Tag Archives: inspiration

fear of poetry

Poetry. It’s only a word. It will not hurt you.
Exposure therapy can help you overcome
your fears. The poetry exercise below was
created especially for this purpose. Use it
when the blank page begins to mock you.

P O E T R Y P O E T R Y P O E T R Y P
O E T R Y P O E T R Y P O E T R Y P O
E T R Y P O E T R Y P O E T R Y P O E
T R Y P O E T R Y P O E T R Y P O E T

Poem title from chapter 51 of poemcrazy by Susan G. Wooldridge.

National Poetry Writing Month begins in a few days. A sure antidote to fear of poetry, since there’s only one day (technically) to work on each prompt. I almost always have something acceptable by the end of the day, which creates a nice feeling of accomplishment. Peace to your ♥!

Brainstorm

All writers have their droughts, the rain gauge dry,
The page as empty as the plains; long days
When not a single cloud drifts in the sky
And inspiration fades to distant haze.
Be constant then in taking to the skies;
Be quick to seed each passing cloud you find.
Sweet rain will fall; ideas will arise
From this precipitation of the mind.
And if the rains delay? Do not lose heart:
A single lightning strike can set afire
The parched and lifeless page, and fresh new art
Emerge out of the ashes of desire.
Amid great dryness, writers, never doubt;
By fire or water growth will come about.

We recently had company from California, where pretty much the entire state is affected by drought. Meanwhile, in my part of the country, we’ve been having thunderstorms fairly regularly. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could shift rain (and inspiration) from areas of abundance to areas of lack? Peace to your ♥!