100 Poems Challenge

Across October and November  in 2012, I set myself a challenge: to see if I could write 100 poems in only 30 days.

This was inspired by previously doing the National Novel Writing Month Challenge: writing the first draft of a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I was going to wait to the 1st November to start the challenge, but feeling particular inspired, I started early, on the 14th October.

Originally, all the poems were posted on a blog, put up as they were written. (I've since taken this down at some of the poems have been published since or are currently under consideration) Given the enormity of the task, there was little time for rewrites, so pretty much all the poems were first drafts. The aim of the challenge wasn't prolificacy;  quantity being meaningless without quality. Rather, it was to maximise the scope for inspiration, to find meaning in small events, beauty in the seemingly insignificant.

A list of the poems and dates are listed below. Overall, the 100 poems totalled 13,048 words across 2270 lines. To push myself even further near the end, I wrote a 100 line poem on day 27, and to end a long haikai sequence of 100 individual haiku.

You can read more about my experiences with the challenge over at this article on writing.ie.

141012 Day One
#1   16.42 Following Orders
#2   16.59 Editorial
#3   18.33 All Old Men

151012 Day Two
#4   10:48 Shut
#5   10.56 A Friendly Agony
#6   21.12 Rolling Away the Dust
#7   21.39 Asphyxiated
#8   22.32 Love’s Letter

161012 Day Three
#9   01.14 Phlebotomy
#10 11.31 Conjuring Up
#11 12.08 Foster Time
#12 18.02 Ode to Tranquillity
#13 18.36 Chalchiuhtlicue
#14 21:52 Simplify, Simplify

171012 Day Four
#15 06:58 Before the Bell
#16 07:41 Winter Camp
#17 22:27 Unpeeling an Egg
#18 22:51 Bound for Glory

181012 Day Five
#19 12:09 The Glad Bleeding
#20 18:46 Becoming Sand
#21 20.37 The Switch

191012 Day Six
#22 18.32 On Fire
#23 18.48 Communal Construction
#24 23.23 Dysmorphic
#25 23:44 She Barricades Herself In

201012 Day Seven
#26 13.28 Man in White
#27 20.17 Quagmire of Ire
#28 20.31 Bodily Betrayals
#29 20:49 Home Heating

211012 Day Eight
#30 01.10 Of Nature
#31 02.27 In Equal Measure
#32 22.46 Challenged

221012 Day Nine
#33 13.32 Mouthing Off
#34 20.52 And Now, the News Where You Are
#35 22.12 Channelling

231012 Day Ten
#36 11.51 Silence in the Library
#37 18.05 Digital Imagery
#38 18.14 Mission / Submission

241012 Day Eleven
#39 00.40 A Soft Word
#40 21.02 Graveside
#41 22.09 Daguerreotype
#42 22.24 Dyed

251012 Day Twelve
#43 10.37 Middle Keys
#44 16.45 Ease and Release
#45 22.08 He Has Touchdown

261012 Day Thirteen
#46 00.07 Cuppa
#47 00.24 Internal Scorching
#48 00.58 Distinguish Yourself
#49 11.56 Vent
#50 12:54 You Shall Not Leave
#51 19.27 Only You and Thousands Others

271012 Day Fourteen
#52 19.07 The Repayment of Sleep
#53 19.39 Contingent
#54 20.26 The Photo, No Longer a Replica

281012 Day Fifteen
#55 10.25 Ventilation
#56 16.07 Earthed Spirit
#57 20:18 Running Time
#58 20.38 Rationality

291012 Day Sixteen
#59 17.59 Until the Words Come
#60 18.24 The Sky is Fickle
#61 22.02 At My Doorstep
#62 23.21 Taking Leaps
#63 23.49 Panicked

