April is National Poetry Month, as well as Parkinson’s Awareness Month. A special contest from the journal Health Affairs gives the lyrically inclined in our community a chance to participate in both themes at once by sharing experiences through poetry.

Health Affairs explains:

We are holding a poetry contest from March 26 to April 22, looking for well-crafted poems that touch on topics related to health and health policy. Three winning poems will be announced at the end of April. Winners will receive a $500 prize, publication in Health Affairs, and two copies of the issue containing the winning poem.

Poems can address any health topic, not just Parkinson’s, and must be written in English. Visit the Health Affairs blog for further submission guidelines.

Even if you’re not a poet (and you know it), writing about your experiences in any format can bring health benefits, research finds. According to several studies, writing and re-writing your personal story may have a measurable impact on stress, and another recent report discovered that writing just one sentence about your day, every day helps boost happiness. 

That means today's experiences, no matter how ordinary, could be meaningful in a poem, for your blog readers or even for your future self.