the read write poem meet and greet
Published by Read Write Poem November 12th, 2007 in Read Write Poem.You found us! We’re very excited to introduce this new online poetry community, and we’re so happy that you are joining us for our inaugural post. Please feel free to poke around and look in the medicine cabinets and stuff (especially the about page, code of conduct and copyrights page). This will help you figure out what we’re all doing here and how we hope to accomplish it.
Before we start reading, writing and poeming together, we must introduce ourselves. So let’s go around the room and state our names, then say a little bit about ourselves and why we’re here.
* * *
Ceridwen, mygorgeoussomewhere.org
My vision for the Read Write Poem project is to create a community where all poets — from beginners to emerging poets to established writers (as well as all those out there who don’t write poetry but do appreciate it and enjoy discussing it) — can come together to share their work in a space that feels comfortable and welcoming.
I dedicate most of my waking hours to writing and reading poetry, and I know how important it is to break out of that self-imposed solitude and have discussions with other poets about writing, as well as to have a way to share my work — above and beyond sending it out for publication and having it critiqued in workshops. I hope to see this community grow and thrive, and I feel certain we will all be tremendously enriched by being part of it.
Carolee, polkadotwitch.wordpress.com
My life was full. I had a favorite coffee shop where the nice lady knew me. I had “Grey’s Anatomy.” I had my cats and my dogs and my husband and my kids (in that order). And I had a poetry community that felt right and motivated me to write more.
But then that community disbanded, and sadness spread across the land. I had a longing that nothing seemed to satisfy. And then the ashes began to smolder and a little flame caught the tiniest crumpled poem. It ignited Read Write Poem. I am here to celebrate this fire, to write, to work and play with fellow poets, and to learn what I can about poetry and the poetic voice inside me.
Jill, jillypoet.blogspot.com
I am a poet, artist and mother living in upstate New York with two children, seven cats, and a husband.
I have discovered a common thread that, as a working, writing, mothering woman, surprised and delighted me: Motherhood has inspired me to be more creative. Amidst all the chaos of raising two children and running a teaching art studio, I have become a better writer.
I am more open to flights of fancy, more open to running after wild trains of thought and hopping on board. Despite my cries of “not enough time, not enough quiet,” the frantic, non-stop chatter pace has driven me to write more — not less, and to become a woman who writes in the moment — be the moment a stolen half hour or a one-handed drive to the grocery store.
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OK. Now it’s your turn. Leave your introduction in the comments. Enjoy your mixing and mingling in anticipation of our first Read Write Prompt (Nov. 14, midnight EST) and our first Get Your Poem On (Nov. 19, midnight EST).
As you socialize, be sure to seek out our prompt specialists: Christine, The Prompt Queen (visit her at Mariacristina), and Tom, a.k.a. “Dr. Tom” (visit him at Fallen Verses). They will help fill this community with knowledge, kindness and fun!
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Early middle age is approaching and I find myself starting a poetry habit. I’ve been at it for a couple of months now. I try to write a little something everyday. I’m not aware of what poetry is in the academic or even practical sense. I just write what feels right.
I’m excited to be a part of this group. Put me in the “novice” category. I hope to learn and share a lot.
So hello everyone!
- Mark
Welcome, Mark. You have the distinction of being the first to comment on Read Write Poem. We hope you enjoy the project.
I started writing poetry as an angry goth teenager, and instead of having the good sense to outgrow the habit, I read a lot and (I’d like to think) got a little better at it. Aside from an awkward college course, all of my poetry’s been private up until a few months ago, and I’m still figuring out how to branch out and get (and give!) good feedback. Right now I’m also neck-deep in NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, but I couldn’t resist trying out a poetry community like this.
When I was at school I thought I wanted to be a writer, until I discovered science. And after a few years of being a scientist I became a stay at home mother for many years. After paying fees for my children to attend writing classes for a number of years, I decided it was my turn - after all, they had to get their talent from somewhere, maybe it was me!
I have been a sporadic poet since I took a summer school course at the beginning of 1999, but projects like Poetry Thursday have been encouraging me to make it a much more regular practice. A return to full time work earlier in the year has derailed me a little, but I am still working on ways of making it a fixture in my life, rather than an optional extra.
