a piece for national poetry day

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It’s National Poetry Day 2022 today. I wanted to share my poem ‘Trees’, written as a child in Junior School. (It just happens to loosely fit into this year’s theme – Environment.)

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I use the word ‘nice’ – a cardinal sin of writing – not just once but twice. But the poem shows how much I appreciated nature and the idea of potential, even then.

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I’m still writing poetry. I’m still writing. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. Words are food for me.

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I’m at point now where I have more time for writing. Part of that has been a conscious stripping away of the unnecessary but it’s mostly from following a flow. A big thing has been letting go of outcome. I make pennies from my work; I’m not a name; I get few Likes and Shares on social media. Chasing those things has always felt uncomfortable for me. I’m understanding that I’ve been guided in the other direction.

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I’m completely free. I write what I want, when I want. If I like it, that’s enough for me. I’m not saying this is always easy – we’re pushed to seek external validation – but more and more, I’m sitting in the gift of it.

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I’m working on a piece of non-fiction and a collection of poems called ‘Finding Light’. They may end up as separate works or I might put them together. I’ll see what evolves. I’m peeling back the layers of myself for this. It’s the toughest writing I’ve ever done.

 

But how marvellous to be able to do it; to allow my mind to range and then find ways of crafting my discoveries into words.

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My work is all free. You can download it from this website. Take a look at my Welcome page. 

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