Lessons Learned or an Ode to Vogon Poetry

April was National Poetry Writing Month.  I threw my hat in the ring.  I wrote thirty poems.  Most are not fit for human consumption.  Not because they are particularly bad (although they are pretty bad) but because they come from places that I don’t like to or have been forced to explore at this particular time. 

If one were to contrast this year’s to last year’s one would find a distinct line of demarcation in content & meaning.  I released a few into the wild on my blog last year.  This year, not so much.  Last year I was in protecting mode, uplifting mode, I had hope.  This year’s NaPoWriMo was more about survival & revelation.  Things that I don’t deem fit for human consumption and, unlike the Vogon’s from, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” I will not subject you, Gentle Reader, to them.  With very few exceptions, these words are all mine and they are better off locked away where they are.

I’ll be curious to see what other people’s experiences have been concerning this year’s event.  For this I’ll turn to others writers I know, bloggers, and – of course, the poets on Twitter.  National Poetry Writing Month, is an interesting experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to give it a whirl.  I recommend writing to anyone who can hold a pen and poetry as well.  You don’t have to wait until next April until you write a poem.  Find a pen and some paper and have at it!  However, be warned, poetry is dangerous and it can take you places that you may not be ready to go.  To do so or not is up to you, Gentle Reader.  I, for one, believe that it is worth the ride – even with the potholes and lack of pavement from time to time.

Enjoy the ride.

 

Vexed by Verse?

April is a big month for poetry.  No, really. 

This is due to a few happenings and not the least of which is National Poetry Writing Month or NaPoWriMo.  The object of this activity is to write one poem a day, each day in the month of April, until said month is over.  You walk into April full of vim & vigor and you walk out of the month 30 poems richer. 

You’ve never written poetry?  No problem.  Yes, it can be done.  Yes, you can do it if you feel it may be something that you would like to do.  No, it does not have to rhyme. 

“But what is it all for?  What does it mean – nothing, everything, or something in between?”

You are the only one who can answer that, Gentle Reader.  What can I tell you?  Try it, you might surprise yourself.  If you are feeling a bit weak in the knees there is help out there; the internet and social media are our friends and then, every now and again, something unexpected comes out of the blue and an opportunity presents itself and THAT is why I would be remiss if I did not tell you about another poetry related activity that is happening on April 3^rd, at 7:00 PM at the Atlantic County Library in Mays Landing.  Poet, Penny Harter, is going to conduct a workshop where YOU will be, “encouraged to write haiku, free verse and haibun.”  This one is limited to only 15 participants so if you are so inclined you need to register at this email address:  smarx@aclsys.org. 

It sounds like fun.  Who knows, if you get a taste for it and you want to dip your toes in the water there will be an Open Mike Night on April 15^th, at 7:00 at the Library hosted by Penny Harter and Cole Eubanks. 

For a full list of upcoming activites & events within the whole of the Atlantic County Library System click and explore right here: http://atlanticlibrary.org/. 

My favorite branch is where the poetry is gonna happen in April.  You can find them right here: http://atlanticlibrary.org/mays_landing_branch.  

Enjoy, Gentle Reader; I hope to see you there.

Whom I'm Reading Now

“So who is your favorite author?”

I’ve been asked from time to time

I’d have to answer, “Whom I’m reading

Now,” the question is sublime

Perhaps it’s something scary

Tales filled with horror – woe

Perhaps something from Steven

King or Edgar Allan Poe

Or maybe something humorous

To pass away the hours

Some good Mark Twain or Christopher

Moore enchant me with their powers

Or maybe swords & sorcery

With a dragon perhaps or two

Some Tolkien or some R.E. Howard

A Hobbit / Barbarian brew

If I feel mysterious

There are few places that I go

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s nice but

Dame Christie steals the show

Perchance it’s something fantastic

My yen for worlds unseen

Neil Gaiman & J.K. Rowling work

They can truly set a scene

Perhaps a graphic novel?

With true sophistication

Then you want to find some

Alan Moore, he’s your destination

And then there’s science fiction

That just may do the trick

May I suggest some Arthur C. Clarke

Or even Phil K. Dick

And then there are the classics

Too many just to name

Bradbury, Verne, & Stevenson

Deserve their well-earned fame

There’s Hemingway & London

Voltaire to name some more

I can’t forget Kurt Vonnegut

Their voices all still roar

There are many to discover

So many yet to read

I have only scratched the surface

Librarians take heed!

So, ask me who’s my favorite?

Who can I disavow?

The answer is so plain to see

It’s whom I’m reading now.

Bogart's Books ~ My Favorite Bookstore in the Known Universe