Fever, fervor, pressure, pleasure

The writers are aflutter.

It's National Poetry Month, an April of fever, fervor, pressure and pleasure. As part of the celebration, challenges are served: Write a poem each day, read a poem, share a poem, be a poem.

It's like prom for writers. Everyone trying so hard. I'm both dizzy with delight and queasy from overload. In this spirit, the other day I was happy to find Mint Snowball, a collection of paragraphs by Naomi Shihab Nye. 

"I think of these pieces as being simple paragraphs rather than prose poems . . ." she explains. "The paragraph, standing by itself, has a lovely pocket-size quality. It garnishes the page, as mint garnishes a plate. Many people say (foolishly, of course), they don't like poetry, but I've never heard anyone say that they don't like paragraphs. It would be like disliking five-minute increments on the clock."

I Was Thinking of Poems

In the fields our eyes whirled inside a blur of green. Before I
wore glasses I came here. Thought the world was soft at the
far edges for real. Green rim of trees alongside anyone's life.
Stalk. Pod. Tendril. Blossom. On a farm you had time. Your
mind on words. Turned over gently and longly inside your
head. Damp dirt under dry surface.

He said "Rain" or "Easy." Said "String" or "Yellow." A boy
said "Yes sir" but meant "I don't get it." A phrase dangled.
Strip of cloud. Wide angle. Line breaks. Where the asparagus
row turned into the beets.

 - Naomi Shihab Nye, from Mint Snowball

Thankful Thursday

Because appreciation increases joy, it's Thankful Thursday. Joy expands and contracts in direct relation to our sense of gratitude. Today, I am grateful for:

sunshine

mangoes

the translucence of sauteed onions

clients that appreciate my work (and me)

a sound sleep

thin pillows

thick towels

quietude

nail polish that lasts

nimble fingers

lists

the brilliant simplicity of a manual can-opener

Tell me, what are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday on Friday: Practice

I'm a day late but still thankful.

A few things I appreciate this week:

Creative Kickstarts
Writing, like most endeavors, requires practice. To improve skills you gotta practice (just as in piano, painting, running, baseball, dance . . . ). I like the creative kickstart writing prompts provide. They give me permission to play with words.

A Writing Companion I've Never Met
As children we have imaginary friends. As adults, we get virtual friends. I have a poetry friend. We've never met but I'm pretty sure I'm not making her up. Each week we agree to a writing prompt and then share our work. Week after week, despite the whirl of family, commitments, and mental and emotional blocks, we keep writing. I am grateful for the accountability and encouragement this friendship provides. And it's nice to have a pen-pal again, just like when I was 10.

Newsprint
I love newsprint. The smooth yet toothy texture, the way ink glides over its pulpy surface. For me, the joy of writing is tactile. I like the grip of a pen, the physical act. When writing on newsprint — remember Big Chief tablets? — I feel loose. Words flow.

This week the Poets & Writers prompt (click here to get yours) was to:

Write a poem on a page of today's newspaper, allowing your eye to wander slightly and take in the language on the page, and for your text to overlay the text on the page. If you fix your eye on a specific word or phrase, incorporate it into the composition.

This was fun. Newsprint, like yesterday's paper, feels temporary, and so I didn't feel pressure to write something good. It was enough to let words bubble and move, which led to a wonderful realization: Everything, in life & in writing, is practice.

There now, doesn't that feel better?

It's Thankful Thursday, a weekly pause to appreciate people, places and things that bring joy. Happiness contracts and expands with our appreciation. Tell me, what are you thankful for today?

Step into my parlor

What a coincidence!
I'm hosting a party (in a parlor, of sorts).
Let's share the joy.

Off the Page, a celebration of poetry & prose
This Friday - April 1st
Music starts at 6:30pm. Reading at 7pm.
At the Overleaf Lodge Event Center.
Free admission, free expression, free words.
See more here.

Before I Die . . .

In an act of creative brilliance, Candy Chang turned the side of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood into a giant chalkboard where residents can write on the wall and share their hopes, dreams and aspirations.

Before I Die was an instant success. Within days, hundreds of people wrote on the wall and more than a thousand have left messages online.

"It’s a question that has changed me," says Chang, an artist and urban planner, "and I believe the design of our public spaces can better reflect what’s important to us as residents and as human beings."

Your turn. Take some chalk and write your thoughts.