National Poetry Month or National Earth Month: Which Is It For Me?

Hands down, it is National Earth Month for me.

I’ve reached a frustrating point with poetry and poetry groups again. This seems like a circular problem I have. The way I deal with it is to back away from sharing poetry or poem-related posts for a while in poetry groups.

When you belong to groups on social media, there is always a chance you won’t fit in. I’ve found this to be true for me.

One of the differences for me with my Medium.com posts is that I comment on others, and they comment back on mine. My comments are sincere and not obligatory. But I feel part of the community. I feel that I’m more on the fringe of other groups.

I’m not a true poet – I like to write and I like poetry, but even though this month has been National Poetry Month, I haven’t written it each day. But I did promote the craft for our state group by participating in a poetry reading and I wrote a poem on a prompt provided by this group. Neither action garnered much support from online poetry groups.

Part of this is my fault

Let’s take Poetry Friday for example. Most posts are made on Thursday due to those that belong to the group living in places around the world where it is Friday before it is in the US. I’m always, always on the tail end of the posting, even though it’s most likely by noon on Friday. The end is not a good place to be.

I do not do well with return comments; I read and comment. But when someone comments on mine, sometimes it takes a week or two to return the comment. I don’t do this on Medium – perhaps this is why my engagement is better there. I read and comment faithfully every day on Medium.

I fail to garner a lot of comments from the Poetry Friday group. I posted yesterday. No comments. But did I comment on others? No, not until this morning, and then it was only two other posts. So, really what can I expect. But another possible reason for the silence, I did not post an actual poem, I just wrote about a prompt and how I went about writing it. It was still about poetry and still Friday. For me, the post worked. Maybe it didn’t work for others.

I seem to say the “wrong” thing. I am part of the progressive poem again this year. Last year was my first experience with this. Knowing myself, I tend to overthink things like adding a line to the other lines that have been written, each by an individual. So, I haven’t been reading those lines daily, nor have I been commenting. I woke up this morning thinking that this was definitely a wrong move on my part and also wrong to write about it.

P.S. I read the entire progressive poem this morning. My line will be added on the 19th.

The group seems to have splintered into smaller groups that work together during the week and post their Projects to Poetry Friday on that day. This is a recent occurrence. Socially, I find it interesting.

So I’m feeling very much on the fringe of this group. I’ve felt this before, time and time again. I try and try to fit in and don’t. Time for a break (after the 19th, of course). What this group doesn’t know is that if I commit to something, I keep my commitment.

My time will be better spent on other endeavors.

It is truly Earth Month for me. I am (officially, technically, and formally) an environmental educator. I’m just one who happens to like to write.

But while others have been cranking out poetry, I wrote a lesson on bats, presented a lesson on bats, and wrote poems about bats.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed writing the lesson plan and then presenting it to students on their school’s Environmental Day.

I’ve written a Medium.com post on a variety of subjects each day in April.

I’m working on some other writing projects.

Poetry is not at the top of my list. Although, I wonder how much higher it would be if there was more support for my writing and/or what I have to say about it.

We’re all human. We gravitate towards what we receive positive feedback on, or that which we feel we are good at.

I’m not angry, just somewhat frustrated and I know part of feeling on the fringe is my own fault. I’ll move forward, and continue writing poetry, but probably won’t share much of it anymore unless I feel better about doing so. You can find me on Medium every day, even Fridays.

Silence sometimes tells more than words.