Tag: poetry

A Month in the Life, April

April was National Poetry Month, so in honor of that, I decided to devote my theme to poetry for my 365 month. I thought it would be a good fit.

https://jacobhaddon.com/2011/03/27/early-april-365-poetry-month/

You can find the fruits of my labors here, on their own page.

I’ll still do the scans and the future edits. It was an interesting month. I did find the general theme of spring/weather/outside prevalent in the poems, as well as vacation. School is nearing its end, and a few days off is on the brain for sure.

And I’ll admit I fell behind. In the end, there are 30 poems in there, though not every day found me writing one. i know that isn’t the exact point of 365, but hey, so what.

In the end I think the cupcakes are my favorite, abet a bit risque? maybe?

Onwards to May.

Ode To Cupcakes

Start on one side
tugging around the middle
slowly pull off
your paper skirt

before peeling away your top
the icing is nice
but it is the underneath
i want

soft and warm,
what other secrets do you hide?

cupcake
there is only us
and no guilt
for not sharing
my sweet desire

Early April 365 – Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.

I’ve been excited about April. Previous years i’ve tried something like a poetic NaNoWriMo where I would write a poem each day. Naturally I’ve had various levels of success with it. This year I’ve decided to do the same as part of not only National Poetry Month, but my on going art 365 project. I’m posting this early because so that if anyone else wants to join in, they can.

So what is the plan?

Every day I am going to write a poem.
I am going to use only one page from my notebook for each day
While I may not edit, there will be a ‘finished’ version
I’ll be posting the ‘finished version’ as I go

Now, when i am done, I plan to collect all of the pages I did, scan them in and put together a collection (called April, or something that creative) that has the rough pages, the April version and, if needed, a later edited version

Sound like fun? Sound crazy? probably a bit of both. Want to join? (You know you want to watch…)

Update: find the poems here

May Day – A Recommendation

Phillis Levin is my Muse.

Many poets have issued that title on a woman. “She is my muse.” This woman they talk of is beautiful, elegant, they are no doubt in love with her, and equate inspiration to write poetry, happy or sad, about her, to ‘Muse’.

Phillis Levin is my Muse, in the purest sense.

When I starting down this path of creativity, of writing, poetry, of using word as art (ART?) it was a journey that started in the dark (yes, I mean high school). Writings were scribblings in the corners of notebooks, they were mimics of Latin poets, and ‘experimental’ things, which later turned out to be not that ‘experimental’. But this is a part of the poet’s journey, as it is a part of any journey. This part is the beginning.

Then came college, and writing courses, and this strange, but new idea of reading other poets. This idea is a strange one to understand why it is a NEW THING.

A book, Afterimage, was handed to me, by a Ms Phillis Levin.

I read the book twice that night. Three more times in the week that followed. Some where in there I found inspiration.

It was not that I wanted to write like her, or I wanted to follow her journey. Instead what she gave me was the light in the darkness, the direction to start my own journey. I wanted to be that good, and for the first time realized that a bit of work, of tears and cramped hands, that there was more to be done with myself, than simply writing what I had been.

This was her inspiration to me, to start my journey, to take my writing seriously, to turn it into a declaration: “I write.” She is my muse in the purest sense, for I saw her as art, as poetry, as the personification of this undefinable thing I had set off to find.

Her new book is out (alas, the older ones are harder to find, but if you can get them, please do). It is called “May Day” and worth every inch of your bookshelf it will take, of every moment of your life you will read it, of every word that is on the inside leaving the page and haunting you in those moments before you sleep.

Edit: Garrison Kellior’s Writer Almanac has May Day posted, 26 September, 2008