So it's June 1st, 2012. I made it. I wrote 366 poems, not 365, because it was a leap year. I was inspired by the playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. She wrote a play a day for 365 days. Like her plays, not all of my poems are good. Also, please do not be deceived. I did NOT really write one poem a day all 366 days. Some days I wrote multiple poems and scheduled them for "release" on the day they were due. Other times I wrote multiple poems to catch up, but other times I would sit down and write one poem for the date on which I wrote it. Some changes occurred over the year: Google decided to change some of the formatting on its blogging site. This was good for me because it meant I could post date poems I didn't get to write on the day they were due... it also meant that the poems that I merely post dated on the title/subject line were changed to their "original" air dates. This was a HUGE thing because back in mid-January I fell off the face of the blogosphere planet and stopped writing and didn't pick up the pen... uh, put down my fingers to the keyboard until right before my milestone birthday. I just felt I needed my blog, this HUGE accomplishment, to be up to speed because I was turning, let's just say, a certain age that meant I was REALLY a grownup now and I needed to make good on this promise, if even just to myself.
So, I can take a breather now... right? Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. I don't think I can ever stop writing. I started creatively writing at quite a young age. To stop now, would be odd, uncomfortable, like losing a necessary limb, etc., etc. - it just wouldn't seem right to not write.
Please feel free to take a gander. I welcome and LOVE comments so please comment away. Oh, if you have suggestions for future poems please feel free to offer them up. Sometimes I asked the students I was around to give me a word or an idea to use as a starting point. They enjoyed that... being part of the creative process, and I liked what it did for me in making connections. Writing has always been a solitary activity I have used to escape - as a refuge - a place to retreat, in order to recharge... IF I liked something I wrote I would then invite someone in, but for the most part, I have kept people out until I started this blog and began to "share" on a daily basis. There was no method to my madness. I would just sit down and write. Like I said earlier, if I needed an idea for a starter, I would ask a student... or, at times, I would just look around me and draw inspiration from whatever was in my environment at the time. I have noticed I wrote a lot about my relationship with my boyfriend, and men, in general. In other poems I wrote about love, the lack thereof, and relationships in general. I tried to tackle as many topics and not get stuck on any one subject, but sometimes that just didn't happen and I would end up penning something quite melancholy and depressing... this is life... or at least has been part of mine. Some of the poems are just silly or I would try out a particular style. I had one poem date that housed 13 Haikus on the subject of an ex-boyfriend in high school. The classmate of mine who "stole" him from me didn't realize he was my boyfriend and that I liked him as much as I did until she read my Haikus and made a comment. That was quite humbling... but, I didn't stop uncovering and peeling back layers of my heart through doing this blog. I kept going. I didn't always like that I made this commitment, but I had to be a woman of my word and finish what I started... and actually, this wasn't even my idea. Another girlfriend of mine suggested we do this. I had FINALLY finished my thesis document and didn't know what I would do with myself and all this time I now had on my hands and so I agreed to this endeavor. It was worth it. I discovered it is a gift I have and have had for a long time.
I really am so grateful for this gift. It may not always be presented as a pretty present wrapped up all fancy shmancy. Sometimes my "presents" are wrapped simply in the Sunday comics sealed with masking tape. Other times I used the finest silk material with satin bows... but offer up as gifts, I did/do. I do not come from money, nor do I have a lot of it. I live month to month on just enough. I would like A LOT more money, but, for the most part, I'm content with what I have... except I find I need to give away my words - again, as gifts because they carry pieces of my heart in each of them... when they have been read a little piece of me has been implanted in to you. Take care of the pieces you acquire and thank you for stopping by for these little gifts I offer without charge.
If by chance you are offended by anything I wrote, I do not apologize. That is the nature of art - sometimes it provokes. I am hoping for the best kind of provocation. DO NOT REPRESS; EXPRESS!
Much love to you!
Keep the ideas flowing!
Sincerely,
JoLynn
P.S. A few of my "favorite" poems will be marked with an asterisk* next to the title.
