An ambitious reading challenge launched by poet Nicole Sealey

The Sealey Challenge, in short, is to read one book of poetry every day for the entire month of August. In this way it is both like and unlike the “Kia Challenge” from TikTok back in 2022 in that, in both cases, you are stealing something, except in one case you are breaking into a new book and stealing its wisdom, and in the other case you are doing something similar with a car, and on second thought these things are not at all the same.

I will be attempting the Sealey Challenge this August. I invite you to join as well, especially if you don’t usually read poetry.

The “guidelines,” such as they are, allow for either a book of poetry (50-70 pages) or a chapbook (15-30 pages) a day, and the recommendations on the semi-official site skew toward contemporary releases. I’ll be very loose with both “rules,” following the spirit rather than the letter of the law; the point of the challenge is to read a bit more poetry than usual. If an entire volume of poetry every day is unrealistic, a few poems online is better than nothing.

Rather than plan out a list ahead of time, I’ll be reading books I have at hand that I’ve already been meaning to read. My goal is to be surprised, and to have at least a handful of hidden (or well-loved) gems to present to you by September 1st. In lieu of social media posts, I’ll be writing all my responses here. I’m always interested in what others are reading, so if you’ve picked out or read some books already, please comment below. I’ll try to check them out.

Is this the best way to read poems? Probably not. Good poems are savored; bad and mediocre poems can be read quickly and then forgotten. The way I see it, this challenge is about exposure, both for readers (reading a huge range of poems & styles in a very compressed period), and for writers (getting audiences they may not otherwise have). As skeptical as I am about the virtues of “reading good poetry very fast,” I’m more intrigued about the possibilities. I’ve read one full book of poems this year; I need some discipline, and this challenge will be the bowling-lane-bumpers I need for the month of August.

If you’re participating, good luck, and see you on the other side!