Do you feel the electricity in the air? That’s Lexington Poetry Month bleeding its magic across the boundaries of the May/June split reminding you not only that it’s nigh upon us, but today is the last day to sign up!

Tomorrow begins the first annual celebration of LPM, a month-long event founded by Accents Publishing’s Katerina Stoykova-Klemer and Morris books’ Hap Houlihan. Over 50 poets (both amateur and professional) have agreed to write a poem every single day and submit at least ten of them to the Accents Blog to share with the world.

A lot of people have had a lot of questions about the event, so we’re going to cover those right now. If you can think of anything I’m missing, ask it in the comments section below. 

How do I sign up?
First, you need to purchase a participating press’s book from a participating store. The participating presses include Accents Publishing, Broadstone Books, Old Cove Press, the University Press of Kentucky, and Wind Publications. Participating stores are the Morris book shop, sQecial Media, and Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington.

So, for example, if you purchased tina andry’s chapbook ransom notes from Morris for $5, that qualifies. If you bought Gurney Norman’s Ancient Creek (Old Cove) from Joseph-Beth for $18, that’s fine, too. If you got Nikky Finney’s Head Off & Split from the public library, then you’re in for a treat, but that doesn’t count as registering.

How many poems do I need to write?
Write as many as you can! You only need to write one a day. Of those, you only need to submit ten. However, you can submit a poem every day. But please only submit one poem per day.

While we are keeping track of who sends what poems and how many, there’s no way for us to know if you are in fact writing every day. But because we trust you, we’re sure you’ll be honest with us.

I e-mailed you my poem. When will it be published?
It will likely show up within 24 hours of being sent out. But because of so many factors (such as the high number of participants, the erratic schedule, people dropping off later in the month, etc.) we might hold some to publish later in the month.

It’s entirely possible that we will get the same number of poems every single day. More likel, though, we’ll get a deluge of poems in the first week and very few near the end. Either way, we promise not to lose your poem!

How long does my poem have to be?
There is no concrete limit. However, if you submit an epic the length of The Odyssey, we might have trouble posting it. Then again, if you have a poem that long, you have more solutions than problems.

Of course, most people are worried their poem is too short. Don’t. Anyone who’s read our anthology Bigger Than They Appear or the fiercely efficient work of tina andry will tell you that we love concise poems.

So, yes: haiku counts.

Who owns the copyright to my poems once I send them in?
You will still retain the copyrights to your work. The only thing we ask is permission to publish them on the blog and in a future book from Accents Publishing. If you would like your poems on the blog but not in a book, let us know by June 15th.

And if you don’t want your poetry published on the blog or in a book, then you might want to reconsider submitting them. We definitely don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. But we’ll still be glad to have you signed up as a participant and love having your creative output in the atmosphere, even if we aren’t sharing in it… yet.

I send you the poem and you posted it, but I don’t like it anymore. Can you edit it for me?
Unfortunately, no. Because we’ll be dealing with such a high volume of poetry throughout the month, we are unable to edit a poem we’ve already posted unless it’s a typo on our end.

The same goes for deleting a poem. Before you send any poem, make sure you’re happy with sending it. If there’s a matter of grave importance, like the poem is plagiarized or reveals incriminating evidence for a criminal trial, then send an e-mail to blog.accents.publishing (at) gmail.com.

When do we party?
On June 30th, the Morris book shop will be hosting an all-day event celebrating the successful completion of Lexington Poetry Month. Poets will be invited to read their own works. I’m sure there will be other things, but the details aren’t 100% hashed out, so stay tuned to the Accents Blog for more information.

Well, that about sums it up, folks. As previously stated, if you have any questions or comments, please submit them in the comments section of this post. If you can’t figure out the commenting system, send an e-mail to blog.accents.publishing (at) gmail.com and I’ll do my best to help you out. If it’s a question specifically for Katerina, it might take a while for a response, so be patient.

All right, everyone. Crack those knuckles, sharpen those pencils, and crease those spines. It’s time to get started!