Today's poem is so sweet and reads to me like a message you could have written for yourself out of love. I really loved that idea and decided to try writing my poem that way.
This is quite wonderful A., and very inspring. I really admire and appreciate how you push through any internal blocks to writing such gems. Ah, the ending "There is only you, right noe, write now." Splendid!
Thank you Julie! A perfect example of 'just writing' - I neither knew that I was going to get to this sentence, nor how the journey there would unfold, but by obeying Kaitlin's encouragement to just write, this magic happened!!
I love this remarkable poem, Sarah. It could certainly be worser! Being of Irish heritage, I like how you take in the local accents and use them in your poem. Reading your poems is such a joy!
I relate to this. "Why did it take trauma and upending losses I have ceased to number To shake my words loose For me to hear them shouting back at me, Urging me, promising me that They belonged not just to me, but To everyone, to the world?" Yes they belong to the world, I feel this too.
Thank you Kaitlin for sharing your struggles in releasing your words, your vulnerability into the world. I really related to that. Probably my biggest stumbling block to writing. Today my poem is about this, it just flowed out.
I have actually been surprised by some of the emotions and experiences that have come up for me in this month's prompts so today's word was the perfect opening to try to talk about that.
I identify with your words. Sometimes I think old memories and emotions are all tapped out but just a scratch and here they are again, ready to be revealed in new words.
Thank you Kaitlin for this daily nudge to write and for sharing wonder in your words. I need to go back and catch up with self-love and connection, but this daily experience is something I needed!
Thank you, Kaitlin. I definitely started writing for “little me,” 42 years young (almost 10 years ago now). I have so enjoyed getting to know you, your work, and this community over this last week.
Nevermind that I've been journaling since I was in single digits; nevermind that I've expressed myself best through the written word for all of my life; nevermind that I have things to say; nevermind that I've had one book published and more that I published myself; nevermind that I write regular columns for an online magazine.
I wasn't trained as a writer, don't have an English degree, never took a creative writing class.
I'm too afraid
It's not going to be good enough
I'm not a poet
I'm not a writer
Too vulnerable
I don't have words
I love words
Adjectives, my favorite
Writing terrifying
It's hard to be brave
I guess I'll give it a try
yes yes, Gloria. So proud of you, so grateful you're here with us!
Hey, look at you, being brave.
Go for it.
Thanks Chuck!
Don't be afraid Gloria and thank you for sharing your words with us!
Gloria, you are a poet, and honest and brave in addition. Thank you for sharing!
Write?
Yeah, right
Words take flight
Escape route from blight
Needing to name present plight
Fest'ring in the dead of fright
Heart mind soul clenched tight
No end in sight
Bleak desp'rate night
So write
Right
I love "in the dead of fright"
As one who always needs to name my present plight, I appreciate this!
Very nice Bob! I appreciate so much folks who can use rhyming well, not being one of them!
Today's poem is so sweet and reads to me like a message you could have written for yourself out of love. I really loved that idea and decided to try writing my poem that way.
Write now --
it isn't too late
or too early.
.
There is only ever now.
.
Please don't wait
until you think
you know better.
.
You know better.
.
There is only you
right now --
write now.
I love this so much!!
This is quite wonderful A., and very inspring. I really admire and appreciate how you push through any internal blocks to writing such gems. Ah, the ending "There is only you, right noe, write now." Splendid!
I love this, insightful while being fun.
Oh I love this one so much! "You know better." The rhythm is lovely and the words are so encouraging.
Love this A - so simple in its truths and lessons!
Write.
What's the worst
That could happen?
Wonky words -
Messy page -
Frustration -
Rage?
All valid.
All worthy
Of attention -
Of mention.
Of words
Here in
Drogheda,
Ireland,
The accent
Is thick
With some
Locals.
'T-h' becomes
Simply 'd'.
'Dat fella
Over dere.'
'Did ya hear
De news?'
And worthy?
'Wordy.'
They also
Have a
Saying here.
'Sure, it could
Be worser.'
So write
Your words
Sarah.
Worthy,
Or wordy -
To not
Write would
Certainly
Be worser.
"To not Write would Certainly Be worser." True and I love how you got to this sentence.
Thank you Julie! A perfect example of 'just writing' - I neither knew that I was going to get to this sentence, nor how the journey there would unfold, but by obeying Kaitlin's encouragement to just write, this magic happened!!
