Today ends my 10-day commitment to post a poem a day. It’s also the end of April, last day of National Poetry Month in 2009. I’ve posted new poems at my creative writing blog, Telling Stories. Starting with the introduction, I managed to get a poem a day up there.It’s been a lot of fun. Not only did I post them daily, I wrote them daily. Later today I’ll post #10 the last one for this series.

There’s much more than these 10 poems on the site. So please explore and tell me what you enjoyed. I have a wedding poem called Mine that is often well-received. I posted it last April. You should check it out!

Poetry is a very important literary form that is explored all the time. April, National Poetry Month, is a big deal for me because it’s the time when poetry spills over into mainstream writing and reading. Here are a just a few of the benefits that poetry presents.

4 Benefits of Reading & Writing Poetry

1. Poetry helps you to know things more fully. When I turn things over to put them into verse, I often find that I have to shift my perspective, usually to see more closely. In a poem of gratitude, Amen, I was thinking about how happy the spring had arrived. I sat by the lake thinking of all that was going on. I passed beyond the big things moving closer and wider to see a broader picture than had originally come to mind.

2. Poetry commands your attention. There’s reading and then there’s reading. You can’t skim a poem and get what the writer sets forth for you, which is not the whole of it. The rest is filled in with a big part of who you are. Really, when you think about it, anything you can comprehend is understood from the context or frame of reference you have. Poems leave a little more room for you in the verses.

3. Poetry can sustain good conversation. Two people can read the same poem and get very different things out of it. I’ve had some really interesting conversations around poetry. In fact, one of the poems I wrote called What Could I Lose brought a woman to tears, whereas it made me smile when I wrote it. After the reading she spoke with me and made me understand where the poem transported her.

4. Poetry writing asks you to dig deeper. It feels like Twitter sometimes. Poetry makes no restrictions on the number of characters you use, or the words. However, you work to tell your story, to convey your thoughts and emotions, reflections and opinions. And you do this in verse form instead of prose. One of the shortest poems in my book Partly Cloudy didn’t make it the the table of contents and yet it got a lot of feedback, both commiseration and query of What led you to feel that way?

Keep Reading Poetry

I saved this post for today because poetry is not just for the month of April. I invite you to read verses regularly. Find favorite poets, collections of poetry blogs and more; and return to them to get all that’s there for you. There’s tomorrow and tomorrow.

Telling Stories is where I put my creative expression that’s not work-related. If you should visit, you may find short essays, videos and more. I hope you enjoy my free form space. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: Just Outside, poem no. 10 in the set is ready for your enjoyment.

I want to share with you the story of how I re-learned what’s allowed to feed the writing fires. It may be something you’ve experienced, and will inspire you to find out or rediscover what can feed your writing fires.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. – Albert Schweitzer

The Whole World is Mine to Draw From

You ever wonder how writers come up with ideas for their material? I wondered that too. Part of my quandary has to do with the label of writer and all the dread that title brings with it. It’s something I’ve turned over in my head from time to time, and a lot lately. In fact, on my last trip to my hometown I gave it a lot of attention and came up with an answer.

The Memory that Brought the Answer

I have a good friend who is a minister. One day, several years ago, he told me God loves you, to which I replied, Yes, I know. That’s what you’re supposed to say if you believe that, right? I think there must’ve been hesitation in my voice.

- Do you really know that?

- Yes…I guess.

- You don’t know that. But you can. What would you do if you really, really knew that God loves you?

For a moment I thought about it, the largeness of that truth. I responded.

- Pass out on the floor.

In our conversations there was always a lot of food for thought, fodder for the musing days. It was this memory that came to me on my vacation, while I was considering how I filter what informs my writing.

Extrapolating from the Memory

I thought for a moment about what informs my writing and then left it because it was time to go out. What I did carry with me was the idea to collect threads from the fabric of times spent hanging with my friends. After all, everything that comes to mind is fodder.

Wait! What?! Everything?

Going with that, in that moment, my plan was to catch everything I could remember or note.

Daydreaming, brainstorming, organizing, researching, editing are all part of the process, sure. But before that, comes the sparks of experiences that need to be fueled by imagination.

Some Things Happened on My Last Vacation

I felt a lot of conscious appreciation and cherishing this trip, of every little thing with my family and friends; more immediately than usual. I felt a lot of gratitude in the moments, as opposed to waiting until I got back to Houston to reflect on my time at home, in New Orleans. Gratitude plays a powerful part in good things that happen in life. I believe this for everyone, I know it for me.

Another thing that happen during this trip was that my nasty little inner critic’s hand was revealed, and his spell was broken.  I saw that he would discount many ideas as just not right before they had the chance to catch on. Many ideas didn’t make it to my notes.

I always understood intellectually that everything was fodder. But my sneaky inner critic lulled me and lead me away from that truth. Now, everything was coming awake in me and it was exhilarating. I want to say I grokked the truth of it.

Everything was talking to me; all my synapses were firing. I had to be open to going out and doing things (setting aside my couch potato habits) so I just let down my guard. It had the unexpected result of opening me up to other possibilities.

So, the question is What do I do if I really, really, know that everything I experience is mine to use?

My answer is Keep all I can catch. Whatever comes to mind, it’s okay in fact necessary to hear it, even the outlandish.

What’s Come of All This?

It was akin to a rebirth of my creativity. And it was greatly needed. Being truly open to everything was like being fully immersed in emotive sensory awareness. It felt safe and bounteous, if a little daunting. And it immediately fruitful.

Several poems came from the experience, and many new ideas to pursue.

I have a renewed vigor regarding everything I write. What was ash and smoke has been stoked to smoldering embers… pretty soon, I will be on fire again! Yes, I am smiling at this.

Everything is possibly material for a post, poem or other project. That holds true for all of us. Do you know this to be true for you? Do you water sparks before they catch?

Poetry can enhance understanding of life’s moments. It tells a story and gets you to another level of experiencing the world. And April is the month when poetry lovers explore ways to push poetry into the literary mainstream. I like the idea so I participate in my own small way on my blog, Telling Stories. This year I missed a lot, but I will be closing the month by posting a poem a day over there. I started yesterday. If you get a chance, please stop by and let me know what you think.

During National Poetry Month, I generally step up my poem writing and posting and read more. Through the Twitter search, there is a lot of poetry from all over the web. It’s a great place to find a huge cross section of poets and poems and back-stories. I’ve come across some great poetry voices and you can too. And, if this is your month to get started, I hope you’ll continue beyond this month to enjoy the gift that poetry offers.

One blog I came across from exploring #npm is Susan Taylor Brown. It’s been a please reading her poetry and other offerings.

Are you reading all the great stuff that’s online? Or, writing your own poetry? Tell me how you celebrate National Poetry Month. When you want to share poetry on Twitter, add #npm or #poetry month so all searchers can find them, including me, even if we’re not friends. By the way, my Twitter ID is @sharils