I’m finally doing what I’ve always wanted to do, write. I’m an ex journalist/editor who has dabbled here and there but never taken the ‘every day’ plunge. Now I have, I feel happier than I have for years. Like Jilly, motherhood has definitely made me more creative, more centred — that said I find the lack of peace and quiet and reading/writing time frustrating.
I have always written far more prose than poetry, same on the reading front, but a few months ago I was bitten by the poetry bug and every time I sit down to write, it’s poems that tiptoe out and my shelves are filling up with more and more poets — which is all wonderful as I have always thought it the most perfect form of expression.
Thanks for setting this place up, a community like this will be a great support to us all.
oh hello, i’m not sure if i’m in the write place, my name is paul and i’m a, oh look, there’s jo, hi jo, fancy meeting you here and is that me old mate Mark, he of the quick cool smart poetry, maybe i am in the right place, where’s the bar?
I’ve always written poetry but have written much more since starting to blog and finding communities like this one that encourage participation.
According to my blog intro, I’m “an American woman, embarkinng on the second half of her century here on earth.” Re-starting the writing practice I had let languish for many years was a 50th birthday present to myself.
Poetry Thursday sparked my initial interest in poetry, as did reading so many of the fine poets practicing in blogland.
I’m excited to be part of this new community of poets and poetry lovers.
look at this! welcome everyone to the meet -n- greet. i’m that girl at the bar (hi, paul!) flirting shamelessly with the bartender and drinking a toast to just about everything. but this toast is special:
cheers to mark, who starts us off right by admitting poetry in the academic sense is … what is it again?
cheers to jack for taking teen intensity into his adult life and encouaring his poetry to go out into the world. …
cheers to catherine, who knows somewhere that scientists ARE poets (you and i must talk. i love to write poetry about science) …
cheers to jo, who’s a recovering journalist/editor like myself. direct your quest for story into poetry and use your editor-self wisely … not as censor, but as the one who does honest revisions (and there are many good writers whose prose is poetry and poetry is prose …. maybe we’ll talk about some of them here ) …
cheers to me, er, paul … you’re in exactly the right/write place ….
cheers to becca whose 50th birthday present to herself is so amazing and powerful i’m moved to cheers, um, tears.
oh! look who just came in the door …
It’s 8:30 on Monday morning and there’s no school today so I’m at a coffee shop greeting other poets who have also come here to write. Except, here in this depressed town in northern NH, we have to coffe shop! Luckily, there is this new site where I can meet up with others who share my love of writing. Nice to know you all! ~Linda
Sorry, my almost two-year-old granddaughter, Kylie, is learning her letters and keeps pointing at them and hitting the backspace key. It was supposed to read no coffee not “to coffe.” It was Kylie’s fault, really!
Greetings, gentles! I’m Shelley, and I am a poetry evangelist. Well woven words have played such an important role in my life that I regularly succumb to the conviction that folks who profess to NOT enjoy poetry simply haven’t met the right poem yet.
Here’s an snapshot abcdeary about some other stuff that gets me going: a capella, bartering, classic cars, digital paper, estuaries, freecycling, ghosts, hivemind, ice cream, jewelry, kids, lego, micro-credit, nan, openness, poetry, queers, rutenkroger, storytelling, theater, ui, visionaries, woolly bears, (e)xploration, yellow, zines
Now I need to get to work (in my waged work I am a college counselor, aka matchmaker).
Thanks to Ceridwen, Carolee, and Jill for making this all possible. Looking forward to adventuring with y’all.
When I was fifteen years old, I moved to Minnesota, and this move caused me to read three authors: Langston Hughes and Sylvia Plath (in English class) and SARK (found in a bookstore). Since then, I’ve called myself a poet and devoted the majority of my education and free time to poetry. After two degrees, I realized, “Oh great, I need a job!” because poetry doesn’t pay much. Or anything. So I’ve worked really hard to balance putting food on the table and nurturing my creativity. And it’s been a balancing act, to say the least. There are times when the job takes over and there are times when poetry takes over.
What I love about these online communities (like dearly departed PT) is that it helps me return my focus, at least once a week, to poetry and meet like-minded people who are working to balance all of their responsibilities while being truthful and honorable to their creative practices. I’m really excited to meet more people and share!
Hi, all. I’m very interested in any and all ways of propagating poetry on the web, and this looks as if it could be a good one! Before I started putting stuff online back in 2003, I used to self-publish poetry chapbooks, and before that, back when I was a kid, my brothers and I put out a mimeographed nature magazine that always had a poem in the back. (We had 35 subscribers!)
