Hey ya’ll, consider writing a poem a day with me this April. I really need to get back on my poetry stick, and I usually have to have “assignments” or expectations to regularly produce any new work.
Here are the details, in case you’re interested: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-april-pad-challenge-guidelines
In short, this is a Writer’s Digest challenge to write a poem a day for every day in April. The challenge leader posts writing prompts that you can respond to, and encourages you to post your response in the comments for the day’s prompt. Or, you can choose to keep your poems to yourself. In the past, I’ve done this challenge at least 4 times, and I *never* posted in the WD forum, nor did I use their prompts.
One year, I posted all of my poems on Facebook. Another year, I posted them on my blog, http://drmacdsnc.blogspot.com. This year, I’m going to create a page on my website, ljmacdiarmid.com, and invite participation (in much the same way that WD is). I always post somewhere because that’s part of the accountability I need to actually complete the work.
Here’s a pre-April warm up poem to kick off my personal challenge for 2022:
Poem a Day, Hurray!
This year I'm going to write them the legions of poems swirling deep inside my flabby skin the songs and senses the legions of poems inchoate and longing, ghosts and souls the songs and senses I sometimes seem to be missing inchoate, longing, a ghostly soul traveling an apocalyptic train I sometimes seem to be missing even as I'm swept along traveling that apocalyptic, poetic grain of thought swirling inside my aging skin even as I'm swept along saying: "This year, I swear, I'll write them" all those poems, and I never do March 30, 2022
Beginning is the hardest part
A lined page faces me, bare
Fear stops me before I start.
“Write what’s inside you’re heart”
remember what it was like to care
Beginning is the hardest part
There was a time I thought I was smart
My self confidence always played fair
Fear stops me before I start
“You’ve lost you’re edge, upset the cart”
My momentum is gone, I’m stuck in a chair
Beginning is the hardest part.
Can I find the words that sting like a dart
Stretching muscle I wouldn’t dare?
Fear stops me before I start.
Who am I to claim this art?
Word blind, lost, frozen as a hare.
Beginning is the hardest part
Fear stops me before I start.
Great villanelle, Meg — the last stanza slays me.
Thank you; it was fun to dust the cobwebs out of my brain. Now you’re stuck with me for the month ❤️