I have always struggled with poetry, whether reading it or attempting to write it. Inspiration only comes at certain times, and I am far from being good at it. A love letter infused with my flowery writing, a couple of non-human animal-inspired verses (O is for Orangutan from my Alphabeast series pasted below), or an emulation (Cephalopodan Triad) is about as far as I have gone. I have posted a few of my attempts in the past, but I recently began a writing challenge to keep me on track with working on my second novel. Within this platform, they also had 12 months of poetry as one of their challenges, so I’ve decided to take it on. I seem to have started on a good month, as the prompt was to write an acrostic or ekphrasic poem.
The acrostic has few rules other than to spell out a word with the first letters in each stanza. So, when I came across an old photo of mine from my last trip to Victoria’s Fan Tan Alley, my preferred genre of writing about relationships and most often with a romantic leaning, the photo’s capture of the words Heart’s Content seemed like the perfect way to start this journey. I tried not to ruminate on my imperfections or insecurities and just wrote from the heart. I was eager to submit my poem and have it off my proverbial desk before I lost the courage to show the vulnerability of my writing in a new form. So, I had not shown it to anyone before submitting it. I simply looked forward to the community of writers participating in the challenge, offering their thoughts on my work. I then shared it with someone close to my heart, and they graciously provided some suggested edits that enhanced this somewhat first try of mine. With their keen eye and care, I integrated the new edits that have improved my piece. And with renewed confidence, I'll resubmit this new collaborative version.
I look forward to continuing this shared writing journey. Who knows, I may fall in love with writing poetry too!
O is for Orangutan
Over time, they die out while
Rivers outline the paths that once were followed…
Always closely linked, yet
Never to return.
Great elders led the way.
Under the forest canopy and limb over limb from
Swaying from branch to branch…
Always closely linked yet.
Never to return.