So I’ve been doing both poetry and self-publishing since I was a wee lad, and haven’t grown sick of it yet. I like to say that blogging is self-publishing utopia, for two reasons: the ease with which we can edit or destroy old works that embarrass us, and the possibility for feedback from readers. But blog comments can be as dangerous as they are helpful, due to the tendency of readers not to comment if they don’t like something (at least in the non-political and non-techie portions of the blog world). I try like hell to get my readers to leave critical comments, and sometimes they do, and I’m able to see where to improve a poem I’ve just blogged in first-draft form. One way or the other, comments are what make blogging a poem so much more satisfying to me than getting published in a traditional literary magazine (and I’ve done that, too). And when my real-world writer friends express skepticism about the wisdom of putting so much of my energies into blogging, I like to point out that I can get more readers in one day than they get in a month with their poem or essay in xyz prestigious lit mag. And my blog doesn’t even have that high a PageRank! Sure, not everyone reads blogs - but they’re a hell of a lot more numerous and diverse than the audience for print journals.
In a similar vein, I wrote an essay the other day on blogs as a medium for literary magazines, and I’d appreciate any reactions y’all might have (use the comments thread there, I guess):
http://www.bloggingblog.org/2007/11/blogs-as-a-medi.html
Yes, I know I’m long-winded! That’s why I gravitate toward poetry: I idolize concision. Anyway, it’s good to ‘meet’ everybody and renew some acquaintances first made through Poetry Thursday.
Yay! You’ve launched. Congrats.
About me- I’ve been writing poetry since childhood, but only working on improving my craft for the last year. I feel like I have a lot to learn still. Each time I read the work of another poet online it enriches my poetic education.
I hope to be able to take part in some of the prompts, my schedule and muse allowing. I also look forward to reading what the other poets who link here create.
Good luck to the creators of Read Write Poem.
After 18 years of teaching high school Spanish, I hit a wall. I bounced off it, and began to write! In English this time, my maternal language.
Sometimes writing poetry can be like exploring a foreign language, because of the new paths I follow when I write in verse. I write with more honesty and courage when writing verse, so that’s what I do - poem.
I’m grateful for this new venue, dedicated soley to what the title of the site declares: read,write,poem.
I’m a graduate student - muddling through research on “learning” somewhere between the disciplines of cognitive science, psychology, and physics - who procrastinates from working on his thesis by writing poetry… go poetry go!
I have liked writing since I wrote a ballad senior year in high school. Then I liked writing poetry specifically because it required fewer words and I was lazy. In my adulthood, I decided I loved writing anything that felt like coming out, even grants. Now I know I love writing as much as I love sharing it with people! So here I am, an old holdover from days of yore. Thanks Jilly, PDW, and Cerwiden for hosting.
Welcome all. Looking forward to reading your poems!
Hello everyone,
My name is Rethabile, which literally means We Are Happy. I’m a Mosotho (a native of Lesotho) who lives in France. I have two kids and I’m married. These three people don’t let me write as much as I’d like to (thank God!).
I hope this turns out to be a nice community. My main reason for being here is to read, because without reading I cannot write, one flows into another, and vice versa.
I enjoy reading anything that I can’t finish in one go because I’m smiling or grinning uncontrollably. Most stuff I like does that to me, no matter the subject or the tone. I hope I’ll smile a lot here. At the same time, I hope that what I write will make you do the equivalent of my smiling, whatever that may be.
Although I won’t be able to gambol here as much as I’d like to (remember the three people I mentioned?), I will come over often, and participate when I can, and, especially, read your stuff and smile.
Hi and congrats.
I’m here because community is important. Support is important..and challenging ourselves to become invoved with others work is crucial.
poets sometimes are a little “me, me me” Good for point of view..bad for perspective, sometimes.
Glad to be here!
Gentlebeings. Pepek here. I’m here because I like you guys! You are my best friends! NONE of my neighbors write (or read) poetry. I used to teach poetry classes where I found friends, but those classes ended when I found full time work in the library. Since them, I haven’t written much…but you inspire me to do better, now that I am retired.
I have had published an autobiographical novel, a book of poetry, and a poetry textbook, as well as some loose poems, articles, a short story or two, four children’s learn-to-read stories for IBM, and texts for two music epics.
