September 5, 2023

a reminder–
i write poetry
a reminder–
i do this every morning
(and post it)
a reminder–
i’ve been doing this
since april 13, 2021
and have
at least one
poem
up
every day
(sometimes three)
(a couple of days, six!)
a reminder
for other people to remember
because sometimes
(often)
(almost always)
i forget
to tell

July 19, 2023

ever write poetry
with a rhyme scheme in your mind
from an un-written line,
one you decided wasn’t worth the fight/
the force of putting it in,
but the next line rhymes so fittingly
that you insert it just so —
and when you read the flow
you still speak it as though
that first line is still there
(you just don’t say it out loud)
and it all fits together
with phrases in your mind —
and you wonder
if a reader
who isn’t just you
could feel that it flows,
even though the flow
may not be as obvious
as it is to you…

anyone else do that too?

May 23, 2023

these mornings
these poems
they all slip together
to become something akin to
a giant gentle monster
overwhelming
overshadowing
but still cuddly as anything
(cuddly as me)
and i don’t know if this beast is one
i could ever tame
or if it needs to be free
wild
as uncontrollable
and uncontrolled
as i so desperately want to be

May 17, 2023

insert word here
add another phrase
perhaps a whole sentence in this middle place
slow down the thoughts to
one
word
per
line

a slightly askew way of looking at that subject
hangs out in this short stanza by itself

[and that’s how i write poetry]

May 9, 2023

to warm up with the poetry
as i [try to do] every morning
or to stare blankly at a phone
scrolling and scrolling and scrolling
until half the day has gone by?

i believe this choice speaks for itself
(on the days when my executive functioning allows)

to warm up with the poetry
as it flows and flows and flows
or to work a bit
get things quickly done
feeling even more productive before 9am
than i usually feel by 10pm

this choice is a little harder
but i do have habit backing up a decision for the former

to warm up with the poetry
that speaks of itself in loose verse–
meta-poeting all over the computer screen
as i contemplate any other option here
in this early may morning

i see this choice has been made for me

April 23, 2023

usually
i use morning page time
to write what’s bouncing around in my mind
and smooth out the edges
of the frantic thoughts and premises
and write for an audience
once i’m done
parsing
ponderings

but this morning
i’m just continually
digging through
my mind’s soil
and seeing what might grow
and i don’t know
if any of my work is readable
much less digestible
but better to let indigestion take hold
than not have anything to show
from such a
productive
pensive
morning

right?

April 13, 2023

the problem with poetry
being a daily task
is that sometimes it becomes
less of an emotional release
and a little more of a chore

but that isn’t to say i’m not getting
so much out of this
daily poetry challenge
this three years [starting today] of
at least one new poem every single
day

it is to say
that i sometimes don’t know how to turn off
the poetry brain
when i need to do my every-day unpoetical tasks,
and i sometimes don’t know how to turn off
the analytical brain
when i’m writing these
tiny pieces
of art

March 26, 2023

poetry
[for me]
is simply raining down
haphazard hail
at whatever can capture my words
and showing off this bouquet
of symbols making meaning of emotional existence
and asking if anyone at all enjoys
the fragrance

[and/or the mixed metaphors]

March 25, 2023

my focus
is splayed
delayed
i’m afraid i can’t
write any more
making my mind search and find
the one thing it was looking for:
a subject matter—-meta-poetry
meta-subject
meta-focus

can the brain only focus
on itself
when i’m like this?

February 13, 2023

i wish i had written more as a child
about what it felt like to be
those ages that i was–
it all felt so solid
inevitable
unchangeable
at the time

but now it slips my mind
i try to hold the grains of sand
as tightly as i can
and i have no specificity
just generic hazy memory
like things
vibes
of times
but i want the solid
the thought processes
the emotions (good and bad and in-between)
i want to remember
me

but instead i get this vague reaching
for who i used to be
and who i might
have grown
into

but none of this feels as solid
as writing does
now

so maybe that’s why i write
every day
even if it feels silly
or poorly crafted
or i don’t know what i’ll ever do with it
i need to find a way to look back
and identify myself
from years away

because sometimes i can’t even identify myself today