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.

What’s Next

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.

And after That

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.

Time for Review

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.

Lines versified
cut to take shape of
lips of a last kiss good-bye.
Words record the song
played as I drove away
to my separate destiny.
Rhythms played the hurt
of my heartache
as I fought to continue on
not undo my journey.

Old poems
hold the bitter sweet marrow
until I return to them
remembering experiences wholly
and can smile anyway.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #30, free day (and farewell). Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

Since we could choose anything to write about, I thought I’d extol the virtues of old poems.

Many years ago, I learned of a man
under mental care.
Among other things,
he believed people should be able
to talk through the air
like Star Trek characters
through their nifty com links.

I wonder now, if he’s still on this earth,
what he must think
of his indictment for thinking
of what is now considered
fairly old news since
we’ve talked using
blue tooth ear pieces for years.
We write with our fingers
on many smart phones,
and most recently on iPads
that remind me a great deal of
Yeoman Janice’s device
to deliver her reports to Captain Kirk
if memory serves me correctly.

And I do wonder, too,
when I look at the companies
and finances in play and
the frenzied welcome
of anything thought innovation,
what would this man be
working on by now
having had our earlier ideas
decades before
even cell phones were accepted.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #29, front page news Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

Turn left at the first phrase
that taps my curiosity.
On the side are the ropes to grab
so I can scale up it
stepping sliding over
the bumps bumping up it.

On top I can see the sea
of all the extending tangents
and extraneous asides
that might be of interest.

What must be written then
are the lines that glow
with the knowing
shimmer of connectedness.
And so, when I see them
at their brightest I simply
reel them in with my trusty ink pen
to splay them open on paper.

And on occasion I allow me
the delightfully twisting query:
Do they glow because they know
to shimmer
or on some level from my high perch
do I in some way ignite them?

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #28, intuition Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

Sometimes it’s fun to have it.
Hammering out the messages
all come to have their say. Heavy too.
Regarding me as only a conduit, sleep’s irrelevant.
Inspiration is my relentless driver.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #27, let someone else take the lead Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

For this acrostic, I used S-H-A-R-I, my first name. I tried several other words, including purple cows—don’t ask—but I returned to this one and I’ve chosen to live with it.

Escape to inside
out of regular time.
All my friends are there.
People, objects,
and their experiences
real and imagined,
all present and eager to share.

We chat, muse,
mulling over everything.
I write fast as I can
anything
that catches my attention.

As usual, way too soon
comes the necessary pull
back through my escape hatch,
back into unaltered time
in the land of
distracting obligations.

Still, as usual
I’ve managed to slip back in
with rare, raw treasures
all mine
to refine and polish.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #26, get scrappy Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

I’m so tired I don’t know
what to do with myself.
I heard that and thought,
Funny I know just
how you’re feeling.

And so went my day.

It was one long fruitless effort
to move forward
that saw more sideways shuffles
than any productive advances.

And finally at the day’s close
facing all I didn’t do
and the vicious flaring
of sinus pressure,
laid flat on my back
this morning’s first thought
returned to me:

I’m so sorry three a.m. came
and found my eyes wide open;
my sincerest apologies to me.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #25, first things first. Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

This may well be my worst draft yet, that I actually let go of. Probably because it’s true and current—my face is killing me. Hopefully I’ll be able to salvage it in the revision stage.

Relationships and occupations
death in the family
and other amputations
weddings and grocery shopping.
Life offers up bumps and twists
at every stage we travel through.
Racism, sexism,
just I-don’t-want-to-know-you.
Chest pain, stomach ache, swine flu,
and better and worse are the
land mines we negotiate trying
to keep our souls in tact.

Endings, standings,
delivering come-uppings,
births and christenings.
Finding acceptance.
Hugging a bigot or keeping your distance.
Successful surgeries, bed rest
meditation and medications
that pull us from the edge
bringing us back for more of this.

It’s all part of the journey.
To each of us our portions of
crazy and volatile with
a measure of calm mixed in.
Plain sailing then is
a matter of perception
and depends on
what gumption we bring
to each situation.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #24, find a phrase Visit the post to see the details of this prompt. “Plain sailing” caught and kept my attention.

December twenty-third
at the World mall
bedecked in celebration splendor
as kids approached Santa’s station.
Tiny translucent St. Roger?
is on the throne
greeting kids big and small.

I’m so excited it’s Christmas time!
Welcome girls and boys.
I’ll gladly take your letters,
all sticky with chocolate dreams
for magic gifts
and backyard swings.
Let’s talk about those toys!

Children brought their lists
to hand in with a grin.
First one then another
approached the translucent gent
despite the distraction
of his very long rabbit ears,
to impart last minute
gift requests only to get
treats that left them perplexed.

Roger was unaware of
the concern he seemed to be causing.
As he continued his happy banter
and handing out carrot sticks,
he bade each child a giddy
and very special holiday wish:
Merry Christmas kiddies!
You won’t see me soon!
But worry not, you’ll know I’m there
listen for my purple bassoon!