My best (by far) creations are my five children and seven grandchildren–two of which I tend everyday because they live in my house….along with two sons, a Filipina daughter-in-law, and her mother. And my husband, of course. Two dogs, and a lovebird. Oh, and a goldfish.
I hope I am up to this!
Oh, and pass the pretzels, please.
Wendy, can I sit here by you?
Oh no! I went to bed and slept through most of the party here. But wait, some of you are still hanging around back by the juice bar.
Linda, so glad you are here to meet up with other writers. Would you like a carrot-beet smoothie?
Shelley, I love poetry evangelists. I fancy myself as being one, too.
Jessica, the balancing act is tough ~ and I say that even though I don’t have kids. I admire you for keeping your writing up and balancing it with the others parts of your life.
Dave, what you say about getting work out there on blogs is sooooo true. I think blogging, ezines and online journals are going to be the main way poems are shared in the future. I also think many presses, which are struggling to stay afloat, will go to an on-demand printing format and offer digital file downloads as an option rather than buying the book. Think Lulu, only not self-publishing.
Sara, thanks for being here and for wishing us luck.
Christine, what you say about poetry being a foreign language is very interesting, and I think your poems (like the American Sentences you are writing) have so much depth because you are fluent in another language, so you bring all those resonances and rhythms to your poetry.
Brian, cognitive science, psychology, and? Oh, I am jealous of the poetry you will be able to write, given what you’ve studied. But first things first: Want a smoothie?
PWADJ, you love writing grants? Wow, that *is* dedication to writing.
Rethabile, I didn’t know that’s what you name means. I’m so glad you will be stopping in when you can.
Wendy, thanks for being here. You brought so much to the Poetry Thursday community ~ we are so happy to have you.
Pepek, none of my neighbors read or write poetry either. I am going to laminate a poem and put it in our communal mailbox area so at least they might read one poem. (I like my neighbors, don’t get me wrong.) I am sure you’re up to the challenge of being here, and we’re happy to have you as a participant. Here are the pretzels. I hope unsalted is OK.
if anyone out there has poetry-writing neighbors, i’m moving in with you!
(it’s no wonder i spend too much time by myself at these kinds of parties. i’m way too eager to make friends. anyway, so glad you’ve all introduced yourselves. hope to see you all back in a couple days for the first prompt … who else are we expecting?)
Howdy Yall (I just got back from Texas, but I normally live in Oregon with my dear husband, four unique cats and one adorable dog).
I wrote poetry when I was a teenager. I was reintroduced to it when I returned to university a couple of years ago as a middle-aged adult studying environmental science and sociology.
Between times I thought of myself as a visually-creative person who could draw, who had a musical bent. (professional interior designer / mezzo-soprano hobbyist).
With the enthusiasm of returning to school, I started writing in earnest. Discovering online salons (a nod of thanks to Maureen Shaughnessy whose photos sent me wandering the blogosphere finding yall) brought me here.
Stoney Moss was created just so I could join in Poetry Thursday, and soon I dragged my pal Whirling Dervish along. (It wasn’t hard.)
Poetry has brought pleasure and inspiration, and has unfolded and expanded in ways I couldn’t have expected. Which is what I hope my poetry can do, at least on its best days. And the rest of the time it is still good to be here.
***
Re: communal mailbox. I heard of a Portland neighborhood that was going to have a poetry giveaway one weekend. It makes me want to get one of those plastic boxes real estate agents use and put copies of a poem or two (mine–no copywrite problems) in just off my driveway. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Hi all! Glad to be here and looking forward to our interactions.
I am Clare—I’m in my last year of my 30s—a poet-mother-wife.
In high school and college, umpteen years ago, I participated in creative writing workshops. After college I wrote sporadically until the death of my son in 2004. Since 2004 I have been in a process of claiming my identity as a writer. I haven’t always felt comfortable calling myself a writer because writers write, and I wasn’t writing before my son’s death—not really. The writer was in me, but I wasn’t bringing her out through the act of writing. I am now writing daily, nightly and hourly, so I am a comfortable in honestly identifying as a writer and saying it out loud!
These three years have been a whirlwind of writing-related activities. I have read publicly in the town I live in numerous times and once in Austin, TX as part of the Austin International Poetry Festival. I have given a couple of in-school workshops for middle and high school students. I judged a poetry and fiction chapbook contest and worked (without compensation, y’all) as a co-editor for a lit journal. I led a writing and performance group for almost two years also in that time frame.