301012 Day Seventeen
#64 11.47 Breaking the Circle
#65 12.07 Permis de Séjour
#66 22.01 By Your Side

311012 Day Eighteen
#67 11.19 Tabula Rasa
#68 22.00 Secondhand Rock
#69 22.23 Some Escapism

011112 Day Nineteen
#70 14.38 Before Motion
#71 14.48 Outran

021112 Day Twenty
#72 14.25 Needing the Loo in Letterkenny
#73 14.36 Strangers in the Corner

031112 Day Twenty-One
#74 11.41 A Castle
#75 11.52 Ink Skin

041112 Day Twenty-Two
#76 20:20 BEDS
#77 20.33 The Inactivity of Silence
#78 21.57 Hit Mute

051112 Day Twenty-Three
#79 21.04 Still A Dog
#80 21.24 You Version 1.0
#81 22.36 Reaction Temperatures
#82 23.18 Homespun Homo Sapien

061112 Day Twenty-Four
#83 10.58 Bear the Frost
#84 14.34 This Train Is For
#85 16.35 Evening Sky

071112 Day Twenty-Five
#86 11.03 Passing Emotion
#87 11.25 A Sense of Futility
#88 17.37 Salting the Soil
#89 22.02 Chorus After Chorus
#90 22.24 Beyond Yourself
#91 22.52 Hellos and Haloes

081112 Day Twenty-Six
#92 13.43 In Forma Pauperis
#93 18.05 A Network of Sorts
#94 21.52 Night Train

091112 Day Twenty-Seven
#95 11.02 Sharing Air
#96 20.07 Not Much

101112 Day Twenty-Eight
#97 21.14 Heat Seeking
#98 21.35 Lost In Victory

111112 Day Twenty-Nine
#99 13.27 These Cannibal Streets
#100 16.50 Musical Haikai
(across day 29 and 30)

155 words, 24 lines
100 words, 12 lines
51 words, 8 lines


85 words, 10 lines
96 words, 14 lines
115 words, 21 lines
185 words, 24 lines
92 words, 15 lines


115 words, 18 lines
76 words, 21 lines
113 words, 17 lines
114 words, 15 lines
112 words, 20 lines
152 words, 22 lines


138 words, 21 lines
136 words, 18 lines
84 words, 16 lines
116 words, 20 lines


120 words, 20 lines
176 words, 28 lines
69 words, 12 lines


107 words, 24 lines
66 words, 15 lines
85 words, 15 lines
136 words, 17 lines


168 words, 20 lines
116 words, 23 lines
70 words, 18 lines
164 words, 23 lines


103 words, 20 lines
67 words, 19 lines
134 words, 18 lines


88 words, 15 lines
108 words, 19 lines

67 words, 15 lines


110 words, 14 lines
94 words, 14 lines
183 words, 27 lines


97 words, 19 lines
85 words, 12 lines
135 words, 21 lines
116 words, 18 lines


106 words, 24 lines
67 words, 15 lines
97 words, 20 lines


68 words, 17 lines
86 words, 17 lines
101 words, 21 lines
105 words, 21 lines
130 words, 19 lines
147 words, 19 lines



78 words, 16 lines
113 words, 20 lines

102 words, 18 lines


75 words, 14 lines
125 words, 21 lines
133 words, 21 lines
80 words, 16 lines


112 words, 23 lines
113 words, 17 lines
108 words, 20 lines
84 words, 15 lines
119 words, 28 lines


100 words, 17 lines
94 words, 14 lines
156 words, 25 lines


153 words, 22 lines
152 words, 18 lines
100 words, 16 lines


139 words, 24 lines
103 words, 17 lines


163 words, 24 lines

147 words, 22 lines


136 words, 20 lines
115 words, 20 lines


104 words, 17 lines
130 words, 26 lines
111 words, 18 lines


124 words, 19 lines
185 words, 23 lines
106 words, 14 lines
160 words, 26 lines


140 words, 19 lines
115 words, 20 lines
109 words, 14 lines


116 words 18 lines
179 words, 26 lines
147 words, 24 lines
112 words, 14 lines
115 words, 17 lines
109 words, 18 lines


153 words, 19 lines
90 words, 16 lines
84 lines, 14 lines


120 words, 16 lines
656 words, 100 lines


121 words, 16 lines
117 words, 21 lines


98 words, 15 lines
1141 words, 300 lines