One of the hottest discussions I've seen circulating lately has to do with the theme of "the battle of the sexes." A lot of the podcast and videos I've watched (mostly in passing) all pose this question: What is the double standard? So for this discussion I'd thought it'd be interesting to see everyone's thoughts on double standards between men and women, etc.

So I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I may not have it all quite figured out yet, but would anyone be interested in starting a poetry fellowship through an e-mail chain where we write a continuing poem together? I got the idea from melding together the pen pal concept with the film Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Basically, how I've figured it would work in my head, is we would take turns writing a stanza then pass it to the next person in the group. Either we could do it via email, or I thought we could maybe do it through a shared Google doc. Like I said, I'm still figuring out some of this will work. But for now, I'd love to get some people onboard! So what do you say? Want to go on a poetry journey together?

I'm spontaneously jumping onto our Discord server to listen to some tunes and hash out some edits for my upcoming poetry collection. I'll be in Writing Room #1. You'll know if you're in the right place if you hear some 80s rock n' roll playing. Feel free to pop in if you'd like. https://discord.gg/3EXuPpTW

I haven't come across anything as cringe as what I'm about to share with you all since the reign of Gabbie Hanna. If there is one thing I have to say though, Putin's mom has got it going on! (Let's see if anyone gets that reference?) Read the article post below that I discovered through the TimCast IRL podcast: I have to admit, this viral video is making its rounds rather quickly, and based on what is being said, I would imagine that AnnaLynne didn't mean for this Twitter reading to be released with such a tone. The poem itself, all politics aside, is quite a heartfelt poem. So I don't know guys, what do you all think? Is our vapid culture to blame for the flak that Ms. AnnaLynne McCord received? Do you think that her reading was politically aligned? What do you think of the poem itself? Here is the original video of her reading the poem:

I recently came across a post on IG that got me thinking... Does anyone else ever write inside a genre of poetry, but have a strong distaste for reading the same genre?

What places have you explored that have influenced your poetry in some way? Or place you wished you could have explored for poetic influence. Your answers will help me in an upcoming blog post.

THE ACROSTIC GAME A Fun Poetic Exercise for Poets Prepared by Ken J. Merchant OVERVIEW & PURPOSE The Acrostic Game is intended for anyone who wants to have a little bit of fun. Doesn’t matter what your level in poetry is, this is a friendly game for everyone! For those of you who don’t know, an acrostic poem is when the first letter of each line spells out a word, name, or phrase when read vertically. See Lewis Carroll’s “A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky” for example. This game is a good exercise to get those creative juices flowing. OBJECTIVES Pick a single word and write an acrostic from that word. The next person takes the last word used in the previous acrostic and continues this poem with another acrostic of that word. Repeat the process to create one big cohesive poem. JUST ONE RULE The acrostic needs to follow a logical flow, meaning that it has to all relate in some way or other. WAYS TO PLAY Start a discussion post and keep the creativity flowing. OR Pass and play this game with a friend or group of friends via instant message, email, or post.

I'm in the middle of writing up a manuscript of poetry. This manuscript is very much in the beginning stages and certainly a rough draft. I've been contemplating running a test group of beta readers to look over a digital version of this manuscript. However, I don't know if it is entirely necessary, nor do I have experience this sort of thing. I've created and held test groups before, but not for reading or publishing. Does anyone have any advice or personal experience with beta reader groups?

I was in conversation with someone the other day, and this question popped up in passing. I, for one, believe titles to be useful given their proper usage. However, I'll admit, not all poems are in need of one. What do you think?

I've seen more and more celebrities releasing poetry collections. I've also perused several reviews of these collections on YouTube and Goodreads; as usual, honest opinion appears to fall short in some cases. Or, to the opposite effect, consistent slam reviews incorporate minimal positive highlights (or constructive criticisms); in the ones that do, they feel disingenuine. As a result, the process of choosing to purchase the poetry book by said celebrity becomes that much more difficult from my point of view. Enter the proposed question: should "celebrity poetry" be held to a slightly higher standard? I just completed reading Lili Reinhart's 'Swimming Lessons.' Though the book certainly wasn't perfect, I felt that the book's overarching message of romanticism of the human condition was represented well within her completed work. Like most people, I had some personal peeves while reading the collection (namely that horrible instapoetry vibe... but that is another discussion on its own). There were many missed opportunities (cliches that could have been remedied with more interest). I've also read parts of Lana Del Rey's 'Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass.' Similar interests lie here too. Don't even get me started on Rupi Kaur. It seems that celebrities rely heavily on their massive following to pull them through the publishing grind, but let us be honest here, lousy writing is simply that bad writing. Out of the celebrities mentioned above that I've read, Lana was probably the better one. At least she used poetic devices in her work. Lili did too sometimes, but not as effective. You would think that having a massive following would require a celebrity to hold themselves to higher standards. Yet it doesn't feel that way from what I've read. Of course, I'm not saying that all the poems in these collections are outright horrible (some more than others). Still, I've certainly felt disappointed, especially with the costs of some of these works. I mean, if I pay $17+ for a book of poems, I expect to see something worth the money. Poetry will always be an art form that plays off the human condition. There certainly are freedoms of the art form that can be exploited with a great advantage, but there are pitfalls. So what do you all think?