I predominantly write poetry and short fiction and have experimented with creative nonfiction/memoir. Since I have committed to writing as a lifestyle, I have also put forth serious effort into getting my work “out there.” I have had nineteen poems and one piece of creative “poetic” prose published. Fourteen of those publications have been in these last three, furious years. I have also conducted two interviews with authors for the online lit journal with which I used to be associated.
In October 2007, I completed my first book manuscript for a collection of poems titled, “Garbage Woman.” I recently entered “Garbage Woman” in four book contests.
Success and failure fuel my will to continue. Not sure how far I will go, but I am up for the ride.
Hi! I’m Whirling Dervish, …Deb’s other half from Stoney Moss. (Ok, she actually has ANOTHER “other half”- her adorable husband, but I like to think of us as the two Stoney Moss twins. Like the two Doublemint Gum Twins. Or the Marykate and Ashley twins. But not so skinny.) Anyway.
Like Brian, I am also a graduate student, and also find poetry as a fabulous procrastination tool. I write poetry so I don’t write term papers. The dissertation is years away, but I’m sure poetry will come in handy then, as well- so in the meantime, I need to practice. I recently moved from Oregon to central New Jersey, so am still acclimating to my new home and new life style as a sociologist grad student.
Poetry Thursday, as well as Writer’s Island and the other online communities I am a member of have re-sparked my creative energy, which was a major part of my identity before I decided to become a scientist. Up until my mid 20’s, I wrote every day- whether it was fiction or poetry, but then decided all my brain-power had to be used for “serious” writing. I’ve since realized that it is the balance of the two types of thinking and creativity that will keep my brain healthy and nubile (because at least one part of my body would like to stay that way…most other parts have already lost the race.)
Some of you are old friends and old faces- it’s great to see us all here in one place again, and even better to see new friends and new names. I’m looking forward to meeting you all and getting to know you through your writing.
See you soon!
WD
Hey Y’all,
Great little shindig you have going on! Good to see familiar faces and always love getting to know new poets and bloggers.
I fell in love with poetry when I was in the 4th grade. Every afternoon Miss Green would have us put our heads down to rest and she would read from a volume of “The Best Loved Poems of the American People”. I was too young to always understand the nuanced meanings of the poems, but I knew I loved it. I started to try to write my own poems and kept writing into my adult life.
I didn’t go to college until I turned 42 and had raised 4 children. That’s when I started pulling the poetry out from under the bed and sharing it. I was encouraged to keep writing and to attend poetry readings. I enjoyed my time going to readings, being the feature poet sometimes and getting a couple of pieces chosen to publish in a reading’s anthology. Just as I was finishing my bachelor’s degree and hoping to go on for an MFA I got ill. That was about 3 years ago. My confidence took a beating, so did my writing. I’m on my way back to health and beginning to write again. My main love is poetry, though I’m starting to experiment with some flash fiction.
Having a community of writers in this cyber world I stumbled into is fantastic. Looking forward to our experience together.
Hi:
I’m Michael…
My real name is no secret- I’ve be blogging on poetry, poetics,etc. for better than 4 years now at Stickpoet Super Hero http://stickpoetsuperhero.com
I’ve been writing poetry for some time but really only seriously for perhaps the last 10 years.
I live in the Midwest. Missouri to be more specific.
I’m married and have 4 grown children.
Some of the poets that I appreciate the most are-
W.S. Merwin, Anne Sexton, Donald Hall, Sylvia Plath, John Ashbery, Billy Collins, Cecilia Woloch, Sharon Olds… I gcould go on, but those are perhaps the most inspirational to me.
I am editor of an online journal - Rogue Poetry Review, and it can be found at http://roguepoetryreview.com.
When not writing or reading poetry, I am an avid baseball fan. My favorite team is the San Francisco Giants.
I enjoy “quality” coffee, none of Mrs. Olson’s stuff. I enjoy an occasional glass of wine… preferable Chardannay.
My poetry tends to lean towards the more abstract. Sometimes serious and other timed a touch of humor.
That is likely more than anyone wants or cares to know about me.
Cheers!
Michael
Nice to meet you all. Hi.
