I had thought to wait another day or two for the Poem Post-Mortem (which sounds pretty cool if you say it aloud). I had a lot of reactions in the final ten days or so, and I see no reason to wait. In no particular sequence, here are some reactions of this author…
- It actually got easier in a way when I got into it. In reviewing at random over the course of the writing (July 7 to October 8), I noticed that somewhere around one-third of the way in, between poem 31 and 35, the subjects seemed to suggest themselves more easily. They acted like shy faerie folk who don’t know what to make of the giant human at first. Were there any ‘good’ poems in the first 33? I guess. I’m much more pleased with the ones over the final third.
- I became more surprised at what words showed up. In particular, Daymare (Oct 1) popped in from who-knows-where. All I did was think, “I’d like to write something more ‘image-ry’ like the ones Bridgette does.” Fine, mission accomplished, but from where did the image come?
- I surprised myself also by sticking with it. My general attitude toward life has been, “when the going gets tough, get going,” in the sense of go work somewhere else, go do something else. “Life’s too short to keep [insert what I don’t want to do].” Yet I cracked the ends of both radii in my arms only two weeks in and kept right on writing. I traveled for two weeks yet wrote poems #35 through #49. I contracted the flu Type A on September 24 and kept right on writing. I must credit Bridgette with that, mostly, because she kept writing through her time sucks and bodily aches.
- More people are interested in reading my poems than my prose. My blog readership increased about 100%, and my followers rose about 10%-20%.
- In the beginning I mined poems written long ago when I railed inside at the perceived shortcomings of the people running my places of employment. (I still think I was partially right, but over the two to three decades I accumulated those poems, I learned two things: there are more paths to the goal than you think; and oftentimes the goal you think you’re working toward is not the goal your management is working toward.) Those poems in my opinion remained stilted, as if I tried to breathe life into a corpse but only succeeded in creating a zombie.
- I have a peculiar knack to take a popular tune from my younger days and spontaneously craft new words for it on the fly. I sing these to my wife who rarely is amused by it. I’m rather proud of the fact I can create rhymes and mimic the meter of the original tune, but then I’m a borderline narcissist. This talent(?) helped in writing poems, particularly when I decided to rhyme them.
- When I lowered my expectations my poems rose in quality.
- I have a strong urge to publish a poem today! Resisting.
I thought as I got into this a little bit that it might be fun to rework the better poems and churn out a chapbook. I still might, but I’m thinking more that I will be working some poems on the side for submission to poetry websites. There are plenty. A new blog I follow, zumpoems, has this list of more than 4000 places which will accept submissions.
About the photo: I’ve carried that book around for about 30 years (published 1996), even though by then I had given up on my dream of actually earning a living from my creative writing. I never liked it that much. Pulling it from the to-be-donated pile, I thumbed through it today and I’m much more inspired by its suggestions and insights. Like so many things in my life, poetry came to me when I quit trying to be a poet.
And the poets down here don’t write nothing at all,
they just stand back and let it all be…—from “Jungleland” by Bruce Springsteen
What a fantastic recap and I’m excited by the things you’ve learned by doing this challenge. I found it got both easier and harder for me, actually. Sitting down to process that after writing this response, but I think it forced me to think outside my normal structure and metaphors. I have my favorites, which showed up in my last poem, but I think the times I was able to experiment and push myself, were both the most challenging and most successful.
Daymare was one of my favorite poems of yours, but I’d say the last one you wrote about your father might be even better. You have a fantastic grasp on language, but what I appreciate the most about your poems, is those hard-hitting last lines. Gut punches. You had a lot of those.
“When I lowered my expectations my poems rose in quality.” Same! This one is the entire reason I did the challenge, to outrun my critic.
I have that poemcrazy book and actually thumbed through it many times when I was stuck. You’ll see I used the format “Name, You look like, Bring me” several times as it really works so well to bring up some interesting ideas.
Thank you again for going on this journey with me and I’m super excited to see what you do next!
Just mentioned to my wife how kind you’ve been in this recent bunch of comments, and “I hope she understands that I’m much more insensitive!” Confession: I’ve never read very much of the poemcrazy book. Those guided things bug me.
I joined you because (a) I am impulsive and just had the impulse; and (b) I thought I would write more regularly if I had a challenge like that. I guess (c) and I thought it would be fun to do it with you. I find I think of writing a poem nearly daily, often multiple times. I’m trying to now flip the tables and introduce more poetic writing to my prose.
Yes, I do instinctively reach for the ‘last line twist’ the bit of drama that can flip the meaning or send it in a new direction. I think I might overuse it, because sometimes it comes off as just being clever. Some of it stems from long-ago teachers who pointed out the traditional haiku takes one idea and flips it in the end.
I look forward to the poems you will write now without the compulsion of the daily deadline!
I’m excited to see what you do, too, now that we’ve pushed through and did this challenge. It kind of reminds me of when I started journaling again. It gave me an outlet for all the useless words (feelings that need some place to go, complaints that must be felt and acknowledged), which leaves room for more creative things to come forth. It’s kind of like that.
Also, I’m so glad you joined me. It really made the entire thing more fun!