Crocuses blooming through leaf litter
on our front hill—and a bee!
spring brings outlook shift:
from impossible chore to
opportunity
I used to (like last week) feel guilty about the piles of unfinished manuscripts crowding my desktop, my file drawers, my computer. Suddenly, it feels like spring, and something about the increased light or flipping the calendar page tilts my perspective toward the positive. National Poetry Month inspires me. Poetry Friday does, too. Plus we made it through another dark winter and a long, stressful election push. Now that pile of unfinished work feels more like a treasure trove I can dip, dig, or dive into as deeply and as often as I want.
I turned away from writing because I got discouraged. Dis-couraged: I lost my courage. And that's how I felt for a while—lost. It's a horrible feeling, as if what I'm missing is a critical part of my identity. Too many rejections, not enough gumption. I tend to contract in difficult times. I turtle myself into a too-tight shell where I fidget and fret.
But I never give up completely. I keep filling notebooks with ideas. I give myself pep talks. I keep trying in tiny increments. And what usually brings me back to writing? Small poems. When the outlook is dire, I try to write a haiku a day. Not because they are easy, but because whittling down a complex concept to a few words provides clarity. I find comfort and challenge in the 5-7-5 structure.
I've been working my way back to writing for a while now, and—who would have guessed?—it turns out that persistence was all I needed. I knew this, of course. I've done it before. Daily haiku eventually lead to picture book drafts. I just wrote a very rough one, my first in a long, long time. Yippee!
If you ever face the same problem, please don't give up. Let me know if you need a pep talk.
Irene Latham hosts today's Poetry Friday Roundup at Live Your Poem. Enjoy!