Poetry Writing Class

   First day of poetry writing class last Tuesday.  I have a very good feeling about it.  Teacher appears to be very open minded and definitely has a love of poetry (has published a couple of books).  I hadn't written anything in about a month and was a little nervous about the whole thing.  We were asked to write a fifteen minute poem on "'I Am.....".  Here's what I wrote"


Who Am I?

I am the wish for dawn,
the pink and gold tones of each day's sunrise,
the whisper of fresh breeze
across a parched desert.

I am the stamina of wildflowers
in the midst of a dark forest,
the giggle of a child
who chooses to laugh.

I am a palette of evolving colors,
warm and cool,
indigo with patches of yellow.

I am a seed
buried deep under the ground
struggling to break through the soil
and face into the sun.

   We had a suggested assignment for today (not formal) to write a poem along the theme of one in
"Poet's Companion" called "What I do".  I will post mine here later as I'm a bit rushed this AM (oil painting, followed by watercolor, then poetry class).

    I am, for the most part, happy.

Poetry Update

   The poetry reading at Glenwood Inn went very well.  What a receptive audience.  I was asked to come back and to do a full reading of just my poetry!  The two poems I read were "Rainbows Must Be Chased" and instead of "Marathon", I read "Strange Gift" (see poem posted below.)

   To practice reading and because a friend from All Poetry suggested it, I made several videos and posted them to You Tube ("Rainbows Must Be Chased," "Strange Gift" and "Valley of the Moon."  Then as I was perusing videos on YouTube, I found one with a poem by Liesel Mueller "What The Dog Hears" and I thought it was So well done that I wanted to try to do something similar.  So, I created two more videos for "Surfing Maverick Waves" (music by U2) and "My Love For Mountain" (music by Kerrey Muzzey...for which I got specific permission to use!).  Both videos are posted below.

   Next week, I will start a poetry writing class and I'm looking forward to it (though know it will involve a lot of work!).