As we come to the end of another desperate and dismal year on our beautiful planet, we at Write Out Loud, like many, have concluded that we need poetry more than ever. Poetry can't change the world - but it can give vent to feelings, share concerns, and maybe provide a salve. To inject a bit of fun, thought and reflection into the final dark and gloomy days of the year we have decided to put up one Instagram post a day, starting on the first day in December, drawing from our news articles, contributions from our bloggers, monthly Write Out Loud groups  and previous Write Out Loud anthologies and competitions. There will be a few surprises along the way.

If you would like to get involved, we are also challenging people to write a reverse-word nonet, and will be posting selected ones on our poetry advent calendar. We featured nonets as a poetry form earlier this year.  

Our theme? We don’t want to set too many rules, and we can’t ignore what’s happening in the world out there – nor would we want to. But we’re looking for light and shade, and  please, no tub-thumping political poems - such poems rarely stand the test of time.

 A reverse-word nonet has nine lines, starting with one syllable in the first line, and descending to nine syllables in the final line. The end product looks quite like a Christmas tree!

You can post your nonets on the Write Out Loud blogs. We will be sure to spot them!

We look forward to reading your contributions.