Finding my Way Back to Daily Poetry Practice

I wrapped up the February Peace Poetry Postcard project sending out poems to fellow travelers all over the States throughout the last month. The letter carrier is still making deliveries of new cards to my place. The poems keep coming!

The time change has hit me hard. We are soaking up the long afternoons, but this far north, mornings are very dark…again. When my sleep is interrupted or I’ve stayed up too late, the thing to go is my writing practice.

I’m also in the midst of moving my writing space. I’ll have a desk for the first time! But it’s on the sun porch that has glorious windows all around and not a bit of insulation or heating. Not a place that calls me out of bed at 5 am. But I have a space heater, a good scarf, and plenty of candles and coffee.

All in all, things feel a little off here on the cusp of the new season. But I still want to be connected to my work.

Ann Kroeker released a new podcast episode called “Can a Poem a Day Make Us Better Writers?” Her enthusiasm has me excited to gather up my notebook and return to my copywork project. I finished copying out So Far So Good by hand, and started in on Ursula LeGuin’s penultimate book of poems called Late in the Day. But these poems are longer, a bit harder to write out by hand, and I’ve been stalling.

Cheered on by Ann, “a writing coach in your ear,” I am returning to this project. Even if I don’t make it out to the porch to write, I want to keep in touch with my poetic impulse. I want to meet the new day and the new season with poems instead of screens. I want to soak in good words written just on the other side of the hills.

Ann has started sharing poems on her Instagram stories. Just click on her picture at she’ll read to you!