Thank you for sharing that expression...I have always had a deep seated fascination with Ireland and hope to visit one day.
Ah, thank you so much for bringing the sound and shape of Ireland here ✨️
Don't be worser. Thanks for writing, truly.
I love this remarkable poem, Sarah. It could certainly be worser! Being of Irish heritage, I like how you take in the local accents and use them in your poem. Reading your poems is such a joy!
I love this!
Heehee, thank you!! 💜
What's the worse that could happen? ..
To not write would be worser.
So true indeed. I love it. Thank you for sharing.
For years I sat with them all
Crammed in my head
Weighing on my heart
While absorbing the words of others
Preferring to keep my own hidden
Protecting myself and others from
What I had yet to understand,
Or so I thought because
Thinking is what I did best
Or so I had grown to believe
Rather than dare
To voice, to shout, to create, and question
Why it was, when it was, I had decided
To stay quiet, only listen
As others told me who I was
Why did it take trauma and upending losses
I have ceased to number
To shake my words loose
For me to hear them shouting back at me,
Urging me, promising me that
They belonged not just to me, but
To everyone, to the world?
Maybe by daring to share them
Can I begin
To find meaning, my freedom, my truth.
‘Urging me, promising me that
They belonged not just to me, but
To everyone, to the world’ 🤍
I relate to this. "Why did it take trauma and upending losses I have ceased to number To shake my words loose For me to hear them shouting back at me, Urging me, promising me that They belonged not just to me, but To everyone, to the world?" Yes they belong to the world, I feel this too.
SO lovely. thank you for sharing
Thank you for sharing your words with the world!
This is so beautiful, Rachel. Rich, full of depth, and empowering. Thank you.
Thank you Kaitlin for sharing your struggles in releasing your words, your vulnerability into the world. I really related to that. Probably my biggest stumbling block to writing. Today my poem is about this, it just flowed out.
.
Writing is a vulnerable act.
A willingness to expose at times
what I would prefer to stash away.
Imploring me to enter corridors
that are challenging to traverse.
Opening locked chambers that
confess forgotten memories.
Uncovering what’s been delegated
to the edges and alcoves of my world.
Whether pain and sorrow
or joy and enthusiasm
it’s all entangled, inextricable.
I must listen to the charge,
for in writing, I am summoned
to be… with… it… all.
To feel, taste, smell, listen and
see all that is inside me.
opening locked chambers, yes!!!
Beautiful, Julie. Writing *is* a vulnerable act. I'm grateful for your vulnerability.
Thanks A.!
To be with it all...a challenge worth rising to.
This is wonderful, Julie. You are unlocking chambers for so many of us!
Weather
Words have so many uses,
from salad to blender to dreams.
They can also open life’s vault,
and show us more than what seems.
I carefully toss mine out there,
mixed into so many patterns,
hoping that within their maze
someone will recognize Saturns.
Yes, interplanetary travelers
from which deep truth will arrive;
stories from the great beyond
spoken to keep us alive.
Most of the time, my words
just seem to flit like a feather.
Would that my poetry might
one day alter the weather!
Make the wind change, child;
redirect some of the rain.
Give us the sunlight we’re missing;
bring us to hope once again.
If not mine, maybe yours,
splashed lightly across the pages;
opening the depths of our marrow
to life-giving tales from the sages.
beautiful!
Love the cadence and rhythm in your words!
I have actually been surprised by some of the emotions and experiences that have come up for me in this month's prompts so today's word was the perfect opening to try to talk about that.
Write
I didn't realise
How much emotion
The depth of sadness
The lingering hurt
I had buried
beneath the surface
in order to carry on.
Life goes on
but when I stopped
to write
it all came flowing
out in words
across the page,
clamouring to be
seen and heard
acknowledging that
life went on
but the emotion
lingers
waiting for me
to write
I identify with your words. Sometimes I think old memories and emotions are all tapped out but just a scratch and here they are again, ready to be revealed in new words.
Ready to be revealed in new words - a lovely way to express it... thank you
Such an important realisation!
The emotion in this is so powerful!
I always made sense of the world with words
Tucking memories into my mind through words
Spoken aloud before I could write,
written ever afterward.
