Thanks for all the visits, the reading and the contributed poetry. As of October 2019, PoetsUnlimited ceases to publish new work.

As I close the book on this long-running publication, you can read below for a bit of history on its origin and where it all ended up. Thanks to all!

History

In October 2013, when Medium was quite new, I composed a poem, Anonymous Residents of Everyhood on the platform, to see how it looked.

I liked the crisp, clean appearance, with lots of white space. It brought good attention to the words and handled the presentation of text and images together in an nice consistent way across a few format options.

The opportunity to create my own little publication on the platform sounded fun. In those days anyone on the platform could submit a piece to your newly-created publication without needing to explicitly join or be accepted.

Since the only poems I saw here were in publications that also featured many different kinds of writing (and mostly prose) I thought that making my publication poetry-only would be a unique niche upon which to focus, even if it might never grow much beyond a few participants. It was a nice way to connect with other poets who decided to share their work through my little plot of virtual real estate.

Success With a Unique Position

Over the past six years, the site had grown a lot. PoetsUnlimited quickly became the largest, most active, poetry-only publication on Medium.

As well as far as I could tell, it was also the only publication on any website that delivered a fresh batch of ten to thirty poems by diverse writers every single day (verified only by some vigorous internet searching). Other daily-poetry sites would do one or two from their archives, or the odd poet would seek to write a poem every day on their own blog or website. So it was a pretty unique position in the history of poetry on the web, I think.

Maxing out at 66,000 plus subscribers and about 1000 contributor poets we reached a lot of readers. I’ve heard pleasant words from many poets saying they got their feet wet with poetry through their publishing and interactions on PU — and that has been the biggest reward.

A key to engaging and keeping readers was crafting a set of ‘rules’ that kept the reading experience consistently just about the poetry. The Contributors Guidelines grew to avoid letting works become bios, tutorials, sales pitches or (yes, it happened) single-word pieces. But it was also important to me to let people draw readers to their other work, publications and sales sites.

The ‘one line only’ of post-poem text rule seemed to work well for that. Within the boundaries of broad poetic styles, without explainers or videos, the words were always the focus. Without restrictions on topic or approach, skill or experience, I think we had a great range of diversity, and I hope it brought enjoyment to both writers and readers.

I’ve also enjoyed that early contributors to PU have gone on to create their own poetry-only publications. There are lots of different ones with many familiar names involved as editor/publishers and contributors. Maybe a few were inspired by, or driven to think about what they’d do differently from, their experiences on PU.

One challenge on Medium is that publishing a new page of featured pieces for today’s issue removes all vestiges of yesterday’s issue. The poems remain in the stream, but get re-ordered by the poets’ creation dates. Short of scrolling back through thousands of pieces, it’s hard to re-read anything from earlier dates.

The 5Faves page was an attempt to highlight a few of the really striking pieces for further attention. That brought additional readers to a few notable poems monthly for about two years.

Bringing it to a Close

In the past year or so, with changes Medium made to monetize the platform, managing the free-to-read nature of the publication had became more onerous. I shifted from daily to twice a week for publishing. I’ve seen readers and writers start to move away from the platform. The Medium business never really embraced poets, nor made an effort to engage or support publishers, even with a successful publication like ours. We undoubtedly brought readers to their platform. One might have expected a bit of outreach and interest in making us happy.

To wrap up, I am bringing PoetsUnlimited to an end on this the first day of October, six years after the publication arose in October 2013. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as I have. I wish you all the best on the poetry paths you choose in future.

Your faithful publisher,
Ross.

I’ll still be around, writing and reading. I sometimes ‘workshop’ my own pieces on my HelloPoetry feed (they’re a bit buggy lately), and I post inane non-poetry commentary on topics such as food, breadmaking, science and a smidge of politics on Twitter.

PoetsUnlimited Wraps Up was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The man in the moon
he watched you tonight
when your head touched the pillow
until you saw the dawn’s light

He protects the dark hours
and collects every fear
files all your worries
and distills every tear

He’s your nightly beacon
the light by your side
his silver light speaking
to your wishes that hide

He weaves all your dreams
in the realm of your head
until it may seem
fairies leap on your bed

Or unicorns race
through your rivers of sheets
their hooves wildly pacing
the speed your heart beats

His luminous eye
there since you were born
in the sparkly starred sky
sees you happy, forlorn

Make a wish when he’s bright
that your secrets he’ll keep
ask this friend in your night
for an untroubled sleep

He is constant and true
in a world so uncertain
your hope’s sentinel
the light through your curtain

The Man in the Moon was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Look at her immortal kiss,

And her eyes, they’re full of bloody tears.