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #23, unlikely couples Visit the post to see the details of this prompt. It works even better in your head if you can hear Roger Rabbit’s lisp and inflection.

The coral honeysuckle
cut down late this year
sprouts new tendrils
showing fierce resistance
to death.
Bare brown twigs
will grow to green. Soon
rust red flowers,
just a touch of saffron on edges,
bloom to beckon the hummingbirds
who will come darting in
at dizzying speeds
to drink the sweet nectar,
giving delight just to watch them
about their important mission
in ecology.

One of the lovelier events
nature does offer.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #22, a wordle Visit the post to see the details of this prompt. The words I used are: saffron, rust, tendril, fierce, dizzy.

I was hoping someone would step up and say it isn’t so. But it didn’t happen. Read Write Poem soon will be nothing more than a fine repository of fine writing and writer links. You see it’s closing after April 30, 2010.

The forum was started on Read Write Poem’s site to discuss the closing, the sentiment, the next steps.

What comes after Read Write Poem closes was anyone’s guess. In this information post at his blog, Bearly Audible, Neil Reid has links that really need to be explored.

And he’s gone much further! Neil has done this awesome thing of opening a new community site, We Write Poems, as an option for Read Write Poem members to join. If you’re familiar with the writers at Read Write Poem, or become familiar by reading the postings there, you’ll be happy to know that several of the talents from RWP are participating in Neil’s new site. That is pretty cool!

So are many others stepping up with ways to continue doing what brings them joy. Among them, Rob Kistner returning to his Writer’s Island for regular weekly prompts. And, he presents links to other prompt sites for our participation.

No Longer Active, Still Vital

This is all quite new to me. Once I decided to post more of my writing and engage poetry more fully, it quickly became clear that it wasn’t something I wanted to do alone. I may have mentioned how thrilled I was to have finally gotten up the nerve to tap into some great poetry communities.

When I went for it, Read Write Poem was one of the first ones I found that I braved. I will always be glad I started there. Having the opportunity to continue with this community of poem writers is just a big ol’ gift I eagerly accept.

I’m keeping the Read Write Poem badge in my sidebar as long as it remains online for exploration. And I’ll add other badges for sites I participate in, first up We Write Poems, coming soon.

Everything related to RWP’s NaPoWriMo event is in place. You can visit this link to read about the plans for the online anthology of some poems from this month’s submissions.

Perfection is nature
bereft of nothing.

Animals plants insects
break die live kill grow
sprout new life
thrive without deliberateness
of choosing
eventually dying out
making room for new ones.
No more is the woolly mammoth.
Today we have
it’s current Asian relative
the elephant.

In the midst of the majesty
that breathes all around
is man
clumsy, crafty,
seemingly the only creature
not instinctively aware
of the course
uniquely his to follow.
He searches.

In a relative frenzy
of awkward ignorant insistence
he makes his way
disrupting the natural
flow of life,
by choices he trusts are best.
Still, some move just slow enough
to see and appreciate
the magic inherent in
the existence of everything,
before it’s time to leave
that others may come.

And the circles continue
expand and constrict.
And even
things judged flaws
are seen and
understood to have
their unique places of worth.

For, perfection is
nature bereft of nothing.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #21, perfectly flawed Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

Don’t get me wrong.
I benefit, my life’s enriched
by amazing things some do.
However, the mantle hero
seems only to
derange and dement
the object and worshiper alike.

So it would seem
I save myself a measure of grief.

And then too, not having heroes
seems saner than to
assign a bevy of
unfounded attributes
of strong moral fiber and such
to a veritable stranger
who does well
one thing or a few.

So without being
my own hero,
it seems I take excellent care
of myself on this important front.

And that’s more than enough.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #20, the hero poem Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

Accepted trust betrayed
doesn’t bring clarity
right away.

First comes
stunning dumbstruck
numbness.

Slowly, the feeling
begins to return
and the hurt
threatens suffocation.

Sheer necessity borne of
instinct to fight for every breath
gives rise
to inspired ideas on
how to get
oxygen out and in.

It was at about that point
when it dawned in soul
my way through
was to hear your voice
one last time
telling me something
meaningful

You release me!

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #19, light bulb moments Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.

What makes one
a cat person I wonder.
The felines or people,
who would know better?
How is she distinguished
one human from another?
No outward markers signify,
“Come hither feline
it’s fine
I’m a cat lover.”

In my case, I’m more inclined
to pause for a canine
though I’m just not
an animal person.

And it apparently
doesn’t work on the animals
to proclaim your position.
I tried stating aloud to one
“I don’t think cats are fun.”

The cat hunched her back
seeming to fit all her body
against one of my legs
as if she didn’t follow my message.

Then she purred her forgiveness
for my misstatement.
To her it was obvious,
I just didn’t yet know
the fullness of my own
cat connection.

Despite her seeming to know this
and the way I just don’t get it
I’ll trust my disposition and allergies
and continue to keep my distance.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

This poem is for the napowrimo prompt #18, meow! Visit the post to see the details of this prompt.