Poets! Do at Least One "Poetry Thing" Every Day

As poets, we probably know it's important to write every day. But even while understanding such a wise guideline, if you're like me, you probably don't write every single day. Whether it's because of work, commuting, childcare, domestic duties, or keeping up with friends and extended family, the time you need to sit down without distractions to write may be limited. Sometimes I don't even feel like writing. I'd rather work on artwork, read or catch up on the latest on Netflix. Or perhaps take a much needed nap.

So I made this new rule for myself. If, on a certain day, I don't work on a poem, I vow to at least accomplish one "poetry thing" that day.  Wait. What is a "poetry thing?" In my estimation, it could be one of the following:

~ Read poetry from a poetry collection or magazine

~ Submit poetry to a publisher

~ Attend a poetry reading, live or virtual

~ Edit an old poem

~ Promote your latest published poem or poetry collection on social media

~ Promote your fellow poets' latest published poem or poetry collection on social media

~ Give a reading at a live or virtual open mic

~ Attend a virtual poetry event

~ Attend an online poetry workshop

~ Do research and/or write ideas/notes for a new poem

~ Comb your personal journal for ideas for new poems

~ Go to the library to check out the new poetry collections

~ Follow a writing prompt from an outside source or a book to start a new poem

~ Select poems you've written that might make up a new poetry chapbook or full collection

~ Or just write a new poem 

Why do any or all of these "Poetry Things?" If you call yourself a poet, you need to live a poet's life! And life is lived every day! Can you name another "poetry thing" that doesn't appear on the list above? Please share. I'd like to hear from you. With so many options, there's no reason not to do at least one "poetry thing" every day! 

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Poets! Do at Least One "Poetry Thing" Every Day

How to Journal Your Dream House

Don't we sometimes fantasize about what your perfect dream house might be like? A topic you might journal about during this Covid-19 time of uncertainty is what you picture as your dream house. But why now? During Covid season!? Now, when you're perhaps in no personal or financial position to move anywhere, much less to a dream house? Isn't it materialistic or even torture to spend time thinking about it? 

I did so to find out. Today, I finished writing seven journal pages of thoughts, whimsies and even plain wish lists about what my dream house might be comprised of. Not so much what it "looks like," but what it's "about." Many of those aspects of such a future house (or never-in-the-future-house, as I may never get one) had been eating at me, spinning around in my head in random order.

After I spent an hour or so putting my thoughts down, seeing them on paper, I actually felt much better and even felt released from the fantasy of what "could be." By putting the needs, wants and not wants in front of me in writing, it brought a realism and organization to an unrealistic situation. All and all, a house is not a home. I have a home now. It's the site of what's important to me: family, love, faith, poetry, art. Someday a future house might be a home, too. But I don't have to think about it anymore, right now. Or desire it anymore, right now. Because it's there, inside my journal. If I ever really need to refer to it. I'll be prepared. haha. Nevertheless, all the while, I had fun and learned more about myself and my own personality. Actually, some of the things I "wanted" are ideas I can put forth right now, and cost little to nothing. Perhaps this exercise was more about me than about an actual house. 

Some fantasies about a house that stood out in my journal: 

~ "Every room should have its own song (or at least a poem written about it with an abstract portrait created in pastels or acrylics) as in Harold Budd's ambient music album 'The Room,' in which room/songs with titles 'The Room of Ancillary Dreams,' 'The Room of Oracles,' 'The Candied Room' and 'The Room of Accidental Geometry' appear."

~ "The house might have a winter bedroom and a summer bedroom, with the seasons' respective clothes in each bedroom closet. The winter bedroom would be on the sunny side of the house, painted in warm, earthy colors. The summer bedroom, on the other hand, would be on a shady side of the house, with cool blues and greens in its palette. "

~ "A house should have a minimum of one bedroom, one bath, one kitchen and a living room with a desk and bookshelves. A house should have a maximum of 10 rooms and then be themed like the game Clue ~ with the Library, the Conservatory, the Billiard Room (or names like the Harold Budd album, above). If unattached at the time, I would try to meet someone named Colonel Mustard, as in the Clue game, or at least someone who likes the mustard color, or the condiment. Just kidding."

~ "If you have so many rooms you just don't know what to do with them all (haha), retain one room for the most kitschy or throw-back-era items you can find: old black velvet paintings, a lava lamp, a round bed with a pastel rococo headboard, spool table, bean bag chairs, tacky vases, plastic flowers, ornate crazy-looking side table lamps from thrift stores, funny road signs, making it a real American Pickers' lived-in paradise."

I also included aspects of a house that SHOULD NOT be included, though other people might think they're important, such as an attached garage, a white kitchen, a formal dining room, cathedral ceilings, be near a golf course, a swimming pool, a media/theater room, PVC plumbing. I don't have any of those things right now, so that's covered!

Of course, my list of what a house SHOULD have is quite long, highlighted by some unusually self-indulgent entries, but also, importantly, to have rock outcroppings nearby, a front door high above ground level reached by stairs, arches somewhere, and space for archery out back. 

      

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How to Journal Your Dream House