The Poem-a-Day Portion of Our Program, Day One.
On January 13 of this year, for no particularly important reason, I sent the following poem to my darling wife via text message:
The poem, simple as it was, was made up on the spur of the moment while I was at work.
I quickly followed it with another text message saying something along the lines of "that was your poem for the day". Having sent the followup message, it somehow seemed appropriate to send a second poem the next day. And so I did.
Then I kept going. For eight months [so far], I've been sending Beth a new poem on a [mostly] daily basis. I won't claim the resulting poems amount to high art. In fact, I will claim just the opposite. But I think that every once in a while there is a gem or a nugget that makes the exercise seem pretty worthwhile, from the standpoint of the practice of writing.
Often, the poems have been downright lousy. Still, for me, the point of the exercise has been a romantic notion. I think it's a pretty sweet thing to do for my wife. Perhaps you disagree. That's okay.
Usually, the poems are very short, but sometimes I get ambitious. Mostly they rhyme, but sometimes they take the form of a haiku. Occasionally, I'll throw in something less structured. And I might even have composed a limerick or two.
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From time to time, when it occurs to me that my blogging has become shamefully rare, I decide to take on some new strategy for increasing the frequency of my posts. Usually, these strategies last only a short while and then I get lazy again. Well, I have a new strategy and I think it will last longer than most — largely because I already have the raw material all ready to go. So, with the permission of my darling wife [thanks to you, Beth!], I'm embarking on a new phase of The Repeal of Gravity Blog: It is now becoming a poem-a-day blog. Today is day one.
I probably won't provide a commentary for all of the poems. Perhaps not even for most. But at least the poems themselves will be available for a new post each day for the foreseeable future.
I hope you will enjoy them, even if most of them are gushy love poems. [Some of you may actually like that aspect, for all I know.] As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged. Historically, my blog has been one that really does not get many comments at all. If I'm really lucky, this will be the strategy that changes that. We'll see. It's all up to you.
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Two additional notes:
1) Part of why I am doing this is in hopes that it will be an inspiration for somebody else. I don't necessarily care whether anyone takes up the challenge of trying to write a daily poem. Do whatever interests you, if you so choose. Just take away from this exercise the idea that it's possible to do things that you might not believe you have in you. All you have to do is try. [Although If you take this as inspiration for doing something to add a bit more romance to the world, I would be especially honored.]
2) Another part of why I am doing this is because my longtime friend Birdie asked me on Facebook whether my "stuff" was published. It isn't, but at least this way I get to share it with her and anyone else who cares to read it. I have a hunch Janelle may appreciate it too.
I love you.
I miss you.
I want to hug and kiss you.
The poem, simple as it was, was made up on the spur of the moment while I was at work.
I quickly followed it with another text message saying something along the lines of "that was your poem for the day". Having sent the followup message, it somehow seemed appropriate to send a second poem the next day. And so I did.
Then I kept going. For eight months [so far], I've been sending Beth a new poem on a [mostly] daily basis. I won't claim the resulting poems amount to high art. In fact, I will claim just the opposite. But I think that every once in a while there is a gem or a nugget that makes the exercise seem pretty worthwhile, from the standpoint of the practice of writing.
Often, the poems have been downright lousy. Still, for me, the point of the exercise has been a romantic notion. I think it's a pretty sweet thing to do for my wife. Perhaps you disagree. That's okay.
Usually, the poems are very short, but sometimes I get ambitious. Mostly they rhyme, but sometimes they take the form of a haiku. Occasionally, I'll throw in something less structured. And I might even have composed a limerick or two.
----
From time to time, when it occurs to me that my blogging has become shamefully rare, I decide to take on some new strategy for increasing the frequency of my posts. Usually, these strategies last only a short while and then I get lazy again. Well, I have a new strategy and I think it will last longer than most — largely because I already have the raw material all ready to go. So, with the permission of my darling wife [thanks to you, Beth!], I'm embarking on a new phase of The Repeal of Gravity Blog: It is now becoming a poem-a-day blog. Today is day one.
I probably won't provide a commentary for all of the poems. Perhaps not even for most. But at least the poems themselves will be available for a new post each day for the foreseeable future.
I hope you will enjoy them, even if most of them are gushy love poems. [Some of you may actually like that aspect, for all I know.] As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged. Historically, my blog has been one that really does not get many comments at all. If I'm really lucky, this will be the strategy that changes that. We'll see. It's all up to you.
-----
Two additional notes:
1) Part of why I am doing this is in hopes that it will be an inspiration for somebody else. I don't necessarily care whether anyone takes up the challenge of trying to write a daily poem. Do whatever interests you, if you so choose. Just take away from this exercise the idea that it's possible to do things that you might not believe you have in you. All you have to do is try. [Although If you take this as inspiration for doing something to add a bit more romance to the world, I would be especially honored.]
2) Another part of why I am doing this is because my longtime friend Birdie asked me on Facebook whether my "stuff" was published. It isn't, but at least this way I get to share it with her and anyone else who cares to read it. I have a hunch Janelle may appreciate it too.
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