Talking Walls".

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Well, here it is, the last day of May and I'm finally posting my monthly blog post for May. I feel kind of bad because I've seen that my blog has gotten a lot of traffic this month. But I don't feel that bad, because I have been working on this video all month. Making it was much harder than I thought it was going to be. I just couldn't get my poem, "Talking Walls" memorized. I did come close, as you'll see by the video of me "reading" my poem. I practiced all month. I even went to a Poetry Open Mic Night in my community and read it there, as well as reading them a couple of poems from my book. I finally decided, fine, I'll just read "Talking Walls" for my video. I went to a poetry reading featuring poet laureates last night, and they read their poetry. They didn't have it memorized (well, kind of...like mine). Anyway, here's the video I hope you've been waiting for:

Thanks for watching! And I do have a YouTube Channel with 6 videos of me reading my poems (well, 5 poems and one partial poem as a teaser for "Un-Clenched Emotion"). My Channel is @natashamckinley1387 ... And if you want to know what's special about the month of May and whether it affects me or not: May is Mental Health month, and as a former Peer Counselor, yes... it affects me, yes it does. It's okay to not be okay and there's no shame, and in fact some honor, in seeing a therapist. Poetry can definitely help with mental health. With that, I'll say farewell. Enjoy reading, writing, reciting, or listening to poetry!

What About Poetry Contests?

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Have you ever witnessed people competing in a poetry contest? I have. Of course, you can't witness submitted poems to judges that are on paper. There are programs out there however, where poetry is preformed. I went to a NAMI (National Allience for Mental Illness) Convention in Seattle and saw different poets compete. They had their poems memorized, and while preforming, they had their rhythm down. I was glad I did not enter, for I don't have my poems memorized, I've written way too many. I have been surprised on occasion when other people have recited my poems back to me, (I do remember a line of what I've written here and there, and definitely the subject matter) Anyway, the NAMI poetry contest performance was very enjoyable. If you ever have the chance to go to something like that, I highly recommend it. I have done poetry readings that were not contests, and I've read my poems from paper there. If you ever get the chance to attend one: GO! I love participating or simply attending.

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Why do I bring this up? I'm bringing contests up because I don't often enter them, and only when there's no fee. If you read my blog, you will see I did enter a Goodreads Contest and won 7th place (out of hundreds) with my poem "Talking Walls", which I never preformed. I really should make a YouTube video of that one. While I don't usually enter a poetry contest with a reading fee, I plan to next month. Why? Because I've met the people putting it on. A woman from the foundation taught a free class at my local library. I went to see if she taught poetry the same way I used to. She actually did teach it the same way. It's going to cost $20 for each 3 poems entered. Not bad, and of course, there's cash prizes at the end. Wish me luck!

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I have actually judged poetry contests before, back in High School. My teacher and poetry club Facilitator invited me to do it. These were written poems that I got to read and judge along with another lady (older adult). We had to agree on the ones we liked. Then the best ones were published. While I am a writer of poetry, I don't think you need to be a Writer to judge poetry, just an Appreciater. We all judge poems automatically when we read or hear them anyway. Honestly, I don't usually enter contests, because I'd rather just have mine published and get paid for it. When you think about it though, every time you submit a poem for publication, you're entering a contest, fee or no fee.

For an update on my New Year's Resoluton: I did write a couple reviews in February, and a few this month too. No poetry however. I have 3 poems to write now and enter into the contest in April. I really want to get back to my books too, Seasons of Sensation, or even my short stories or romance book I've got partly written. I wish you happy reading, viewing, writing, and/or preforming!