Writing Update: A Poem EVERY Day?

About a week ago, I opened my poetry journal (I keep a journal separate for just poetry) and I realized that I had not written a poem since 2021.

It's been TWO YEARS. Granted, I've written the two poems I posted on this blog recently, but those I stressed over and perfected (at least, in my mind) - they weren't the real heart and soul of what I consider to be poetry (I'll explain below).

I grew up writing poetry. It was my first experience with writing, long before I began longer stories and novels. I even wrote a poem that I recited at a talent show. I had poems published in online anthologies. Poetry was a foundational element of my writing career. 

I was shocked that I hadn't written a heart-bleeding poem in two years. True, I'd written other things in that time, but there's something special about 'real' poetry. While novels, books, and stories elegantly weave morals and themes and analogies of real-life struggles, poetry is raw. Poetry is your heart bleeding onto the paper. There are no limits to poetry. There are no filters. You could choose to follow the 'rules' of poetry, pick a form, and play with meter and rhyme and verse and syllables, but you could also just word-vomit and not care about the form. 

Poetry is raw. Genuine. Painful. Beautiful. Ugly. Releasing. Submerging. Whispering. Screaming. Laughing. Crying. Heart. Mind. 

There is something so freeing about poetry. It provides an outlet for emotions and thoughts and experiences that otherwise wouldn't get released. When you have no one to talk to (except God, of course), or no one will listen, or you feel like what you have to say isn't appropriate to talk about, or that it's too painful or ugly or whatever, poetry is a release. Things I can't translate into books, characters' experiences, or whatnot, I put into poetry. 

It was a real surprise to see that I hadn't written in my poetry journal in two years. It hasn't been for a lack of heart-bleeding, that's for sure. I simply haven't taken the time or thought to write. 

So, I came up with a plan. Last week, I began writing a poem every. single. day. 

Yup, every single day. I told myself that it doesn't matter if the poem is 'stupid' or 'silly' or lacking form or rhythm (also, why is that word so hard to spell? I keep wanting to write rhythym or rythm or something). 

I've loved the outcome. Yeah, I've written a lot of poems about the food I ate (hot chocolate, yum!) or random things, but I've also written what I consider to be 'masterpieces'. I posted earlier today a poem I wrote yesterday, "Waiting". I was really upset when I wrote that poem and it was such a release for me to put my emotions onto paper. 

I won't post every one of my daily poems, for various reasons, but I'll try to post a lot of them. I hope this encourages someone in their poetic attempts. 

Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

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