I'm face with a writing group again--finally! We've been on hiatus for a few months because all of us had such busy lives. With travels, moves to different cities, and classes, we all felt too overwhelmed to block out time for even our virtual meetings. Now I need to write a poem.
As you may have noticed, I'm using this meeting as the reason for my creative writing. So the first way I write a poem is to have to! Meeting a deadline is my best and most effective reason for writing. One of the few friends I share my work with laughs at my process. I may only have a few hours until our meeting, but I feel obligated to have something to share and find it somewhere inside me, sometimes just in time.
Another way I write is to walk. When I'm at home or work I'm occupied with way too many tasks. It's only when I leave the house on foot that I can clear my head and discover impressions, memories, and images that move me emotionally.
Usually, though, poems I write respond to tiny everyday experiences: throwing scissors into a compost pile by accident, smashing a spider on my bed, watching a hawk out my window, or learning to water an orchid. I used to write about big ideas, mostly showing my adolescent skepticism, but now I find solace in the everyday. I leave the big ideas to my academic writing.
Today I think I might consider writing about a black snake that slithered out of one of my garden beds or the bunny that got caught in my green bean fencing or maybe even the heat. I've been writing quite a bit about the heat in this blog because I hate it so much. I sweat. I don't perspire or glow. And my hair usually looks like I just got out of the shower every day during July and August.
So that's a start. I write because I have to and write while I walk and write when something tiny sparks an emotion.
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