Genealogies and characters,
Heroes and villains,
Stories of my life where I was the star,
Stories of who or what I wanted to be.
Words to make sense of poverty and nature
Words to make sense of breakups and friendships
Words for work and words for play
Poetry and fanfiction and arguments in my head.
Without words, I am lost.
With words, I am home.
Love the finish as well. At peace and at home.
Home. Sweet home.
Powerful power. Incredible finish. Thank you for sharing
Thanks so much for reading!
This is my first poem for the month. I've wanted to participate but haven't, for some reason. "Write" is as good a reason as any to start.
**
Write when you can,
and maybe, when you can't.
Write when the words flow, yes;
but, more importantly, when they don't.
When your brain feels like chaos,
And you feel nothing and everything;
when powerful, nameless emotions
run rampant in your body,
causing destruction in their wake -
coursing seas, merciless riptides,
no sense of how to surface.
The poem comes
when you let The Sea in.
Wrestle it.
Give in to it.
Let yourself be carried by it.
That is when the words will come.
They rise from the depths
and shuttle you up and up
And there, on the surface,
when you empty your belly of brine
and fill your lungs with sea air,
Then -
and only then -
can you see.
So wonderful Katie! 'empty your belly of brine' - I love it 💜
Write when you can and maybe when you can't - sage advice!!
Yes, rising from the depths of the belly onto the page....
… when you let The Sea in.
This reminds me of how freeing it was when a dear, prescient friend asked, “You do know that you can breathe underwater, don’t you?”
Yes!
Thank you for sharing and welcome
Through writing,
I am becoming,
Becoming more fully realized,
Becoming attuned to wonder and settle in mystery,
Becoming more permissive of my own authenticity,
Writing, the great liberator,
Like a domino effect,
I become, you become,
We all become
Yes, we all become, more and more everyday.
Yes we do!
write it down, quickly,
before the wild things eat it,
and all its ponder.
New favourite. Watch out for those mischievous wild things.
Right on point!
Gotta watch out for those wild things!!
Fun!
Love this, Chuck.
Thank you Kaitlin for this daily nudge to write and for sharing wonder in your words. I need to go back and catch up with self-love and connection, but this daily experience is something I needed!
Deep emotions
Thoughts
Dreams
Worries
Plans
Ideas
Inspiration
Heartbreaking events
Past, present, future
Dance and dart
Swarm and seethe
Wriggle and wrestle
Inside me
Filling me like
A threatening flood
Or battering me like
A raging storm
So
I put pen to paper
Or fingers to keyboard
And write
To make sense
Bring order
Elevate perspective
Calm chaos to clarity
Find peace
If not resolution
For me
If no one else
And I share it
As an offering
With hope that someone else
May find encouragement
Or solace in the words
That help them find their way to
Peace.
love this! thank you for being here.
I love "calm chaos to clarity"
Beautiful - I especially love find peace, if not resolution.
Thank you, Kaitlin. I definitely started writing for “little me,” 42 years young (almost 10 years ago now). I have so enjoyed getting to know you, your work, and this community over this last week.
Thank you for being here with us!
Why I Write
Because my brain is too small
And old
And awkward
To hold the wonder of my mind,
The creativity of my soul
And the weeping of my heart
I write.
When I can’t sleep
Or when I can only sleep
And my dreams are a kaleidoscope,
When I am alone
Or abandoned in a crowd,
When living is the best I can do
I write.
To survive,
To reproduce,
To think,
To surmise,
To express
Or to repress,
Or to transgress
When silence is my only recourse
I write.
I write for me.
Gah! Each sentiment strikes a cord! Thank you Bruce - beautiful writing 💜
Perhaps the best reason of all to write - for oneself!
I'm not a writer.
Nevermind that I've been journaling since I was in single digits; nevermind that I've expressed myself best through the written word for all of my life; nevermind that I have things to say; nevermind that I've had one book published and more that I published myself; nevermind that I write regular columns for an online magazine.
I wasn't trained as a writer, don't have an English degree, never took a creative writing class.
I feel compelled to write, but
I'm not a writer.
Take that title Sarah! You, my dear, are a writer 💜
Yes maam I hate to tell you this but (checking notes), yep, you are a writer!
Thank you ☺️ It's funny how imposter syndrome and self-doubt weasel their way in.