Quick Newsletter for the POMpoets
Hello and good morning to all the POMpoets — coming at you this morning from rural North Carolina where your fearless leader is just getting started on a busy freelance writing schedule for the day.
It seems poetry takes a back seat often — do you feel this way? I can scarce find time to write it these days. It hurts my heart. Like losing a loved friend and companion — but all is not lost. Because this has happened to me before — and I know what to do.
I’ll admit, poetry has not been my primary focus for several months now. Perhaps you, too, are experiencing a dry spell? I attribute these slow times in the poetic wheelhouse to be very important. For one, it means our brains and hearts are recharging for a new wave of poetic thinking, new possibilities of poems waiting to be born — only, it’s not time yet for them to rise to the surface of our consciousness or our lives. So, then, what do we do in poetic downtimes?
It’s really simple. I’ve experienced these “waves” of poetry for decades now.
What we do is — wait.
We wait with our eyes open, our hearts open, and our minds set to “curious.” We get out into the world and experience it with curiosity. This downtime means that we are growing, experiencing new things, and storing up new thoughts, new sensory observations, new bends in our emotions. When you feel a drop in poetry it often means that great things are on the horizon.
So, to get those creative thoughts flowing, I propose a 5-poem reading session to start your day. Here are the ones I will be reading today:
- Four Snapshots of the Job Market by Amanda Laughtland (This is our new feature poem on The POM homepage.)
- Close Your Eyes by Roy Reichle
- Blinding Hope by ⭐ Thomas D.
- Natural Voices by John O'Neill
- The Bones of Ynys Môn by Alex Kilcannon
And then, for good measure, I’ll also read an article. I’ll check out Jay’s new book announcement. I like to see what’s new with our very own bearded poet — who recently went on a lovely adventure! I hope to see some poems come out of all that gorgeous scenery. Perhaps we can ask him if he’d let us use a picture from his trip to use as a POMprompt…
Have a great day! Time for me to get my reading done over a cup of coffee (with the delicious seasonal peppermint mocha creamer) and then get on to my work for the day.
