OctPoWriMo: How did poetry become a part of your life?

Tiny view shaken

Wondering how it all works

Pen guides my journey

It all started when I was 12 years old. I met a boy. It was a week-long romance, probably the longest week in history. I have no science to back that up, just the remembered feeling of summer’s heavy humidity and the intensity of burgeoning feelings. I didn’t know what to do with them all. I’d had crushes before, but hadn’t ever liked a boy like this.

So I wrote a poem.

One poem turned into two poems.

This started me on the path of writing poetry all the time. A pen and paper became a permanent fixture in my life. Whether I was down, confused, happy, curious, or just wanting to explore my imagination, I felt a need to scribble it all down. I'd written short stories before, but this was different. More personal. 

Mom bought me a journal with its rose covered hard cover. The pages were in different colored sections pink, light blue and lilac. They were soft to the touch and smelled almost like roses. I wrote in that thing constantly. I counted on its flimsy lock to keep my secrets at bay. It was so well-used, month's into owning it, the cover fell off. I was so sad when that happened. 

The next year, my English teacher asked us to keep journals in steno pads. I could flip the cover to the back of the book and not damage it. I was sold. That's where my poetry lived. 

Here I am still writing poetry in steno pads trying to understand the world around me, and my role in it.

Do you remember why you started writing poetry? How old were you? Do you write your poetry in a special place? 

Tamara Woods was raised (fairly happily) in West Virginia, where she began writing poetry at the age of 12. She shares poetry and short stories on her blog PenPaperPad, is a contributing writer for the online ‘zine Lefty Pop and writes articles as a full-time freelance writer. She is editor for an upcoming poetry journal collaboration, and hosts #writestuff TweetChat where writers talk about writing. She is a hillbilly hermit in Honolulu living with her Mathmagician.

What Does a Poetry Challenge Bring Out in You?

Breathe, dance, and write 

the morning will bring the light 

chewing fingers to the bone 

write, free yourself from the stone 

~MDragonwillow 

There are more and more poetry challenges out there. When I remembered my love of writing poetry a couple of years ago there was only NaPoWriMo, at least that is all that I knew about. I discovered that I really enjoyed the experience and the challenge of trying to write a poem a day and that's why I started OctPoWrimo.

Of course that is when I'm not rebelling or anxiety has me falling to the floor.

My rebel tends to come out whenever I try to do a challenge and says, "Oh you don't want to do that today." and dangles some sparkly thing in front of me to pull my attention away. Or my anxiety rears its head and I can't hardly show up at the page with out feeling like I'm going to be ill or hyperventilate.

Every time I think I have a handle on my fears and anxiety they decide to twist my gut and bring me to my knees once more. But I can't let it stop me. No matter how uncomfortable it can be at times. These poetry challenges push me to pull words from the deepest places of my heart, how can I say no to that?

So here I am once again preparing for a month long poetry challenge, I wonder what will win over this time - fear and anxiety, or courage?

What happens when you participate in a poetry challenge?

Are you able to write every day?

Do you hit a wall?

Do your fears over take you?

Or are you one that barrels through, laughing at the obstacles as you trample them under your feet?

What does a poetry challenge bring out in you?

Count Down: 25 Days until OctPoWriMo!

Morgan Dragonwillow is a poet, survivor, rebel dancing with words, foodie & intuitive cook, recovering perfectionist, and indie author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't.

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OctPoWriMo - Healing Words

Why write, especially poetry? If it's not an assignment for school or something that you're being paid for, why do it? 

If you are someone who might ask these or similar questions, then this post is for you! If you're already an avid keeper of journals and poet (dabbler or professional or somewhere in between), then I hope you find something new here to continue to inspire you.

About eight years ago, I was emotionally shut down. I was numb from divorce and working in a job that was smothering me. I had just reached a significant milestone in my career as a high school math teacher and chose to reward myself with a reading and writing retreat on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I spent a glorious 5 days on Ocracoke Island doing a great deal of writing and resumed a long-abandoned habit of daily journal writing (see Julia Cameron's Morning Pages). It didn't take long for the full impact of this experience to shake my world to its foundation.

Writing broke me open. Writing poetry allowed me to explore structures and forms to fit my confusing swirl of emotions that were surfacing at an alarming rate. Ultimately, the practice of daily writing and the incorporation of writing poetry began to heal my broken soul. 

