In a perfect world, every poem I write would be amazing and worthy of being published. The world is not perfect, and very few of my poems are amazing. In fact, for every one, good poem I write, I probably write between seven and ten duds.
Poetry
Embrace Crappiness
Last night, I wrote a crappy poem.1 I then wrote a mediocre poem.* It probably was a crappy poem, too, but I decided to work with it. It was slightly better than the outright crappy one, and I needed to work on a poem. I needed to work through the crappiness. Why? I believe that embracing crappiness is a part of being a writer. It’s only in writing the crappy thing that I can move onto writing something better – if only by a few degrees.
National Poetry Month 2012
A lot has changed since last year’s National Poetry Month post. I now share poems on a weekly basis on the Facebook page, both my own poems as well as the poems of others. I’m not writing a new poem every day. I kept the schedule until my life became the whirlwind known as moving to Austin and starting a job. I’m trying to get back into a regular rhythm with my poetry. I miss the rhythm, and I know I need to be writing poetry more consistently. It’s the only way to become a better poet – that, and reading poetry.
National Poetry Month 2011
April* is National Poetry Month. I wouldn’t have known about it except that I happened to see a tweet regarding the subject in my Twitter feed. As a poet, I probably should be aware of the celebration, but I have to confess that I’m often oblivious to such things.
A Thing of Beauty
John Keats says that “a thing of beauty is a joy forever.” The line has always stuck with me. It’s one of those lines that one hears again and again from class to class. I’ve always wondered, though, what constitutes a thing of beauty?
Star Trek, Star Wars, and Prose Poems
Mention* the words “prose poem” in a room filled with poets, and a battle akin to the ones that occur between Star Trek and Star Wars fanatics will transpire. One branch of poets will argue that a prose poem is a poem. The other side will contend that a prose poem is prose.