I overcame a lifelong fear of writing poetry on April Fool’s Day.
It happened by accident. I had grown tired of my stale prose habits and surfed the web looking for distraction. Then I stumbled onto the wonderful website: Read Write Poem. It was a day for liberating foolishness. I was also the opening day of National Poetry Month when poetic types around the world begin the arduous task of writing a poem a day.
I decided to join the fun and managed to keep up, although I’m not sure I’d calI all my compositions poetry. I discovered hidden desires for rhyme, form, symmetry and light verse scorned by modernists. Most scary of all for someone who writes at least fifty drafts of most writing and then still cringes at that moment of release, I posted it on my pubic blog.
When I considered how few people read my blog, posting poetry there wasn’t so terrifying after all. I mostly enjoyed playing with words, reading how others responded to the prompts, and basking in the lovely comments people left.
Today, I’m pushing my fear a bit further. I will stand in front of a crowd (you know how they turn out by the hundreds for wannabe poets) and read my poetry at the Ink and Paper Group’s celebration on this last day of National Poetry Month.
Then it’ll be time to get back to prose.
If you’d like to read some of my poetic experiments, you may still find them at Yips and Howls. If you don’t see them there, it’s because I’ve made them private. I’ll keep you posted on that.