As I continued to write for the next several years, I began to see several recurring themes in my words. I was writing about childhood trauma, adoption, rape, and mental illness. I was also writing about home and family. Through my writing, I found a voice for the hurt little girl that was still sulking inside me. I found a voice for the violated young woman and the scarred, scared woman that I had become. Words had become my refuge and my journal was my safe place.

A couple of years after the Ocracoke experience, I began sharing my poems through my own blog (http://seekingmeme.wordpress.com/ ) and I saw with increasing frequency that I was far from alone. I began to network with other poets and others who had similar experiences. I was shocked at how many people came forward to tell me "It happened to me, too." I became more and more certain that this was all pointing me down a new path in my life.

I am now a student (again) working toward a Master's degree in Art Therapy. I'm studying visual art and creative writing in the hopes of combining the two (along with perhaps music and dance) for a multimedia arts approach for trauma victims, allowing them to find their own voices. I believe that it is critical  to find your voice and then use it in a safe and healthy way. Personal journal writing and poetry are my safe places. 

I'll have more to say on this topic next week, along with some links to a few related websites. For now, to those that are regular writers, how has it helped you? For those that don't write, what's stopping you?

~ Amy McGrath

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OctPoWriMo and Growing as a Poet - A Profile of Sara Teasdale

Sara Teasdale, Award Winning Lyrical Poet

When I first started writing poetry, I didn't read much poetry at all. It wasn't until I began maturing as a poet that I gained the confidence to not only read the work of past poets, but to study them in order to come to know more about poetry as an art form.

Discovering the lives of women poets who have lived before me has been particularly inspiring to me, so much so I started a series of profiles of women in literary history.

I like to call them our Literary Grannies. 

Today let's meet Sara Teasdale, a Pulitzer prize winning lyrical poet who lived from 1884 - 1933.
 
I don’t remember when exactly I fell in love with Sara

I love how mysterious she looks here. 

Teasdale. I think it was during the era when I was being haunted by Edna St. Vincent Millay. (A brief aside: Later in September, I will write of recent visit to her home in Austerlitz, New York.)

For now, we will focus on Millay's lyrical contemporary, Miss Sara Teasdale.

She was born in 1884 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was unhealthy as a child so she didn’t start school until she was nine-years-old. She came from a wealthy family who was able to both provide for her and take care of all her needs. She went to the prestigious Hosmer Hall, an all girls school in St. Louis. 

Zoe Akins, celebrated playwright, also attended Hosmer Hall at this time.

Teasdale created a women’s literary society with some of her teen friends which they called “The Potters.” They even published their own literary journal The Potters Wheel where Sara received her first publishing credits.

She looked to several different poets as well as actress Eleanora Duse as role models and inspiration for her writing. Among her favorites were Christina Rossetti, Mary Robinson and Emily Dickinson.

She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1918 (which was then called Columbia University Poetry Prize). Today’s readers might find her early twentieth century style out of flavor. I ask you read it as if it was just written today.

Hold the words lightly and see what these words written one-hundred years ago by a young, inspired poet may teach you now.

It is Not a Word

It is not a word spoken,
Few words are said;
Nor even a look of the eyes
Nor a bend of the head,
But only a hush of the heart
That has too much to keep,
Only memories waking
That sleep so light a sleep.

Faults

They came to tell your faults to me,

They named them over one by one;

I laughed aloud when they were done,

I knew them all so well before,—

Oh, they were blind, too blind to see

Your faults had made me love you more.

                To E.

I have remembered beauty in the night,

     Against black silences I waked to see

     A shower of sunlight over Italy

And green Ravello dreaming on her height;

I have remembered music in the dark,

     The clean swift brightness of a fugue of Bach's,

     And running water singing on the rocks

When once in English woods I heard a lark.

But all remembered beauty is no more

     Than a vague prelude to the thought of you --

     You are the rarest soul I ever knew,

          Lover of beauty, knightliest and best;

My thoughts seek you as waves that seek the shore,

           And when I think of you, I am at rest.

Many of her lyrics are love poems inspired by two men: one she married (Ernst Filsinger) and one who adored her and ended his life with suicide in 1931 (Vaclev Lindsay).She divorced Filsinger, who offered financial stability in addition to her wealthy family, in 1929. Some sources say it is her seven year friendship with young poet Margaret Conklin that caused the marital split. 

