Hello, Bloggiverse!
Yes, it's the end of March, which means a couple of very important things:
1) If you're in the great state of NY, I think trout season begins on April 1st. Always a good thing, with cold streams and active fish!
2) April is National Poetry Month, and yes, if you've been following along the last few years, that means it's time for the 4th Annual Poetry Month Challenge, where I try and write a poem-a-day for a month!
Yeah, yeah, I know, is it really a challenge if I've already done three of them? Yes, actually, it is. It's still trying to create something each day that I don't mind other people seeing. It ain't easy, kids. Ask any writer - not only is it difficult to come up with stuff, it's difficult to put it out there where you know others will see it, critique it in their own heads, and possibly ridicule you for writing it in the first place. Luckily, most of the folks who read my work are nice enough to lay off the ridiculing end - thanks for that, by the way - but it's still not easy.
I know that many people out there don't "get" poetry, and don't really know how to go about getting it, either. They may read a work by Frost, or Poe, or perhaps Ms. Dickinson, and say, "Yes, those are lovely words - very pretty sentiments." And they're not wrong to say so. And to a lot of people, that's as deep as poetry goes - flowery words and pretty sentiments. Some still think that poetry MUST rhyme, and that it has to have a lot of "thee" and "thou" and "forsooths" and many other largely antiquated terms that most Americans associate with that thing they were forced to read once in a high school English class. So why should I continue to write it and share it?
Because I must. To me, poetry doesn't mean that I'm trying to impart some greater message, or that I'm trying to take a political stance. It's about finding beauty in the everyday, and simply talking about it, sharing how I see the world. That's it - it's a vision. A vision of the poet, shared in words (hopefully, in my case) artistic. Sometimes, it means dealing with issues that are not fun - it means dealing with some pretty unsavory topics, when I encounter them.
This April, with some of the themes I'm considering, I will be sharing encounters good and bad. It's my hope that through a few words, any who read my ramblings will be able to udnerstand little of how I see the world around me. I hope you'll enjoy!
Thanks for reading,
The Fat Kid
