30 Poems in 30 Days 2009: Day One
September 1, 2009 by John Hewitt
It’s September again, and time for my yearly project, 30 Poems in 30 Days. I’ve been on a blogging sabbatical for quite some time, and I wasn’t quite sure I would do this again, but I find that the urge is still in me, so I am moving forward. I haven’t advertised this and I don’t plan on pushing it anywhere. I’m doing it for me this year, though I welcome those who want to come along on the journey. I am purposely not looking at my posts from the past two years. I think I would go crazy trying to find 30 completely new topics, so if I repeat myself, I hope I at least do so in a new way.
I want to start off with sharing three reasons why I write poetry. Everyone who writes poetry has their own reasons. I hope some people share their reasons in the comments. These reasons aren’t all noble or spiritual. In fact, the first one is very practical.
Poems can be finished
I’ll be honest. Writing a novel is hard. I’ve written four now, and in my opinion they are all terrible. Keeping characters and themes going for 50,000 words or more is an epic challenge, and editing all of that is a never-quite-finished feat. I’ve yet to get a novel the way I want it. That’s not true with poems. Sure, I’ve written poems that never quite felt right or just didn’t work, but because they were the product of a few minutes, or at most a few hours of effort, I can let those failures go. I’ve written plenty of poems that I am satisfied with. That works for me.
Poems can be personal
One of the other great things about poetry is that it can be as personal as I want it to be. Writing stories and novels is about creating fictional experiences. You can do that in poetry as well, and I have, but you can also speak straight from the heart. You can dig deep into your personal joy or personal pain, and put it into words. You can be as truthful as you dare yourself to be.
Poems have Patterns
Poetry is about patterns, from rhyme and alliteration to meter and line length. I like patterns. I like rhythms and beats and the music of poetry. I rarely write in traditional forms such as sonnets and sestinas, but I have tried most of them at one point or another. It is good to stretch, and forms make you push yourself. In my own, less structured style, I still find myself creating patterns of sounds or lengths or even themes. It comes naturally in poetry.
Today’s Poetry Prompt
Today’s poetry prompt is to use the word Pattern in the first line and/or the last line of your poem.
As usual, it isn’t important that you follow my particular prompt. The goal is to write a poem a day. My prompts are simply there to get your creative juices flowing. You are free to go off on your own. Below is my first poem of the month.
Stranded in August
The weather was a pattern of hot and hotter
The days crossed each other
Knitted together with bleached sunlight
Air that makes you sneeze
From the dry irritated skin of your nose
Then cough because you sneezed
I have been lost in the desert
Stuck in my baked little house
The air conditioner pulsing with effort
The walk to the mailbox at the corner
Enough to give me a headache
Especially if the box was empty
There was one day
Just one
When it rained
And I made the walk in the rain
Just to be outdoors in something other than
Sharp
Hot
Blue
Skies
I ran my hand through my short wet hair
And even though the box was empty
I didn’t mind
Here is my poem submission,
The pattern of her dress
made me smile with delight
the blues and greens
so wonderful and bright
throughout the day
I noticed each sight
the yellows and oranges
so strong and so mighty
when the night came to fall
I mellowed my mood
the grays and blacks
dark, dim and brood
the day began
with her beautiful dress
the sweet burst of colors
from a pattern I couldn’t resist
by Jennifer Woodard
.-= Jennifer Woodard´s last blog ..How to Move Beyond Inspiration =-.
Hi everyone. I’m 14 this year, and only started writing poems, so do bear with me if they are horrible (which I think they are). It would be great if anyone could tell me how to improve, because I can’t think of anything to write about, so I ended up writing this, since my life has been ridiculously stressful recently. Here’s my humble submission:
Welcome to My Life
If everything had a pattern
My life’s would be bad
Probably extremely chaotic
Or, at least, a big bore
If my life became a song
I wouldn’t want to hear it
‘Cause it would be very pitchy
And jerky, and freaky (ugh)
And then there are those days
When I wake up in the morning
And I wonder why it’s so sucky
This thing I call ‘my life’
So if my life was a pattern
It would be really bad
And one I would gladly incinerate
So… Welcome to my life.