Nice to see everybody! Glad to see old friends and new friends! Is the juice bar still open? Um, I’ll have one of those mango-peach thingys. Yeah, that one. Hi, Rethabile! …Deb, haven’t seen much of Maureen since she went to work for her husband….I miss her.
I never wrote a poem until I went for my Masters in Creative Writing at age 58. Now I can’t stop…
Ceridwen wrote, “I also think many presses, which are struggling to stay afloat, will go to an on-demand printing format…”
One poetry press that already has is WordTech Communications. The economics of print-on-demand actually allow them to turn a profit - and they publish good stuff. I mention this because November is their reading period. So if you have a poetry manuscript you’ve been sending out, this is one of the few places where you don’t have to enter some dopey-phony contest and pay $20. Check it out.
Congratulations! It’s exciting.
I’m Leslie F. Miller, and I’ve been writing for about 25 years. I’ve had work in lots of magazines and journals, and I’m excited to announce that I’m working on a book about cake (nonfiction) that was just picked up by Simon & Schuster! Woo hoo! So I will try to give this enterprise some of my attention, but please don’t be offended if I get sucked into manuscript hell!
Looks like I’m the late arrival. That just means I get to stand in the doorway and pose… perhaps on my head… and then watch you all laugh as I fall.
So, hello everyone, I’m Tom (perhaps one day to be a.k.a. Dr. Tom, someone has jumped the gun a bit) and I’ve been writing poetry for something over a decade. After sitting through droning class hours of Frost and Emerson and Blake and Whitman I was turned on to poetry by a poetry workshop held at a Barnes & Noble (also turned on to mochas, same day) to impress a girl. A few weeks in we did a translitic poem of Pablo Neruda’s X: We Have Lost Even… and that was it. Now, if anyone wants to send a 7&7 my way, I have homework to finish.
“It makes me want to get one of those plastic boxes real estate agents use and put copies of a poem or two (mine–no copywrite problems) in just off my driveway. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
…deb, a couple of people have done that in Seattle, and it made the local news recently. I am thinking of doing this myself. We have lots of walkers on our street, and I am sure at least some of them would take a peek inside a poetry box.
Wow. Quite a gathering.
I’ve been writing poems for about twenty years now. I love the web and all its possibilities for finding poems and poets.
I’m doing NaNoWriMo this month, so am a bit short of time and energy — but I’m watching!
Cool!
My name’s Fabian, from Wollongong, Australia (south of sydney). I started writing emo poetry around the age of… 15, and continued in a similarly feeble line until this year, when I submitted some to an English teacher as part of a major work (2900 words of poetry at date of completion). The teacher rather bluntly told me that it was sh… very, very weak, and thus, I became willing to learn. Favourite influences: Coleridge, Browning, Harwood.
Peace!
Oh dear. I got mixed up and thought the party started at midnight at the end of the 12th, so I’m a full day late, but here I am!
Since beginning my blog several months ago I’ve been reclaiming my writer self, a part of myself that I’d ignored for a long time. I guess I got so busy being a grownup that I forgot to pay attention to my inner life, and after spending the last year way too stressed out and anxious I decided I needed to make some changes. So at 30 I’m writing poetry again, as well as dabbling in photography, and it’s made such a difference already! I’m rememembering how to love the world. How to see it clearly. And I’m excited to join this community. Thank you for the welcome!
Fashionably late, but I made it. I’m not a writer but I wish I was. By day, my alter-ego pretends to be an attorney running a medium sized firm in the metropolis of the east where I waste my talents and energy trying to motivate people who’d rather be anywhere than at work. By night, I shed my public face and retreat into the world of the written word and fall in love over and over again. I love to write, hike and dream but not necessarily in that order. I’ve never been published, but that’s ok because it’s not really all about me anyway – but I’ll keep trying. My love for poetry is incalculable and it affects me like a drug. I’m very excited about this poetry project and hope to be a regular contributor. Obligation is my enemy, so I’ll do my best to get here when I can. Welcome everyone!
As I learn to learn and learn to teach, I’m also learning how to not start every poem with “I.” I’ve been writing for years, but I’m still pretty new at all this. It’s quite possible I could become something with this, and I hope for it, but in the meantime, I just write what falls out of my fingers, and hope it comes together well enough for someone to say, “I like that.” I hope you are one of them.
Swing by, say hi, we’ll chat.
