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

Poetry Challenge: Poem #2 of 5

Hi there! Today I'm posting the second poem in the poetry challenge I'm sharing with Katie. I think I'm really getting into this challenge, as I know several of our fellow poets also are. I have half a mind to actually take part in NaPoWriMo in April for Poetry Month, poetry's answer to the yearly month-long novel writing challenge in November, NaNoWriMo! We'll see ... :)

In the meantime, here is my second poem. In the fall I was enrolled in a poetry class where I wound up writing a couple poems about my dad, This is one of the more finished ones. Working on a couple actually for possible submissions. Hope you enjoy.

The Man in the Picture

I don’t remember the man

in the picture, the one I stand

like, with a hand on my hip, one

knee slightly bent,

The one I repeated every swear

word to in English or Spanish

to either forget or not say

anymore – I guess it worked

The one who brought me surprises

after trips away – they mixed in with

gifts of “just because” or “I love you”,

so now I don’t know which was which

The one who bought me a ticket

to the history show at the IMAX theatre –

he looked in the Texas heat for the car

he didn’t want Mom to know he lost

in the paid parking lot in San Antonio

The one who when I went to Spain gave

me a calling card for emergencies –

He went speechless when the phone

bill was more than $500 because he

“just wanted to hear [my] voice”

The one who I saw his face age almost twice

its years – cancer treatments and a brain

tumor wiped out recollections of feeding

the cats, turning on the lights in the back

and coming home.

He still gives me money every week

“to get a hamburger”, and gets mad

I walk the half a block from work

because it’s too hot outside

More and more I know only the man

who stands in front of me, and more

and more I forget the man in the picture.