National Poetry Month
This year, I think I'm going to undertake a somewhat more private celebration of National Poetry Month. I am undertaking to write a poem a day, using Robert Lee Brewer's prompts over at Poetic Asides. This doesn't mean I won't be posting about poetry here, too, of course, but not in any massive push sort of way.
Still, since it is both the start of National Poetry Month and my birthday, I thought I'd point you to three original poems of mine that can be found over at Chantarelle's Notebook, where I'm still the current featured poet. The poems are "Shelling Peas", "Lessons I Wish I Could Share With My Teenage Daughter" and "Us".
The first poem, "Shelling Peas," is written in 7 parts, each one a separate reflection/image/observation that occurred to me as I shelled peas a few years back. The second ("Lessons") is a form of Italianate sonnet, written in iambic pentameter and rhymed ABBAABBACDCDCD, and is exactly what the title proclaims it to be.
The third ("Us") comes from one of my weekly writing exercises - this particular one was chosen by Angela De Groot from Bonnie Neubauer's wonderful writing inspiration book, The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing - you had to list two magazine titles, two book names and two song titles, then incorporate them in your writing. (The book anticipates that you will write short stories - I usually write poems instead.) And yes, "Us" was one of my magazine titles. That leaves one more magazine title, two book titles, and two song titles to find. (The song titles are conveniently labelled as such - one song and one book title are hiding, however.) The poem is not autobiographical per se, in that none of it ever actually happened, yet it is absolute truth. Funny how that happens, yes?
Tonight, I'll be reading two original poems at the Up and Under launch at the Daily Grind in Mount Holly, NJ - "San Francisco, Any Night", which is in the journal, and "Attention to Detail", which is a newer, unpublished piece that needs an airing. (It's amazing how reading a poem in public can help you find the parts that need to be reworked, regardless of how many times you've read it when you're alone.)
Still, since it is both the start of National Poetry Month and my birthday, I thought I'd point you to three original poems of mine that can be found over at Chantarelle's Notebook, where I'm still the current featured poet. The poems are "Shelling Peas", "Lessons I Wish I Could Share With My Teenage Daughter" and "Us".
The first poem, "Shelling Peas," is written in 7 parts, each one a separate reflection/image/observation that occurred to me as I shelled peas a few years back. The second ("Lessons") is a form of Italianate sonnet, written in iambic pentameter and rhymed ABBAABBACDCDCD, and is exactly what the title proclaims it to be.
The third ("Us") comes from one of my weekly writing exercises - this particular one was chosen by Angela De Groot from Bonnie Neubauer's wonderful writing inspiration book, The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing - you had to list two magazine titles, two book names and two song titles, then incorporate them in your writing. (The book anticipates that you will write short stories - I usually write poems instead.) And yes, "Us" was one of my magazine titles. That leaves one more magazine title, two book titles, and two song titles to find. (The song titles are conveniently labelled as such - one song and one book title are hiding, however.) The poem is not autobiographical per se, in that none of it ever actually happened, yet it is absolute truth. Funny how that happens, yes?
Tonight, I'll be reading two original poems at the Up and Under launch at the Daily Grind in Mount Holly, NJ - "San Francisco, Any Night", which is in the journal, and "Attention to Detail", which is a newer, unpublished piece that needs an airing. (It's amazing how reading a poem in public can help you find the parts that need to be reworked, regardless of how many times you've read it when you're alone.)