September 25, 2024

once upon a time
[like maybe a year or so ago]
i started writing poetry
based on prompts
to try to train my mind
to come up with the kinds of lines
that would work in a
park-based
typewriter-written
pay-per-poem
endeavor

and i stopped because

i don’t know

i guess i assumed i’d never be quite
good enough

but hey
it gave me different poems
than writing about writing about writing
every morning

so maybe
poemtober
[poem-october]
will be a boon
for my own brain
and feeling stuck in cycles
of poetry
for poetry’s
sake

January 25, 2023

i used to be so impressed
by those folks who sat
in a courtyard and offered
immediate poetry for any who asked

but i feel
after nearly two full years
of daily writing
and spouting
whatever comes to the top of my poet-brain
i could probably buy a typewriter
and park myself in any park in the city
and ask for only tips in a jar
and write and write and write for others
and maybe that
would be an artist’s life
for me