John,
Again to the breech!
Will you have the ‘classroom’ of last year again?
If so, please let me know how to connect.
In the meantime, here is today’s submission:
The pattern is clear…and it always ends badly:
A misunderstanding, so small and so trite,
inev’tably grows, by neglect and by haste,
until friendship decays and hatred remains.
You look crossways at me, “Who needs friends?” you demand.
But your eyes speak of hurt and ask why I speak bluntly?
You say that you know this, but then you ignore me
when we disagree, or miscomuicate our intents.
Don’t trifle with me, nor dismiss me off hand
A few words of soft kindness or time of renewal
can stop the putrification
of our friendship before its too late.
I was there when life dealt you lemons and pain.
I was ready with sugar, a cup, and a smile,
to make lemonade with you, give you strength and my love.
but you would not, and crying, you pushed me away.
Too busy with tears? Perhaps, so was I.
Too busy with hate? Perhaps, I should try
to understand you more, dear, but after five years,
the gulf between us has grown very wide.
And just as you’ve done with so many before,
You have pushed me away, and withdrawn from my love,
and whlie it was more than a misunderstanding,
the end is the same, and the pattern is clear.
Love this! Since I am working on several poems at once right now I can’t participate. I will keep watch, tho, and keep in mind the way you are doing this to stimulate for writer’s block periods which occasionally occur. Thanks so much for this!And for offering it! Gail Gitoerrez
.-= butterflyzrfree´s last blog ..Area children recognized for creative writing =-.
The pattern of the patter of writing,
Tedious path to exhilaration,
Knits my heart whole no matter
How many times I collapse on a beaded shoal
Of sea-kept secrets that we never see.
Pebbles are words they have cast aside
Unworthy of their presence, like paupers
Worn smooth and strong from effort,
Lingering because they are mediocre-
And true, in some way, if not good.
A praise to the pattern of the life too
That surges and sinks away in seasons
And years, and ages, and generations,
Frothing and foaming and smashing against
Rocks upon rocks,
Slowly wearing each obstacle away
With slow, trickling words that start,
An avalanche of fury-
Hear it screeching from the gulls and swimming
In the deep, still sea.
The pattern of the soul’s at one with lightning
Who strikes and crackles and laughs at any attempts
To contain the power, or separate it from the light,
Praise to the pattern of majesty
That sends us leaping, reaching for the sky
With slow-tapped words and liquid hope
Written in shifting patterns of black and white
Thank all of you for your submissions. It’s great to see some people are still interested.
@Joy – just keep writing. Don’t worry about how good you are yet.
@James – Sorry, no classroom function this year. Those who don’t want to go public with their poems are still welcome to comment and perhaps post a couple lines to show they are working.
Here’s mine (I took some liberties on the prompt):
Eye here thee pitter pattern of thee reign upon thee tent,
Eye sea thee landlord stocking ‘cuz aye haven’t paid thee rent.
They keep me locked inside witch is probably just as well,
Ewe can sea I’m slightly touched, buy the whey I like two spell.
Glad to see some of your creative side Lori! Thanks for stopping by.
Hi, I’m back again..hopefully, I can make it for all 30 days (now that I’m back to school) while juggling the tons of school work and activities…..=)
**********
According to statisticians
There are patterns everywhere
Anything and everything can be a trend
An upward graph – things must be improving
A downward line – gosh, things must be bad!
They measure everything
They collect information on anything
But after all the time spent on
Everything and anything
All they can say with 95% confidence
Is there are patterns
Trust us
And you will see patterns.
@John: thanks for the encouragement. I will try to keep on writing for the next 29 days, but it depends on the school, and how they decide to torture me… The misery of being a student, never having much free time that you can call your own…
Oh frabjous day, you’re doing it again! I couldn’t manage it for long last time, hope to do better this year.
Way past my bedtime just now, so I’ll chime in again later.
