Poetry Friday: Poetry Prep Work

Here it is Poetry Friday again and once again, I do not have any new poetry to share. It’s not that I haven’t been working on poetry – I have, but my writing has taken the form of editing chores, searching for publication possibilities, and new poetry groups to join. I also have been invited to do a poetry reading in May at the art gallery where I have sold my handcrafted jewelry for the past eight years. So, in actuality, I do have a lot going on with poetry, just not new poems.

My editing chores have involved reviewing my nature poetry for those are poems I will read at the gallery during the Poetry of Our Times exhibition. It has helped to let the poems sit for a while and then go back to them for editing. Fresh perspectives and new words appear in my head as possibilities to change the poem and make it better. Today, I plan to look for a poetry editor on Reedsy or Fivver to review the poetry for me before I become an indie publisher!

There is a time crunch here, however. The gallery wants the material related to the exhibition to be checked in by April 25th so they can enter it into their POS (point of sale) system and price it. I am taking a stack of THINGS WE DO books, the poetry anthology which contains my first published poem, INVENT. And, I plan to take the chapbook of nature poems IF I can get it finished in time. I also made some cards and postcards, similar to those I sent in the winter poetry postcard exchange, for sale. Those have been ordered. The chapbook is the biggest question but I think I can make it work. I think there comes a time when you have to say “enough” and have another set or two of eyes on what you’ve written. I’m at that point.

There is a poetry book in my collection from the gallery entitled A Rural Alphabet by Monica Jagel and Joanne Adragna Shird. I’ve owned the book since 2014. I contacted Monica about her self-publication experience because the book is very nicely done. She responded immediately with her experience and possible avenues for me to take. It pays to network! I’ll be pleased if my chapbook turns out as nice as Monica’s did.

I also found a state poetry group to join in Wisconsin. The group is named the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. The fee to join is nominal and they run several contests a year as well as critique groups. I was excited to find it and will take care of joining today.

Lastly, I’ve been learning how to do a voice-over on a google slide presentation I have on flower bulbs. I found a tutorial on YouTube for Audacity and have been working on adding my voice-over for the last two days. The presentation is for six first-grade classrooms on their environmental day, April 6th. This relates to poetry because when I teach the unit I have the students take a nature walk and then write acrostic poems on TULIPS, BULBS, or SPRING with the impressions of what they saw.

Since A Rural Alphabet book dealt with nature and farming, I found a Walt Witman poem in the public domain that spoke to this subject.

A Farm-Picture By Walt Whitman Through the ample open door of the peaceful country barn, A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding; And haze, and vista, and the far horizon, fading away.

Whitman’s poem speaks perfectly about what is to come in the mid-west as the season gives way to warmer and brighter days. It is a perennial picture painted with words for all of us who bear the winter in the north.

I’m returning to Poetry Friday after a week off from my daily blogging. It was refreshing to work on some different writing – some that will benefit me and help me to grow in this craft. Thanks for stopping by. I do appreciate any comments! I am both thankful and glad to be part of this group.

Our host for this week’s round-up is Amy at The Poem Farm. Thanks for hosting, Amy!