May
May focuses on relationships, intimacy, belonging, distance, and the spaces between people.
Poems this month examine how we attach, disconnect, and long to be known.
Craft Focus:
Revelation and insight
Imagery and sensory detail
Emotional clarity
Your chapbook will explore the many dimensions of human connection. By the end of May, your poems will illuminate attachment, vulnerability, and understanding in relationships - both with others and yourself.
Here are sample prompts. The full 20-prompt list is included when you join the challenge:
Explore a connection that faded over time. This can be family or friends. It does not have to be a romantic connection.
Start with: “We almost…” in regards to a relationship or friendship that could have lasted, but didn’t.
Write about feeling seen or unseen by someone.
Sample Writing Prompts
Why This Month Matters Now
May is about the way you attach, drift, and reach for others. This theme centers the quiet tension of relationships - what’s said, what’s withheld, and what lives in the space between.
Connection shifts constantly. If you don’t write while the feeling is active, you lose the emotional truth. This month matters because it asks you to write relational honesty while it’s still alive in your body.
Participation Options
This month, would you like to simply participate in the challenge or would you like a full publication package?
Option 1: Challenge-Only Package
Who it’s for: Poets who want guided prompts and structure, but do not plan to create a chapbook or prefer to handle publication themselves.
Includes:
20 detailed January writing prompts
Craft guidance and inspiration for your poems
Support for producing at least 20 poems
Tips for compiling and arranging your chapbook
What You’ll Do:
Write, revise, and polish your poems using the prompts. At the end of January, you’ll have 20-30 completed poems ready to share with your readers or ready to put in a complete manuscript and publish on your own.
Price: $28
Option 2: Full Publication Package
Who it’s for: Poets who want to focus solely on writing while we handle the rest.
Includes everything in the Challenge-Only Package, plus:
Professional formatting for print publication
Custom cover design aligned with January’s theme
Publishing your chapbook on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
You receive 100% of rights and royalties
Guidance on distribution and marketing
What You’ll Do:
Focus on your writing - our team takes care of turning your poems into a professional chapbook that’s ready to share with the world.
Price: $124