Sweet Jeebus

National Poetry Month is over. Whew. I actually squeezed out the 30 poems in 30 days, no cheating or using previously written material. I'll admit, there have been years where I haven't produced thirty drafts of poems, good or bad, and that can't continue. It's the most condensed period of writing I've ever done, and it was tough given the end of the term and the new responsibilities I took on over at The Rumpus. It's been brutal at times, and I will admit that not all of what I wrote will likely survive to be revised or sent out. But it was a good exercise all the same, and one I plan to repeat more than once in the coming year.

So now starts the task of revision, submission, and putting together another manuscript. It never ends, and I'm glad for it.

P.S. Ive tried posting this for five days now. Here's hoping it works tonight.

National Poetry Month

So it's April again, time for a host of news articles which once again reference the opening lines of "The Waste Land." I've been in a dry spell as far as writing goes lately--too many other things crowding out my writing time, though the responsibility is mine. So I'm using this month to generate a lot of new stuff, as are a lot of other people, by taking part in NaPoWriMo, or Poem-a-day activities. Poetic Asides, which is the poetry blog of the company which publishes Writer's Digest, is offering a prompt a day, along with a contest. I plan to take part in that one, and perhaps post some of the work I do here as well, though I make no promises.

New poem

A week or so ago, I mentioned that I was working on one of the poem prompts that Robert Lee Brewer had set up on Poetic Asides, and that I might post it when I was done with it. Well, I can't say I think it's one of my best, but I'm as done with it as I'm going to get for the moment. Any suggestions?

Headlines

I was born two days after Nixon won
the first time. Inauspicious beginnings
in a year of strife. Bobby Kennedy.
Martin Luther King, Jr. The Tet Offensive.
I am the same age as The ODB
and Lisa Marie Presley, as Ziggy Marley
and Vanilla Ice, and no wonder
we’re all fucked up because we
all came forth in a year of strife
and we’ve never gotten over it.
But I refuse to stay down. In ‘68
I also got Tommie Smith and John Carlos
in Mexico City, The White Album,
Cash at Folsom Prison and Lady Soul,
Of Being Numerous and North Central,
2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes
and “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”.
It’s not enough, but it is something,
a firebreak, a seawall that deadens
the hurricane’s storm surge, a shot
of whiskey to numb an abscessed tooth.

Challenge Poem

So when I mentioned the April Poetry Challenge, I said I might post some of what comes out of that. Why not?

Here's the second poem I wrote for the challenge--not the second challenge, mind you, but the second one I wrote. I'm not real sure how I feel about it yet, but here it is. I'm certainly open to comments on it.

Headlines

I was born two days after Nixon won
the first time. Inauspicious beginnings
in a year of strife. Bobby Kennedy.
Martin Luther King, Jr. The Tet Offensive.
I am the same age as The ODB
and Lisa Marie Presley, as Ziggy Marley
and Vanilla Ice, and no wonder
we’re all fucked up because we
all came forth in a year of strife
and we’ve never gotten over it.
I turned 32 on Election Day, 2000
the day Fox News declared George Dubya
the 43rd President of the US.
I’ll be working that one out of my system
for decades—to be forever linked
with Nixon is bad enough, but to carry
the weight of the two worst presidents
ever is a bit much to ask of anyone.
But I refuse to stay down. In ‘68
I also got Tommie Smith and John Carlos
in Mexico City, The White Album,
Cash at Folsom Prison and Lady Soul,
Of Being Numerous and North Central,
2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes
and “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”.
It’s not enough, but it is something,
a firebreak, a seawall that deadens
the hurricane’s storm surge, a shot
of whiskey to numb an abscessed tooth.

Here's his latest challenge. It just so happens I'm working on one about seeing la grande Jatte, so if it comes out, I might post that as well.

April Writing Challenge

Robert Lee Brewer is a guy I know primarily through Florida political writing. We're both bloggers on that subject as well, he at Pushing Rope and me at Incertus. But he's also the writer of Poetic Asides, which I've just added to the blogroll (under Robert's name), and he's doing a poem-a-day sort of thing there for National Poetry Month. I think I'm going to give it a try, as the spirit hits me at least. Maybe I'll post some of what comes out of it here. It would certainly give me greater impetus to blog.