On January 29, 1933, Sara Teasdale followed other creative people including her one-time love, Vaclev Lindsay, into suicide. She overdosed on barbiturates and climbed into the bathtub, yet another tragedy upon yet another creative woman.

* Parts of this blog post were originally published as a part of the Literary Women from A to Z series in 2012.

-- Julie Jordan Scott is a creative life coach, award-winning story teller, actor, director and Mommy extraordinaire. Read more of her inspirational writings at her blog, Julie Unplugged, and watch for the grand opening of her new blog in Mid-September. 

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Why do You Write Poetry

For some people writing poetry is playful or about love and roses. For me it is about the shadows. It is about diving into what is painful, what is hard.

What is it about poetry, the freedom of writing words onto a page, arranging them, having them flow up

and down,

back and                                                 forth.

filling them with emotions

until they drip with the edges of our sanity. But in writing them down, in allowing them to be, you end up saving yourself. At least that is how I feel sometimes.

I write poetry to decipher my feelings, to understand why I feel the way I do. Why do you write poetry?

 

Morgan Dragonwillow is a poet, survivor, rebel dancing with words, lover of all things magical, recovering perfectionist, and indie author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't.

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OctPoWriMo Count Down!

If this is the first time you have found us, OctPoWriMo is an October Poetry Writing Month. It is a poetry challenge to write a poem a day during the month of October and link up your poetry here for all of us to share and support each others poetry journey. You can find inspiration through our daily poetry prompts or write from your own prompts.

We are so excited about OctPoWriMo this year! Last year we saw over 14,000 visitors during the month of October, that's a lot of visitors! Who knows how many we will have this year.


We are officially in the count down to OctPoWriMo! We have a great group of poet volunteers that are going to be helping out here with tips, prompts, reviews, and more leading to the first day of October when the challenge begins!

Julie Jordan Scott, who has been with me since the beginning with her wealth of poetry experience!

Amy Phelps McGrath, who joined us last year and contributed so much!

Tamara Woods, who has decided to join us this year and I'm very excited to read her contributions!

And of course me, Morgan Dragonwillow, the creatrix of OctPoWriMo.

You can find out more about each of us either by clicking on our names and going to our websites/blogs, or by going to the Creatrix and Contribtors page.

During September:

We will be sharing poetry tips, our favorite poetry books, poetry journeys, and possibly guest posts during the month of September leading to OctPoWriMo. 

There are two ways you can participate during September:

• You can begin to get to know the other participants by leaving a comment with a link to your favorite poem (either from last years OctPoWriMo or another poem on your blog).
• You can share in the comments during the month of September any poetry type post from your blog.
• You can write a guest post with your poetry journey, your poetry process or anything else about poetry.
• And of course you can chat with us on Twitter using the hashtag #OctPoWriMo and on Facebook in the Writing Poetry Group

If you are interested in sharing a guest post email me at morgan_dragonwillow@hotmail.com.

Something new!

We are offering Indie Authors a special deal this year to showcase their poetry book covers for the month of September and/or October. Check out Indie Authors Promo for more information.

Count Down: 30 Days until OctPoWriMo!

 

Morgan Dragonwillow is a poet, survivor, rebel dancing with words, lover of all things magical, recovering perfectionist, and indie author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't. 

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OctPoWriMo Is Coming Soon!

The time is almost here for another 31 poems in 31 days in October! I am looking for volunteers to help with tips (in Sept.) and prompts (in Oct.) posts, writing encouraging comments on the participants posts, and sharing OctPoWriMo on social media.

We are also looking for guest posts regarding poetry books, your poetry process, your journey to poetry or any other story about your poetry journey that you would like to share with OctPoWriMo.

If you participated last year or the year before, we would love for you to share your OctPoWriMo experience with us and we will post it during Sept. on OctPoWriMo.com. It can be anything from a paragraph to 500 words long.

If you are interested in any of the above, please contact me either by messaging me on my Facebook page, Morgan Dragonwillow, Poet, or by emailing me with the subject, OctPoWriMo at morgan _ dragonwillow @ hotmail . com (make sure you take out all of the spaces when emailing me).

Photo by Morgan Dragonwillow

OctPoWriMo is a wonderful challenge for all of us that love exploring words in all its forms. I hope you decide to join us again this year and discover where your words will lead!

Peace to you,
Morgan Dragonwillow

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