A Poem a Day:

Celebrated in April, National Poetry Month is the time that we celebrate all things Poetry and poets. Its the time that publishing houses large and small release new collections. It is the time the internet is busting out with fresh poems from poets known and unknown. Coffee houses and bars are full of poets reading raw work. Most poets attempt writing a new poem each day and publish it on their websites or blogs. These collections can then be eligible for publication later in the year.

This celebration was created in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. You can read all about it on Poets.org

It’s not necessarily about writing a poem a day. That particular idea was inspired by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrimo). But that’s how most people celebrate NPM.

Instead of taking on the challenge of writing a new poem each day,  I chose to record a selection of my poetry onto video and then publish them on my YouTube channel.

Part of the process in creating these videos was the challenge to let go of perfection. I didn’t have the time to make each recording perfect, each image beautiful. I had time to rehearse briefly and then hit record. This is grunge poetry, poetry from the basement. Poetry from passion and love, heartache and trauma. Poetry meant to be felt and experienced.

The other challenge was to push myself to finish the project. I attempted to stay ahead of this by recording and editing poems in advance. The plan did not go so well. Procrastination can be hell for an artist and I broke through several creative walls while making these videos.

The hardest poetry to present was the work I did while in intensive therapy for childhood sexual abuse. These poems are powerful and take me back to a painful time in my life. They are available in my collection Catharsis, as well as drawings from that period of my life.

It also helped me see how far I have come on the journey.

Another wall was feeling like what is the point. I wasn’t getting the views from YouTube. People weren’t watching what I was publishing, and there were hardly any comments. Without interaction, why create? I broke through this block by focusing on completing the project. Even if no one watches, I know that I’ve put my work out there.

I hope you enjoy these poems. Maybe I’ll do it again.

Thanks for watching!