30 Books of Poetry in 30 days

the 2024 Sealey Challenge, summarized

The Start

I spent many hours over the summer preparing for The Sealey Challenge. Brainchild of Nicole Sealey, the challenge is a ‘community activity in which participants read a book of poetry each day’ in the month of August. A relatively ‘green’ poet myself, I decided to try it this year to expose myself to a variety of good poetry.

The Method 

I work a full-time job, so I needed to make some adjustments to the standard challenge. I settled on the following structure:

1. Short microchapbooks Thursdays and Friday.

2. Chapbook-length or shorter collections Monday thru Wednesday.

3. Book-length collections or anthologies on the weekends.

I collected 10 digital microchaps from Ghost City’s Summer Series (both the 2024 series and their archives.) I highly recommend this approach for people with busier lives, who still want to read one collection per day during the challenge. The Summer Series is also budget friendly ( free / by donation).

The shorter collections I found mostly at my indie bookstore, Birdhouse Books. If you’re in the Portland, OR area you should definitely check them out, especially their HUGE local authors section of mostly poets. They also host readings and workshops. My husband and I have also collected chapbooks from various writers in our community.

Several of the longer books I read came from the library. I even was able to get excellent recommendations from a librarian when I filled out an online form - including more than a couple books that ended up being on my favorites list.

The Favorites

Out of 30 books, I could only pick 10. These books are required, necessary reading, and each had a profound impact on how I think about poetry.

1. Ablation by Danika Stegman LeMay

2. Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon , translated by Don Mee Choi

3. The Renunciations by Donika Kelly

4. How Not To Be Afraid of Everything by Jane Wong

5. Lima :: Limon by Natalie Scenters- Zapico

6. I Could Die Today and Live Again by Summer Farah

7. Bestiary by Donika Kelly

8. Some Tricks I was Born Knowing by DM Spratley

9. FORGE(T), (REM)EMBER by Winona Johnson

10. How to Carry Water by Lucille Clifton, edited by Aracelis Girmay

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The Honors

Favorite library book: Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon

Favorite Ghost City Summer Series Chapbook: Some Tricks I was Born Knowing by DM Spratley

Favorite book from my personal library: Ablation by Danika Stegman LeMay *(thank you william)

Coolest author interaction as a result of reading their book for the Sealey Challenge: Jane Wong (How Not To Be Afraid of Everything)

Book recommended to me the most: The Renunciations by Donika Kelly, recommended by Kirsten and Britt

Most special reading experience: Autobiography of Death, by candlelight during a power outage (!!!)

left to right: excerpts from Ablation, reading Autobiography of Death by flashlight, The Renunciations.

The Conclusion

Participating in the Sealey Challenge is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done creatively. Even on the weekends when I ostensibly had the most free time, it was quite difficult to force my social media-addled brain to engage with reading for hours at a time. But pushing through the discomfort and reconditioning my attention span was ultimately so incredibly rewarding. I’ll always value the time I spent with poetry this August. I’ve emerged from the Sealey Challenge with about 20 new favorite writers, endless inspiration, and a lengthy list of new poetic forms to try in my own writing. But the real question is, will I do this all again next year?

…well, probably not.

yours,

m