Meanwhile just want to say quickly to Joy that your poem has a verve that’s very attractive, and the best way to improve is – as John says – to keep writing (and also reading heaps of good stuff).
Why do I write poetry?
1) I was introduced to it very young, and thought that making it would be the best thing I could ever do with my life; I wanted to introduce more of that beauty into the world.
2) It’s in the genes. My Dad and many members of his family wrote poems. I started as a small child.
3) I can’t not.
I don’t do it because I can’t write novels. Poetry is what I most WANT to write. (Second comes non-fiction, as in articles/essays/journalling/blogging.) However I have tried novels, just to see, and mine are terrible too lol! I also tried short stories, with better results – even got a couple published – but basically I don’t particularly enjoy writing fiction. Except in poetry, oddly enough. Strange how people assume all one’s poems are autobiographical. Many of mine are; many others are fictions, including the one for today’s prompt:
Monologue
The pattern of my life
Is little changed.
I walk always with you
That music we used to play
Echoes here still
As if yesterday it sounded
Sweet in the keen memory
And softly sad
Though I no longer weep.
Spring is greening the hills
With welcome rain.
We pray it will be enough.
The seasons too are unchanged.
Life continues on
In familiar, relentless pattern.
@Rosemary: noted. I will continue writing, but I just started really recently (like, about 2 weeks ago, for a SCHOOL PROJECT, of all things), so it’s still kinda difficult to write one…
Patterns of the stars
On a rainy night
Hidden from my sight
Wars waging on mars
Patterns of lightening
Untraceable in sky
Tear falling from one eye
Thunder so frightening
Energy flowing in unseen patterns
Glowing galaxies in lit lanterns
The Universe unfixed in all patterns
Oh no, another siren call to write a poem a day! Will the muse within me resist? I rather doubt it. Rosemary, you sly thing – letting this fly on FaceBook…
As the stars above form their pattern
With invisible lines joined to form
What man has deemed constellations
So go the starry framed ideas
Within my mind; one here, one there
Then linked with threads so slight
T’would take a map-maker or
Mind-reader extrodinaire to
Chart the course of thoughts
Racing along these paths
Eventually carving out the finished
Pictures of who I dream to be
Hehehe! the more the merrier.
Love Patterns
The shadows on the wall make patterns
Our hands clasp and rise over shadow heads
The light glimmers through the blinds
It peaks from behind the blanket we hung
To keep out this early morning light
We lay together, silent, your head nuzzled
Into the back of my neck
Our chests rise and fall at the same time
As we perform the simple act of living
In perfect unison
-breathe in breathe out-
The sounds of cars on the busy street outside
Mimic an ocean’s waves
Sending a sporadic “whoosh” here and there
Chaotic and unpredictable
Not like us,
Your chest against my back
Your knees curved into my bent knees
Our lives a metronome for creativity
Fastidious, sleep descends upon us
Light and noise fades behind her dark hands
Good one, Ronda! And I love that it’s all one sentence – clever.
Hi! I am 16, and I like to write, but I am not very good (in my opinion) and writing poems and I would like to get better. I am open to suggestions on how to improve my poetry. I might not be able to write a poem a day, because I am busy with school and such, but I will try. Anyway, here is my poem.
Dog Patterns
The pattern of toothprints in plastic,
The work of a dog.
A trail of destruction follows his wagging tail.
Anger fumes within me.
Where is that chewing monster?
He evades my grasp.
My sister helps me put him out.
I glare, he whines.
How much longer can I put up with him?
That piece of pestilance!
The novelty of a dog has long worn off.
It always does.
That is our family’s pattern with dogs.
Yes, I was mad at our dog when I wrote this. Please tell me what you think.
Thanks,
Rebecca
Estimable unmatchable, Ronda! And I luv that they are whole one and only judgment of conviction – canny. .
I stumbled onto this site whilst searching for something else and Im glad i did! I read all the poems and i think they are all beautiful. Is classes still in session? would love to join
Here is mine
The patterns of life are colorful
many are descreet
some are black and some are pink