read write poem members’ 2010 poetry resolutions, part 1

by Dana Guthrie Martin

This is part one of a three-day series in which I will be compiling the responses everyone left in the 2010 Poetry Resolutions group. Thank you to everyone who participated in that group. These resolutions are fantastic and very inspiring.

If you didn’t participate in the group, don’t worry! You can leave your resolutions in the comments for this series. And feel free to cheer one another on in the comments section as well.

Now, let’s get started with the resolutions, shall we?

 

Alan Summers: I’d like to do even more haiku and renga activities which are not publish-focused, and work with people who deny themselves the belief they have music in their souls.

Ana Tun: Well now that I know a magazine that will publish my work and the translator has also volunteered for more, I guess I just have to find a way to write the poems.

Angie Werren: I resolve to separate vectors into coordinating components. My goal is to keep a poetic sense of humor all about myself.

Carolee Sherwood: Be more methodical (somehow*) in my DIY poetry education: It includes studying poetry, writing poetry, revising/publishing poetry and performing poetry utilizing various virtual and IRL resources/networks. That’s all I have so far.

*I’m bad at resolutions

(I should add that though I claim to be bad at resolutions, I have started a document with the heading “DIY poetry curriculum.” However, it is only a storage place of ideas at this point. No real goals or commitments.)

Cynthia Short: I actually just ordered two books (recommended by another RWP member) to help give me instruction on how to actually, maybe, truly, become a better writer of poetry. I plan on “taking myself to school”! I have been attempting to take an actual class, but there is not one in my area on anything even remotely helpful … Wish me luck!

Dana Guthrie Martin: I am on a self-imposed ban against all the garbage and politics and self-abuse that (some) poets are part of and perpetuate, and my ban starts now. For one year, I am going to focus on learning a new musical instrument and trying to develop a personal pedagogy for reading, writing, understanding and sharing poetry that parallels the way we learn to read, write, understand and share music.

This means focusing on the components that go into poetry, not on “completed” poems. It means practicing aspects of poetry in very concerted ways that follow a strict progression, rather than feeling the pressure to finish, finish, finish and have products, products, products.

It also means moving as far as I possibly can from what I often sense in poets, which feels like an unhealthy impulse to get work out there and to focus on volume and product over immersion and process.

And it means being inside my work, inside the work of other poets, and inside my own head in ways that feel better to me — and that certainly feel more sustainable over the course of my lifetime.

Addendum #1: Less than two days after making my resolution, which I was starting immediately, I broke it by writing a complete poem. My focus in 2010 will still be on the process of writing poetry, even if I do write complete poems from time to time. Oh, and collaborating does not count as completing poems, since I would only be doing part of the writing work.

Addendum #2: I also resolve to read the smaller units (e.g., lines, phrases, fragments) of poetry for their own special pleasure as opposed to always reading the whole at the expense of the parts in an often misguided effort to understand the larger experience of the poem. I resolve to find lines in poetry and say, “Hey! I like that line!”

Addendum #3: In 2010, I am actually taking the flute up again after a 14-year break from my flute studies. I can’t bear to start a new instrument because that means starting over and losing all the work I have put into learning the flute.

David Moolten said: My resolution for 2010 is simply to write … and while writing … avoid isolation … finish what I start … tell the truth .

Dick Jones: All quite noble so far, these resolutions. My resolution for 2010 is materialistic: to beg, bribe, bludgeon or maybe even bewitch a reputable and solvent publisher into taking a selection of my poems and then present them to the public for money.

Elizabeth Enslin: I may add to this later, but here’s a start on poetry resolutions: 1. Strive to make my prose (which is what I spent most of my writing time on) more poetic, more musical, 2. Write at least one poem a month based on the wordle prompt, 3. Read more poetry, 4. Explore the work of poets I’ve never read before (and thanks to Read Write Poem for great leads on that), 5. I’d also like to participate in more groups here (and write more poetry) but should probably finish my book first.

Evelyn N. Alfred: My poetry resolution is to actively practice an obscure poetry technique each month.

Greg Brown: I’d like to have at least 12 rejection letters.

Ieisha: To memorize and commit to music and record a few poems. To read more and to write what express truth as I’m shown and as well as I can express it from my artistic perspective.

Jane Hoover: I don’t resolve as much as I just do, or don’t. But I am printing a collection of my poetry in 2010. OK — now it is out here in the world for me to see!

Janet Flora: I resolve to go through the scraps of paper and old journals with poetry I have written over the years and transfer them to the comp and REVISE REVISE REVISE. Then I will actually be ready to submit to some contests and journals again.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part two of 2010 Poetry Resolutions!

Dana Guthrie Martin is the founder of Read Write Poem. She resolves to focus on process and craft in 2010, both in terms of poetry and classical music. She also resolves to join a flute choir and to dream only in music and verse.