Success!

I did it!!! I wrote one poem a day for the whole month of April. And this time it wasn’t even hard.

I think that’s because I sat myself down at the beginning of the month and gave my lazy, self-indulgent side a lecture:

– No excuses. Don’t even think of whining or feeling sorry for yourself or telling yourself you’re out of creative energy

– This is your work this month. Priority one. Make a spot for it in your daily schedule; list it along with your other “To Do”s. You have to have something written before bed.

– Any idea is game. Use one of the April prompts or an idea of your own. It doesn’t matter.

I have purposely not shared these raw creations here for several reasons. One, most of them need more work. And too, I’m learning that it’s nice to have a stash of poems that haven’t ever seen the light of day just in case something fits with a contest or publication where there’s a “No Previous Publication” rule.

But I want to share one here with you today, just as proof that I’ve actually been working!  Here’s my poem from April 14th.

Inspiration: that day I happened to read L. L. Barkat’s  Tweetspeak Poetry post about creating and using “jealousy stacks” to write poetry.

Inspired by her idea I then pulled an old issue of Garden Wise (now known as B.C. Home and Garden) off my shelf, made a bunch of jealousy stacks (interesting turns of phrase and lovely words that I wish I had thought of) from articles in it, and finally cobbled them together into the found poem “Gardening Gurus” below.

Gardening Gurus

Gardening gurus bypass pruning shears
for exuberant plantings. In a passion for blue
covet classic blue blossoms, lacecaps
spherical corymb flowerheads
felty silver-grey leaves.

Let nature work for you in whorls
nosegays, posies, floriferous crowns of myrtle
sprigs of rosemary, wheat for fertility
leafy bowers lavish and cascading
the vibrancy of summer.

The wound tar, desiccated roses
rangy growth habit, old deadheads
loppers, weed hounds and recipes for infection
are not in our gardening culture.

Our floral colony is a little summer house,
romantic haven where sage shares the bed
with airiness of lady and deer fern
moon-gated arbors, pergolas and pavers.
Rondel echoes colours of honey citrus sorbet.
Last rays of sunshine fill uncontainers
with peace and enchantment.

© 2015 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

How did your National Poetry Month go?

P.S. Oh yes, today I start as a blogger at our Inscribe Writers blog. My first
post there is “What is poetry?” Do you agree with my conclusion?