-Derek
What a fabulous mix of poetry madness here! Just had to dart back in to mingle with the late comers and quench my thirst for Pineapple laden drinks.
(no, the juice bar is not closed, I bribed them with poetry)
Kimberley, we are easily bribed!
i am so excited about the large turn-out at our very first party. i won’t be able to come around and see you all right away, but over the course of our travels, i’m sure we’ll have a chance to talk.
michael/stickpoet: hope to check out the rogue poetry review soon
fabian: even your town is poetic — wollongong. fabian from wollongong. love it!
dennis: “poetry affects me … like a drug.” it give poetry blog hits a whole new meaning.
derek: you say you “write what falls out” … this is the place for words to tumble.
and so it doesn’t look like i’m only hanging out with the guys, i’ve also not met pauleen. pauleen! a masters degree @ 58. you give me hope. may i worship that accomplishment?
for the new faces (or those new to me at this moment; sometimes my memory disappoints me) ….
and of course, “hey girlfriends!” to some familiar faces: deb, clare, whirling dervish, kimberley, leslie, this girl remembers, sbpoet. /leslie–simon and schuster and cake! wow! / sbpoet–i have serious nanowrimo envy … but i knew i’d be otherwise engaged this month
re: the poems in a real estate box on our lawns thing. my mailbox gets knocked over by our local mailbox baseball team every six months or so. a few weeks ago it disappeared entirely. imagine what they’d do to a poetry box!! i’ll have to get more creative.
oh yeah– and tom … dr. tom … it was i who jumped the gun with the “dr.” when i helped compose our meet and greet post. … and may i be so bold as to say i hope it sticks.
Hello, everyone. I hate about me’s, and tend to say the same thing in a different way every time.
Who am I? A few words for you: Midwestern, college educated, poetry loving, down home, dyke, grant-writing, poetry-box idea loving, ghetto living, ethnically gypsy (roma), chubby, runner, contradictory, honest, loving.
Hi All,
Better late than never as they say. I’ve been into poetry since my teen angst days drinking myself full of T.S. Eliot’s Wasteland, Hollow Men and The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock. From there I went on to be a warrior-poet, jumping out of airplanes and blowing stuff up. But then lost my soul in the corporate saltmines and didn’t write a single poem. I found my poetic soul again while walking the Camino de Santiago two years ago and have been a moody poet ever since.
I looking forward to being apart of this merry band of poets!
Peace,
Clay
As for my thoughts on poetry, I can’t say it any better than this:
Why Poetry?
Everything I have to say about it is pretty much there. It changes infernally, though.
OK, the link did not work: here’s the url
http://soyouthinkican.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/why-poetry/
(I fixed your permalink above, Slynne.) *smiles*
That’s why you are my hero, ceridwen!
I can’t guarantee I’ll see all the broken links all the time, but I try.
Polka dot witch - Following up your comment about poetry hits, do you see the masthead, where it says: (Because Poem is an action)? How about (Because Poem is an addiction)?
Hi all,
Poetry and I go a long way back. I wrote a poem when I was five years old that made it into the school newspaper, and then another that was chosen to be in the school district writing journal. My mom took me to a poetry reading and it was pretty inspiring, but after 14 or 15 I pretty much stopped writing poetry and I’m not sure why. I’m hoping to get back into it.
And that’s my story.
I must say that this place has me pretty optimistic so far.
For a measly $10.99 plus shipping, we can all get our own poetry “post”. Or at least the “classic brochure box” that goes on one.
It’s *so* nice to see you all, new and returning poetry peeps.
I started writing poetry 30 months back. I have not looked back since then. I always read poetry but never ever thought of writing a poem untill a friend of asked me to.
Now poetry comes easy.
Good to be here. I see so many old faces along with new ones.
Hi everyone, I too echo the familiar faces here. I started writing poetry about a year ago on my blog and I continue to write today. I generally lean towards short stories though and am currently writing my first book.
I enjoy reading blog poetry posts although I don’t always comment. I look forward to the prompts and to meeting new friends.
Rose
xo
Oh man. I should change my name to White Rabbit. I am late to the party! I would’ve been by earlier, but my parents were visiting. I could’ve snuck out, I guess, but it seemed too much like high school! Yes. I know. I’m a grown-up. And I’m a poet. I could have used a clever, poetic device, as in…
Mom
Dad
Hubby
Kids
Poems
on
Fire
clamp
down
the
lids.
