For those that might not be familiar with what the Iron Poet Challenge is all about, here is a bit of a recap.

J D Smith and I have, for the last couple of years challenged one another at poetry. We’ve proffered challenges ranging from some of the more emotional and sensory things like love, courage, angels, the five senses; down to some fun and perhaps utterly ridiculous stuff like superheroes and rodents!

JD and I challenge each other because we like poetry and we hope that by challenging each other openly, we can be inclusive and have many of you join in with us.  We know poetry is not for everyone.  We know it doesn’t win EP’s here on OS. But we love that we can all share with one another and have fun as a community. 

We love that people who don’t normally write poetry, give it a try and perhaps even find that they have a real gift for it.  You know … I didn’t come here writing poetry to start with.  I didn’t know if I could write anything. But I tried my hand at a little poem not long after coming here … it wasn’t all that good I must admit … but I found that I enjoyed it immensely and, through challenge and encouragement, I’ve kept with it. As JD said in the introduction for his last challenge, “…what other writing form forces the writer to use such care with every word written? What other form of writing can mean something different to each and every reader?”

So are you ready?

JD are YOU ready?  Your last challenge was wonderful and there were so many gorgeous poems!  Your poem to your own challenge was EXCEPTIONAL!  And I know you’re expecting me to tell you that you’re going to go down in this one … but somehow I know each and every one who joins in on this one is going to be just amazing.

So here it is!

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IRON POET CHALLENGE NO. 14

The rules: 

1. Write a poem, in any form, about the day or the moment a new member of your family arrived.

2. The new member of your family may be your first born, a grand child, a daughter-in-law, a pet …. any being.

3  More often than not, welcoming a new addition to a family is  a joyous occasion.  But, sometimes there is sadness too.   How did you feel? What thoughts swam in your head? Perhaps you've waited to welcome a baby into your family for a long time but it hasn't yet happened.

4.  That is it … just a poem of your true feelings and thoughts of the day, or moment, or even the day that you anticipate, when you welcome a new member of your family.  Please use Iron Poet No 14 in your tag line.

I don't want to miss reading you so I'd really appreciate it if you could send me a PM too! I want to be sure to include you in The Family Anthology which I'll post in a  couple of weeks!