In September 2016, I decided I would take a shot at doing a poem each day for a month. I’ve done this type of exercise before with good, but mixed, results.
At the time (end of August) I felt I was writing well enough and would perhaps benefit from the discipline of producing an acceptable piece of new work every day.
As it has turned out, I have found the project and process most enjoyable, and have extended it, so that it has encompassed September, October, November and now December. My thinking is that I’ll push on towards a full year of daily work, but we shall see. There are times when I have found myself a little daunted and a little mentally drained. If the quality feels like it is falling away, I’ll call it off and be grateful for what’s come so far.
I’ve had a little scan through the poems that have been put up at the blog site to see what has been achieved, and to try to whittle down a group of poems that might be worth drawing fresh attention to. (Any excuse for a Top 5 Top 8 Top 10 post, really). This was going to be a Top 5 post, honest, but I couldn’t do it. I think I’m a bit close to them still, so I’ve settled on 2 per month.
The first four I’ve picked out, plus an honorable mention (with a note about my reason beside each) are as follows:
September 2016:
digestive fibonacci: fractal-izing mandelbrot: This was an oh wow small moment,with gigantic extended implications (sort of). It’s just about a snail and some broccoli, right?
there – at the gorge: Leanne’s painting of the gorge – her first landscape – is as real to me as touching. I know the place, the feel of the water, the slip of the rocks. To see it is to be transported to a childhood place, where that could just be me there, under the curtain of water …
October 2016:
tenderfoot dancer: Well, this was a bit of a hoot. That’s all. I think it came from a willful misreading of a gardening text, but in any case, the idea made me laugh. I hope you do, too.
way poem #3: to a higher place: A coffee poem, and one of the first of what became a series of ‘way’ poems. I was playing with some ideas I had about the Tao, and ended up with a themed set that I enjoyed doing very much.
October 2016 honorable mention:
way poem #5: the five steps to wheaten pecks: This because I have been studying the ageing and gradual physical and mental deterioration of my parents into their old age. I find the inexorable decline quite moving at times and my father’s descriptions of his relationship with his last remaining hen seemed potent to me.
Hope you enjoy looking again at these few pieces, and if you’d like to check out some more, there should be a link in the categories listed on this page (I think).
Part B tomorrow.
Cheers,
Frank
Top 5 (or 6) – end of year review
Top 5 for 2016 – from the archives (daily prompt)
Top 10 for 2016 – from the Poem-a-day Collection (Part A)
Top 10 for 2016 – from the Poem-a-day Collection (Part B)
Top 5 – Mythologically inspired poems
Frank Prem Poetry 