Had I appeared in my living room performing this spoken word piece, they probably would have sent me to my room, post haste, wherein I could have introduced myself properly.
r.w.p. gang, hope you’re not ready to disown me!
Welcome everyone!
i am thrilled to be counted in the number here,, and i have wanted to drop by sooner.. i am in the process of writing a very time consuming full length fiction right now,, as well as participating in naowrimo,, and i just haven’t had the time to devote to real poetry reading or writing… so i was quite invigorated when i saw the prompt.. this i think i can do .. american sentences.. surely i have time for american sentences….
truly an honor to be counted included in with the group of participants i see have already introduced themselves…..
I am so happy you started this site! After years and years of writing mostly magazine and newspaper articles, I started writing poetry again in 2006. And I soon discovered that it comes naturally and I don’t have to think about it too much. I also rediscovered how much I enjoy reading poetry; now poetry books are multiplying in my library. (And in my day job, I’m writing a book).
Mind if I join the show? I have always written for pleasure, mostly prose, always loved poetry, reading, started writing them recently maybe in the last year or so…but these prompts are really helping me discover myself. I am so glad I found many of you in this group. Thank you.
I just got a second to come back by and look over who all is participating in the project, and I’m really excited to have signed up! I see lots of poeple whose work I love! Yay for collaboration. I can’t wait to read the American Sentances poem in its entirety.
My life is a bit of an open book. Visit my blog and move around in it and you will pretty much see who I am. That being said, I’m very happy to get to know so many of you, old and new friends all. And here’s a secret. I turn 60 on Nov. 18th. I don’t feel 60 at all and thank God for the wisdom and good sense I’ve accumulated. Cheers to all, especially to YOU Ret, oh man of few words and mystery. LOL
60! In French we’d say, ça se fête! Something like, We must drink to that. And we must. Happy birthday, Annie, and thank you for the cheers you’ve sent my way.
Your friend
Erin, I don’t think my paper even posted any poetry. You are lucky you had that outlet when you were young, and I hope you can get your poem back on with a little help from this project.
…deb, I want that box. I have to admit I am a little afraid someone will put a bag of dog doodie in it, though. People have strong reactions to poetry, and someone (with a bag of dog doodie in hand) might not appreciate my poetry mailbox and decide to send me a stinky message to that effect.
Paisley, it’s only 17 syllables! You can do it. I know you can.
Paris Parfait, I didn’t realize you only started writing poetry again in 2006.
That’s when I started writing again. What month in 2006 did you start?
AnnieElf, happy (two days until your) birthday!
As a gift to myself (today is my birthday. . .YIPPEE!!!!!) I’m jumping in. Over at One Deep Breath, this week’s prompt has been “belonging.” I’m think’n that this is a good place to do just that! I’m a poet by the way.
Happy birthday, Glad!
Hi,
Sorry I am late. Work, kids you name it-it has been a bad two weeks. I am so happy to see read write poem! After poetry thursday ended-I kind of was left feeling uninspired to write/writer block kind of thing. I am hoping that this will open me back up to feeling moved enough to be poetic. I look also forward to reading lots of new poetry from everyone else.
In case you don’t see comments from me-I still try to visit as many sites as possible. I work full-time in a women’s health clinic and I also am the mother of two very young (2 & 4 year old boys) so life shall we say is hectic. Also I am not aloud to blog at work
Fortunately my husband supports my writing habit and I do have a computer at home!
I’m the quiet observer sitting in a corner who’s decided to speak up! I was encouraged because you all seem such nice,friendly people - plus I see a few friends here who’ve made eye-contact and waved. Hi!
I am a poet who tries to write prose as well ( … prose isn’t a bad word is it?)
I am struggling a little to become as enthusiastic about poetry as I used to be. Please don’t hate me!
Don’t get me wrong, I still adore the stuff, but I have also felt in need of a long vacation / holiday from it. Maybe I sickened myself of it, like when you eat too much of a good thing? (There was a period of five years when all I read was poetry.)
Anyway, I am from New Zealand and sometimes we look at things a little (shall we say upside down?) from the rest of the world. Let’s see if I can re-ignite my enthusiasm for all things poetical.
Now … back to my corner, with a red wine and ABM, who’s quiet too …
kia ora.
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