Every Day is a Poem #10 - Permission to be a Poet

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What I have learned most in this ten day journey is that I am intrigued and want to explore writing poetry more. Whether I publish or not, I think it will affect my overall writing in wonderful ways.  Although this is day ten, this is not the end.  I intend to go back through these chapters and explore them with a much slower pace - two to four weeks on each chapter.  I give myself the freedom to explore poetry without expectation. 

"You have permission to love the poetic part of yourself, to work at that piece inside of you until it comes out in words, to gather up all of your swirling ideas and made sense of them in language." - Jacqueline Suskin, Every Day is a Poem

There are several bits of great advice to be found here.  If you're interested in poetry, then read it - a lot of it.  Don't worry about the meaning. You don't need to understand any poem fully. Give yourself the freedom to just let it touch you in any way it does. If you can, get to know other poets and definitely support the work of poets in any way you can. Write in a journal old school - real pen to real paper. Create a writing routine, and show up (this is so my mantra for writing in 2022 already).

"The most important this is that we consume poetry frequently enough that it becomes a major part of how we interpret the world." - Jacqueline Suskin, Every Day is a Poem

There isn't a clear guidance on inspiration for today's poetry writing, so I will have to dig deep and find my own.  As I look outside the window next to my computer station, the sun is shining, the world full of wonder, and I see life happening outside my windows.  That could make for great inspiration. But deep down, what I feel led to explore is the idea of showing up. Enjoy.

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

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Showing Up

2022 has arrived

And I am determined

To explore new territory

To create new habits

To expand and grow

To reach for the stars.

In the last year

The idea of new habits

Has arisen again and again.

How to create them,

Why create them,

I think I finally get it.

Procrastination has been 

My nemesis for 

Too many decades to count.

This year I draw

A line in the sand.

You are no longer welcome.

How can I change

A habit of decades?

By showing up.

By simply showing up.

By taking one step after another,

Day after day.

To start I will

Show up for writing.

The ideas in my head

Will flow onto the page.

Every day I will find time

To create 1,000 thoughtful words.

Then there is poetry,

A genre I just discovered.

For poetry I will journal.

Every day a single idea,

A thought written down,

Old school - pen to paper.

And on December 31st

I will find time to reflect on

What new work

Has my practice created? 

How has my practice

Given my writing voice wings.

Then I will sit down on Jan. 1st and write.