Last days…

he drew a hurricane,

silhouette of a deeply devastating memory;

their home is dust and mist,

her soul is blooming in the darkness,

and words just cut and hurt.

but know what I can feel? she is a fine explosion,

and he is her fire, her end and

her beginning.

These days…

Autumn leaves are playing in the skies,

they have love affairs with rainbows,

somehow, in their attempt to heal us,

They’ve got lost inside the summer dying Universe.

Tonight…

Listen to my unspoken words,

I’m inside you, running through your veins,

making love to your soul.

©2019 Roxana-Elena Stefan. All Rights Reserved

Last days of September was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How I wish I were like you,

Stumbling on, no reflection,

Unphased by all things new

Totally in each moment

Full of joy and love and light

No knowledge of opponents,

Your world, it is so bright

It’s your simple smiling face,

So honest and brave and true

That brings me back to this place

The here and now, with you

Usually, the day goes by

and I’m up inside my head

I thank you so sincerely

That I am here instead.

Perfection was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

borrowing hope from strangers and stories.

sipping strength from a cappella reverberations of trees and ministers.

fabricating joy from single stitches of forgiveness — a blanket to keep warm.

– omphalocele
or
when the things a person needs to survive are not found within his/her own body

[poem-a-month September]

omphalocele was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I thought of the flower
The one that sprouts each Summer
With marvelous ultraviolet petals
Symbolizing nature’s deepest riddles
Beauty never fails to shine through its intricacies
The eyes, passively absorbing its brilliancy.

I thought of the flower
The one that we saw together
While holding hands
Oh how it was indeed irreverent
Your face consequently illuminated
Our world gliding effortlessly through pain.

Wisdom and love, befalling on us
As we walk over our shame’s dust
It has been years
But I still think of that flower
For it explains our continuous growth
Our faithful desire to simply remain partners.

Flower was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Road to Self

Someday, a man will marry you,
Not because he loves you,
But because he loves the trappings of you.
This, however, is a good thing
Because it will set you firmly
On the road back to your self.

Road to self was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

melting glaciers with my mouth —

see, i am powerful with this pen;

the powerful think they want swords.

they give you folly, and ask gratitude for it;

they ask for a tithe from pension;

they ask you to carry the basket;

they ask you to slip nickels in for the sake of god;

they ask you to cover your fucking nipples for the sake of modesty,

but they want you to feed them.

johnny cover your mouth when you cough;

when you speak,

you are contagion.

you are an animal.

you are a zombie.

that is why they ask you.

zachary valladon is an oklahoma city based creative. zsv on twitter.

they ask you was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I thought I’d keep
when my mother died
her teapot
as a memento.

It doesn’t matter now
– not even the memories,
only my ever-increasing
Knowledge
of the Mother
she Yearned to Be.

From The Re-Mothering Experience, recited by my son at my mother’s funeral.

Her Teapot As a Memento was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Like the sun rising
over rolling black mountains
lighting up my heart

Salat¹ grows my soul
Zakat, Ramadan and Hajj²
also do the same

God’s great creation
draws me right, back there to Him³ —
Paradise on Earth!⁴

What a Merciful
Lord and Master mankind has
Who so blesses us

Who sends the gentle rain,
filling fields with waving green
and bright, clear bird song

What more do we need
To be joyous and content?
Glory be to God!

Notes:

¹ Salat is the Arabic word for the prayer done by Muslims five times each day to make direct contact with the Creator who is known in Arabic as “Allah”, in Spanish as “Dios”, in Farsi as “Khuda”, in English as “God”, in Hindi as “Īśvara”, etc.

² Zakat is the required charity to the poor (2.5% of your income after taxes, whenever you “harvest” or receive it), Ramadan is the lunar month of fasting from food and drink from earliest dawn until sunset and Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca when and if one can afford to make it. More details are available on line. I especially like this link.

³ From the Quran I understand that when I commemorate the Divinity in any way, by any name, I am drawn closer and closer to that blessed being. Please see Quran 73:8.

⁴ What greater paradise can there be than being close to God, however you understand that wondrous being?

Muslim Haiku -1 was originally published in Poets Unlimited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.