Swapping Titles

So I talked to a girl I really like from my poetry workshop last semester and she suggested we do a title swap. So she emailed me 2 titles for poems and I emailed her 2 and then we each emailed this other guy 1 so he has 2. We'll write for 2 weeks then get together and workshop. Things like this make me say I LOVE MY LIFE. That's the type of life I want, with these type of people in it, doing these types of things.

More please...

God, I'm greedy. And yes, I was actually speaking directly to God.

Oh...the titles she sent me?

Climbing Infant
File Folder

I'm already discarding the obvious images that come to mind so who knows where I'll go with these. I'm excited though!

We shall see!

Shaken

So this week I was prompted by my poetry professor to write a political/pop culture poem. I have a tendency to write political poems but for some reason, it was terribly difficult to do this on demand! Usually, I don't intend to write something that is political, it just comes out that way. So I forced it this week and it just felt wrong and my poem did not go over as well as I would have liked it to in workshop.

What I really feel bad about is that a classmate announced that the chapbook he put together will be published. I am really happy for him. I am. But my stomach dropped and my mood totally changed and I totally turned his good news against myself. Suddenly, I felt like I wasn't good enough.

The truth is...I'm not. Not yet. I recognize this and that's why I study and read and write regularly and nearly every piece I write is better than the last. I will get there. I wish I was there already is the thing that upsets me. My time will come. Yeah, I can keep spouting all the positive affirmations in the world to myself but the truth is...I'm ready for a yes. So I have to keep putting myself out there to create more opportunities for people to tell me yes.

Thelma

Her daughters
wrapped their arms
around a melody first,
blankwordsforspacBirthed
cradled the song
against the softness
of their breasts,
blankwordsforspac like a child
infused the harmony
with the rhythm
of their heartbeats,
blankwordsforspacalive
nurtured a verse
into existence
like a newborn child,
blankwordsforspacbeaten and wailing
then ripped that song open
on its way past tongue and teeth,
exposed its truth in the open air,
blankwordsforspacshivering
so only the blood
of the music was left
dripping in affected ears.
blankwordsforspacwet and wriggling
Too many of her daughters
injected, snorted, or swallowed
a new truth for themselves
blankwordsforspachoping to return
and for their children; almost all of them,
now, as silent as shadows trembling
under tapping toes
blankwordsforspacto mother's gentle darkness
struggling to keep time.

The Benefits of Rejection

I revised "The Rough Side". Everyone say hello to "Thelma"

Thelma


Her daughters
wrapped their arms
around a melody first,
cradled the song
against the softness
of their breasts,
infused the harmony
with the rhythm
of their heartbeats,
nurtured a verse
into existence
like a newborn child,
then ripped that song open
on its way past tongue and teeth,
exposed its truth in the open air,
so only the blood of the music was left
dripping in affected ears.
Too many of her daughters
injected, snorted, or swallowed
a new truth for themselves
and for their children; almost all of them,
now, as silent as shadows trembling
under tapping toes that struggle
to keep time.

I said that (below) and now I'll say this.

I'm working on a full-length manuscript of great poems. I think I have an awesome theme and concept. I think it's something new and refreshing and also slightly disturbing. I'm committed to this and I will have 48 complete poems that will be published.

I've got 11 poems written so far. Most have been work-shopped and most of them are in rotation trying to make their own lives in journals before they come together for the collection. I have to keep going!

I don't write enough.

That's my confession and I promise to change. I only write 1 maybe 2 poems a week and that's just not enough with the amount of time I've been gifted with. I promise to change.

That is all.