At the beginning of 2023, I bought myself a notebook with the intention of writing one poem a day throughout the year. I didn’t need to spend a lot of time in the bookshop before I found the one that felt, and looked, exactly the way I needed it to be. I think you’ll agree that the cat on the cover exudes the right amount of warm and cosy, the colours are captivating, and the notebook seems eager to receive.
Have I written a poem a day since the beginning of the year in this most wonderful notebook? No.
Is this is a problem? It isn’t.
I knew I’d never keep that up, but I did want to make the effort to get into the habit of writing poetry on a regular basis. And I have. In fact, I’ve actually written far more than I thought I would, and there are still seven months to go. So, I have decided that, instead of coming down hard on myself, I’ll congratulate myself for what I’ve already done. The experience has been – at times – fun, frustrating, tiring, inspiring, calming and satisfying.
Given that my motivation for writing the poetry was part of a personal project I like to call WRITE YOURSELF BETTER, in which I’m using writing as a form of mindfulness to calm down a sensitized nervous system a-buzz with overwhelm, I wanted the project to be positive. And it has been. Frankly, I’ve had a blast.
So, what have I been up to?
I started off the year with poems for a middle-grade verse novel I’m writing. In April, I took a verse novel course with the wonderful Kelly Bingham on Writers.com that lasted eight weeks, followed closely by another five-week course with Cordelia Jensen at Highlights in May. These two gifted teachers have been keeping me busy, and I’ve made a lot of progress on the novel. I won’t be including any of the poems in this post as they’re very much a work in progress for now.
Then, my 50th birthday was in March, and I decided to do a countdown towards it with a haiku-a-day for 28 days. Here are a few of those.
April was also National Poetry Month, so I challenged myself to write a triolet a week, which I did. They’re called Awe, What Didn’t Happen, Sunshine and You.
What about now? I’m taking part in Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell’s Think Poetry which is a skill-based program for teachers and librarians in which we write ekphrastic poems between now and July on the theme of hope. While there is no guarantee that any of the students’ poems will be chosen for a new anthology published by Pomelo Books, we can…hope.
What else? A private free verse poem for a friend going through some rough stuff, another two for Carol Varsalona’s gorgeous Springsations Gallery on Padlet, and two handfuls more here and there, just because. I haven’t counted how many poems I’ve written to date, but I know there are more than a hundred given the number of poems in the verse novel alone.
I am happy.
Janice is hosting Poetry Friday this week at Salt City Verse.
Lou, Happy Birthday and thank your for the quiet gratitude haiku and the other two that you wrote. This is the beauty of poetic goodness. My post deals with an unveiling of Springsations Vol. 2 and a cento poem created from lines of Springsations poets’ image poems. It was quite a bit of fun to try and fit all of the poems into one central one. Thank you for your offering. Did you send in a 2nd poem because I don’t seem to have it. Please add it to the padlet when you can. Happy Spring!
Hi Carol! Yes, I sent in a haiku about planes criss-crossing on a blue sky and a free verse poem about a cat in my spring-jungle garden. Thank you for the birthday wishes! I love your amalgam. It’s very impressive.
Congratulations on accomplishing so much writing, Lou! I really like your triolet, What Didn’t Happen— perfect for kids (and grownups!) dealing with anxiety. Keep filling that notebook, and I’ll be writing with you in Think Poetry.
Thank you, Rose! I saw you on Think Poetry: I think we have one photo in common. Perhaps about the lost dog? I’ll see you there!
How wonderful. I call this ‘poems piling up.’ I would like to devote more of my life to writing. For now, I am in the poems piling up stage. I would love to know more about the courses you took. When are they offered again? Are they friendly to a teacher’s schedule?
Linda, would you like to have a chat about the courses by e-mail? You can reach me at lou@loupiccolo.com and I’ll answer all your questions. If you’re talking about the verse novel courses: one was entirely through e-mail with great feedback but a long list of books to read and quite a bit of homework (all excellent, and the other was one video lesson a week with fewer feedback, but also less homework. I’m doing Think Poetry right now, and it’s very flexible.
Lou, you have been a busy poet! I often have ambitious moments, buy a notebook and the desire and intention to write is a wonderful thing even if you don’t write every single day. Your haiku are surprising. I particularly relate to the, third, a forgotten dinner while writing a haiku. So funny and true. Enjoy your novel-in-progress and good luck with it.
Thank you, Janice!
Lou, I love how you are filling the well! So much of writing is HOPE, yes? The countdown haiku project sounds fun…and it makes me laugh to think of a haiku, which seems such a small thing (and isn’t), causing supper to burn! (I can get really consumed by haiku too!)
It was, unfortunately, a true story, but the upside was that I didn’t need to finish the haiku I was struggling with (which caused me to forget dinner on the stove) as I could use the haiku about burning dinner instead…
It seems that you are happily immersed, Lou. I enjoyed reading all your poetry year, so far! And I, too, love the ‘quiet gratitude’ & the laugh from “Now dinner is burned’. Happy Writing!
I am! Thank you for the kind words about my offerings so far.
Your haiku made me smile. 🙂 Enjoyed hearing about all your writing endeavors. Keep up the good work, and keep taking pride in what you have already accomplished this year and what you continue to do day by day. It all adds up!
It does, doesn’t it? Thank you, Jama.
Well I would say you’ve figured out “quality vs quantity” in your writing! I’m especially loving your reclining Roman bellies!
Thank you – I love the fat seals myself! They’re just missing the grapes.
More than a hundred poems! Good for you!!!
A lot of them are for the verse novel, so it’s easier than writing many new poems, but I still can’t really believe I wrote that many.
This post made me smile. So many lovely poems and I’m so glad you’re happy with your progress (as well you should be!) I also love the perspective, “Write Yourself Better.” ❤️
And happy belated 50th!
Thank you for the birthday wishes!