The Apples in My Orchard

What have I worked on this week? I am a reflective thinker. Perhaps, too much so. I find that sometimes all my thinking stalls my actions and prevents forward movement. I get caught up in questions such as, what should I do now? What would be most productive? Should I stop editing and put those poems in a book? What platform should I use? Lulu? Canva? Another? Should I start using affiliate links on my blog? Etc. Etc. Etc.

It’s where I find myself now. Kind of stalled or in a circling pattern similar to those that planes fly around and around the airport until it’s time for them to land. The trouble is I am both the pilot and the air traffic controller when in comes to my writing tasks.

This week, I’ve been all over the place. Of course, I wrote my daily blog. Over three years of writing nearly every day a consistent writing practice has been firmly established. I received two samples of poetry compilations I was looking at for possible publication avenues. Meh. After reading through them, they are not a good fit for my writing. Too dark. Too odd. Too esoteric. Luckily, I did not pay a lot to receive the samples. I’d pass the title on to you if interested, but truly I have not read any Poetry Friday posts like these poems. I don’t want to knock the publication publicly; I am sure they do have an audience. But, I will have to continue to look elsewhere.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, I found that blog publishing counts for many online and print compilations as being previously published. So, I am starting to write some pieces and NOT put them on my blog. This is hard. Very hard. But, I guess it will be worth it if I do eventually get a piece published.

Additionally, I pulled out two volumes of competitive poetry for grade school authors. Our youngest had poems published once in 2013 in Discovered and again in 2015 in Eloquence. Both are published by The America Library of Poetry. I’d urge teachers of grades 3-12 to consider having talented student writer’s to submit their poetry to this annual juried compilation. Our son submitted without going through a teacher, so that is possible as well. Here is the link: https://www.libraryofpoetry.com/. The experience, if accepted, is a definite confidence builder. The poems are wide ranging and there are prizes in each age category. Our son’s second poem, although now five years old, is very pertinent for today. It is as follows:

There Will Always Be Light

Darkness assails every crevice, every crack,

seeking out the minds of the lonely, and the misfit.

It follows you like an endless cloud.

You try to break free from it, but you cannot.

Finally, just about when you are ready to give up

and let your welcoming arms out wide, you see a glimmer;

a small token of Light in a pot of Darkness.

You grasp it and let it thrive through your veins, enlightening you.

The light spreads out infecting the Darkness like a virus

until all Darkness is gone.

It leaves all the cracks and crevices,

all the minds of the lonely and the misfit,

and is replaced by Light, by Hope.

© B. Labuzzetta, 2015

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking this week. I’ve thought about the pandemic, the people affected, the way its been handled, and of course, the vaccine. I’ve thought about the media and how their influence, lately, is toxic. Their sensationalism of every little thing feeds the public’s anxiety like cattle are fed at the trough. I’ve thought a lot about mental health and how one needs to seek the light to keep going, especially during this very odd time in our history. The sunny days we’ve been granted in December light more than the ground, but also our minds stimulating a better attitude and gratefulness. They’ve been a reprieve from the aforementioned Darkness.

Yes, I’ve done a lot of thinking about many things. Perhaps, now it’s time to write.

Today is Poetry Friday. Our host is children’s author, Buffy Silverman. Please visit her blog for links to more poetry! Thank you, Buffy, for hosting!