I’m tired
so I’m thinking
maybe tonight
sleep will come
to sweep me off my feet.
If not
I’ll lie awake until
it dawns in me that
no matter the worry
there’s no action
I might take to cure it
at two o’clock
in the morning.
© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers
I’ve spent time away
that I’ve enjoyed
working and beginning
new things that move me.
And even at the back
of my busy thoughts
interspersed in my
times free of tasks,
was the idea
the longing to
return to here to share:
The sounds of the birds
as they conversed loudly
mellifluously
hidden in the leafy branches
heavily dressed by spring.
The late, rapid sprouting
of my honeysuckle plant,
and all the delightful things
my youngest niece does
as she blossoms excitedly
like the lilies in my backyard.
I’m home to the tell you
of all the big events
that kept my full attention
and the quiet sights
that capture my imagination.
Hopefully you’re still willing
to be my companion
traveling through this marvelous
world we live in.
© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers
My apologies for so long away. I’ve begun studying a new computer course and have been making plans to move. Writing on my other blogs and all the while wishing I could catch up to here. I decided to just do it! I hope you like my newest draft.
And I’ve got a few more that I just haven’t been posting. So, since things are settling down (somewhat), I’ll try to get back to some semblance of regular. I hope you’re reading and writing poems with the some of the great communities online. If you’re looking for communities, check out the banners I’ve got in my sidebar, and my poets blog list.
Enjoy!
Billy Collins is one of the first poets I lighted on while foraging to find poetry that spoke to me.
In my search to improve my writing, I sought read writers whose writing allowed me to hear their messages. The idea of constantly appealing to others for decoding is not appealing to me. I prefer to read through the lines, sift through my knowledge base, and query the verses.
Trolling the poetry shelves at my local Barnes & Noble, the first thing that caught my eye, of course, were the titles. First one gem than another. Finally, I was mugged by The Art of Drowning ©1995, by Billy Collins. The title caught hold of my imagination, and I immediately had to know what that title meant.
After reading a few of the poems, I made the happy discovery that it was easy for me to be swept up in his lines-become-the-breeze of relating. And so I figured out that not all poets write to befuddle and confound me into giving up. That was about ten years ago. And I’ve enjoyed reading and hearing his poetry ever since.
Below you can listen to Billy Collins reading The Litany, one of my newer favorites, from The Trouble with Poetry ©2005
While reading through Ballistics ©2008, I found this jammed between the pages.
Billy Collins makes me
want to write;
Lucille Clifton makes me
retire my poet’s pen and paper.
Sometimes
they swap inspirations.
© 2008 Shari Lynne Smothers
Billy Collins’ poems make me work in good ways, to understand his meaning. He tells me about beautiful things and simple treasures in the small moments. And he can make me laugh out loud, like in The Lanyard. His writing draws me in until I’m almost looking through his eyes, and I can see the world with new eyes, and new appreciation.
Below are just a few of his poems I’ve enjoyed, that I was able to find online.
Many of the poems in Collins’ collections are unrhymed, free verse, and are subtly rhythmic. Collins writes accessible poetry. He paints lovely, intricate latticework, detailed and strong enough for readers to cross over to that place where understanding is there for the sharing. Here’s one from The Apple That Astonished Paris.
They call Basque an orphan language.
Linguists do not know
what other languages gave it birth.
From the high window of the orphanage
it watches English walking alone to the cemetery
to visit the graves of its parents,
Latin and Anglo-Saxon
Some poetry readers and writers may not appreciate this quality, preferring instead to draw blood from us and themselves. I am of a different ilk. I try not to share my poems that no one else will get except for me and my best friends. I think when a writer publishes, the goal is to impart something comprehensible and meaningful for her and for we readers to share. Billy Collins accomplishes this very well for me. So, I thought I’d say so.
One of Collins’ books, Sailing Alone Around the Room ©2001, is a nice selection of poems from older collections, The Apple That Astonished Paris (1988), Questions About Angels (1991), The Art of Drowning (1995), and Picnic, Lightning (1998).
I made it writing a poem daily for National Poetry Month 2010! Whew! I wipe my brow in completing this undertaking. And I salute all the participants for their stick-to-it-iveness. (I did write that out.) You can check them out as many are in my poet blog links.
Writing a poem daily is fun. But, don’t think it’s not a strain. And, writing in public to prompts does not lessen the pressure at all. Still, I’m glad I went the distance.
Now, if you take the time to read my poetry and the prompts, you will see that I came pretty close most of the time. In fact, any deviance from the prompt would be due to misinterpreting the meaning of the prompt. What can I say? It happens. You may also notice that some of the titles leave much to be desired. These are the markings of drafts in the true sense of its meaning.
Now comes the time to review, to edit and revise what I tried to say through my poems this month. I’ll have to see if I can remember how to fit my titles to the poems, like some of the great poetry I read this month. My plan is to revise the poems while keeping them really close to the original poem. It’s the most authentic, and it’s the rules too.
Submitting: If you participated in writing a poem daily and are hoping to be included in the anthology, the submission instructions are up at Read Write Poem. The deadline is May 7, so don’t delay in selecting and preparing your poems according to the guidelines set forth.
As of today, Read Write Poem is no longer a live site. It’s shut down to new members, to comments, to group activities, to everything except the repository of poems posted there. And what a collection it is, for your reading pleasure! Now’s my chance to go back and read the poems I missed during the month.
I’ve visited several of the community sites that are springing up and being revitalized as a result of the closing of Read Write Poem. They are community sites that offer poem prompts. I find I enjoy using prompts and seeing where they take me. The ones that have my attention so far, are linked in my sidebar by way of their respective banners. They’re worth checking out.
They don’t offer poems daily. For example, Writer’s Island has Saturday prompts with the first one today, already posted.
Posting about poets I enjoy: For my next one, it’s down to two from my bookshelves. Either way, I’ll be reading and exploring someone that I enjoy a great deal. Getting to know the writing of others is big schooling for me.
Poetry books on tap: Frances Mayes’ The Discovery of Poetry and John Drury’s Creating Poetry. I do this because 30 day poem sprints always make me want to go back to school.
What’s on your poetry agenda? What poetry communities have captured your attention? Leave a comment about what’s next for you, or link to your blog post.
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