Changes, the When & When Not

 

There are times when as much as you work on a poem, the words just don't turn out to your liking. 

I reverted, The Tundra & the Apple Tree, to draft because it is one of those poems for me, that isn't where I want it to be. 

There is a too familiar flow to the lines. I always fear maybe I read a similar poem way back when or it reminds me of something that isn't reaching the surface of my memory.

Looking back, I began writing the poem with the thought of creating something silly with a contrast that gives a reader the opportunity to think, fill in their thoughts for what the words will mean. 

I know now that if that is a goal for a poem I want to write, then I have to do more pre-writing aka think, plan, practice words, than I usually do. Making a list of words I want to include can be helpful when a poem has such a specific theme. Using a thesaurus, it is easy to fall down the rabbit hole with a word. That is all right because you can pick up other words along the way.

There is no fantasy

more true

than how we,

in our element,

in this era,

on these days,

are living 

fiction ingredients 

folded into reality.

Those lines are the core of the poem, The Tundra & the Apple Tree. What I'm thinking of changing is the tundra and apple as examples to carry the theme. A week or more, and the poem should be finished to repost.

Poetry Websites

 

Finding a website to post your poetry can be daunting. Reading reviews have to be filtered through your priority list. 

Is the size of the website's audience number one or is it the format? There are places where poets gain status by reciprocal following. Other websites, your work sits there until somebody reads and clicks Like. Both styles do the same thing, they get your poems out in the public. 

Reading poetry based blogs is another way of spreading your words.

For a start, read 

Feedspot's,  100 Best Poetry and Websites

No Jacket, No Scarf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

wide open arms 

in a bistro chair shape,

pull in bundles of air.

celebrating the outdoors____

the soul inside,

wears no jacket, no scarf

no gloves.

there is resolve 

to enjoy the full hug

of enthusiasm

for not being inside

an organized tangle of angles____

ninety degree barriers, 

storing a stale atmosphere 

that wears on the psyche.

when sunshine glares, 

tell it how you feel 

about being happy,

about being successful

or being annoyed 

by loud brain voices 

telling you maybe...

You can do more 

than hug air. 

M.Flannery

March 2024

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recent poems are emerging from a sort of gray scale interlude. My brain voice is singing off key random sentences about spring, summer will be here tomorrow guilt trips, and you might become sick if you lose thirty pounds before June. To my credit, I was going to make cupcakes, but I threw away the mix.