Friday, April 8, 2016

Poetry Month

Did you know that April is poetry month?

Did you know that I have a love/hate relationship with poetry? I love to read it, I hate to write it.

I have produced some massive failures over the years in all my attempts to become a better poet. One year I tried to write a poem a day, but unfortunately began the goal during a month of romance heartache - producing a whole notebook filled with poems that I desperately wish I could say I wrote when I was 13 and not 26 years old.

Divided Corazon by Ashley Kitchen

Donde esta my notebook?
Quiero some lunch.
Te quiero you.
It just won't trabajar.


The Puzzle by Ashley Kitchen

"I want the piece to fit," she said.
"It can't," he said.
"It will," she said.
"I want it complete," he said.
"It won't be," she said.
"It must," he said.
"One of use will have to give," she said.
"Not me," said he.
"Nor I," she sighed.

When I steer away from the topic of love - all I seem to be inspired by are things like dropping contacts down the drain, or janitors, or the mailman.

January 6th by Ashley Kitchen

Pop goes my plastic eye
Suck goes the wicked drain
Squint goes my eye of flesh
Fuzzy goes my day.

Every failure of a poem I've written pales in comparison to the one I wrote for a creative writing class in college.  We had to write a poem inspired by the moment we first heard about the events of September 11th.  I happened to first hear the events while in a public restroom. And yes, I did base my poem around that theme.  And yes, I did use the symbols of filth and flushing toilets. And yes, at the time I thought it was one of the most brilliant things I'd ever come up with.  I thought I would have people pierced to the very core, left completely without speech and full of tears.

I was partly right, they were speechless(that someone could be so crude and tactless) and some of them were crying(from laughing).

That's when I knew that I had absolutely no filter for knowing what good and bad poetry was all about. But that doesn't stop me from celebrating it this month. Happy Poetry Month!





1 comment:

Anne Burnett said...

I think you should share your 9/11 poem with us, your adoring fans. I'm glad you posted again, and that I randomly checked your blog today. I love you, even though I haven't seen you in years. Which is sad. You should post pictures of your baby. He's probably big now and doesn't look like the baby in the peach post pictures anymore.