Silver Birch Press is seeking  April Fool’s Day   Erasure Poetry based on page 41 from a book of the poet’s choice  — interpret “April Fool’s Day” as you will (humor, trickery, thoughts on the day, but nothing x-rated or raw). Find out more about erasure poetry at  wavepoetry.com  and  geist.com.  I like this prompt because at some point we’ve all felt like fools, have been fooled, or have fooled someone else — so the resulting poems will be either humorous or emotional (my favorite types of poetry).

As a prompt, here are definitions of “fool”:

Noun: A person who acts unwisely; a silly person.

Verb: Trick or deceive.

Adjective: Foolish or silly.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

In honor of April Fool’s Day (4/1), Silver Birch Press is accepting submissions of erasure poems based on page 41 from a book of your choice. For examples of erasure poetry…

I held you tight

and clung to you,

my love for you untold.

I stared into you deep brown eyes,

my heart was yours to hold.

So soft to touch,

I kept you close,

I kissed your furry ears.

My love, my friend, my confidante,

my darling teddy bear.

You shared my secrets,

calmed my fears,

as you watched over me.

You’ve watched me grow over the years,

a birthday gift at three.

You stood by me,

in hours of need,

and protected me at night.

When I was ill, you’d comfort me,

and soothe me ‘til the light.

I cried for you,

and made a fuss,

my teddy bear most dear;

hanging wet upon the line,

one peg upon each ear.

We’ve had our scrapes,

both you and me,

but survived them none the less;

the time the dog played tug o’ war…

but I sewed back your head.

Dear Edwina;

It’s 9 o clock on Tuesday, the morning after the night before, where we were both on a panel on The Big Benefits Row on Channel 5. I haven’t watched it back, I was there, and know what I look like when I’m angry.

I need to get this out – because it’s everything I wanted to say last night but couldn’t, as I kept being rudely shouted over by you. Honestly, my three year old behaves better than that. At least he knows that when Mummy does her ‘will you just be QUIET and LISTEN to me’ then the best thing to do is to stop running your mouth and let Mummy say her piece.

But you didn’t. Because you were terrified of what I had to say.

I wanted to say, when asked by Matthew Wright, that poverty is almost indescribable to someone as blinkered as…