NaPoWriMo #1

Okay, I know what you're thinking ... how can I be on poem #1 in NaPo when we're April 4th! Simple: I'm a perfectionist who was struggling over the first poem for two days, a poem I was give someone. But the poem itself turned into an exercise in self-discovery. So what I have decided to do for the rest of April is to write poems with a theme of self-discovery and introspection. If I get lost along the way or simply need a "break" from so much inward thinking, I will work off the NaPo prompts, or whatever I think needs to be poemed. (BTW, I don't think "poemed" is an actual word, but I tend to use my own made up variations of "poem" or "poetry").

Back to the poem at hand! This first poem is a definite draft of a list poem, a poem about blessings; things, people, experiences that make up my life: the good and the bad. Yes, I said "bad". By this I mean things that seem bad on the surface but have a blessing that lies just beneath. Weall have them, and we may not be ready to recognize them as blessings yet. But they are there. We just have to dig deep to find it.

I still have to round out the stanzas some more and give a more definitive finality to the piece. But this should give a taste of what is to come once it is more filled out.

Poem of Blessings

I am blessed

In my return to the house I grew

up in, with old plumbing and a fallen

carport roof that lets in rain,

I am blessed with a place to sleep

I am blessed

In my only job, part-time, a teacher’s

aide who tutors dyslexic children

I am blessed with biweekly pay

I am blessed

In being an only child, who had

grade school and college companions

I am blessed with lifelong friends

I am blessed

With parents, proud and stubborn

Who taught me service and faith

I am blessed with family

I am blessed

With talent, artful and poetic;

Instilled With a love of culture,

I am blessed with art and words