Wake up Spring!

· by · in Miscellaneous, Poetry. ·

Happy first day of Spring! I’m excited for all of the inspirational and creative wonders that grow like Daffodils this time of year. I can’t wait to see what everyone makes to celebrate their artistic genius! 

I was inspired to write a little poem this weekend. I was standing outside enjoying the warmth of the sun beating down on my back porch and was almost hypnotized by the steady cadence of water dripping from my gutters.

In previous posts I had mentioned that I think writers are one of the bravest creative types. Don’t get me wrong – ANYONE that shares something they have created with the public opening themselves up to critical scrutiny is courageous.

For me personally I empathize most with poets. This is because poetry is, in my opinioicicle meltingn, the most subjective form that creativity can take. Things like crocheted items, needlework, novels, photography, etc can be judged by a quantifiable standard – is your stitch count right, is your grammar and plot line good, is your picture in focus. But free form poetry is magical because the poem is a collaboration between the logical and the fantastical with roots in personal experience, collective opinions and perceptions that can vary from person to person. How do you put into words what you see with your mind’s eye?

There’s another reason why publishing a poem is terrifying to me. Yes – there is a story. And I’m not going to apologize for it either.

When I was a young adult I fancied myself a poet. I would move myself to tears expressing my very complex not quite adult emotions in rhymes and poems. I remember many of these poems decades later. No surprise – they weren’t the grandiose odes that I truly believed I was put on this planet to gift to the world.

A stupid poetry contest I found in a magazine crushed any fantasies that I harbored to be the next Emily Dickinson. Remember magazines? Glossy pages with pictures you could touch? Well on the bottom of some of the pages were little ads for a variety of contests – “Can you draw Tippy the Turtle?” Yeah – you know what I’m talking about.

One ad in particular caught my eye – Poetry Contest! Submit your original poetry to win CASH Prizes and be PUBLISHED! – This couldn’t be coincidence – I subscribed to this magazine and flipped to this exact page for fate and destiny to finally light the path for me!

I know. Trcrocusust me, I know.

So I grabbed my electric typewriter and as carefully as I could I typed up my favorite poem. My correction tape was empty and I didn’t want to mar the perfection of this prose with the Typing Eraser – (remember those with the fan brush on the top)! Mailed it out and waited anxiously for the 10 to 12 weeks that the ad implied was the amount of time it would take before publishers read my glorious poem and awarded me my prize, my future as a poet. The waiting was torture.

It took me about a week after I got the letter saying that I won and that my poem had beenForsythia branch selected to be published before I realized I had been scammed. It was my young adult sad financial situation that made me spot the fraud.

I had won, my poem would be published and as a special offer for the winners I could claim my copy of the published book of poetry for the deeply discounted price of $79.95 – a 50% savings of what it would cost the non-winner general public. I didn’t have $79.95 but, what a deal! I was going to skimp on groceries for a couple of weeks to save up for my ‘reserved’ winner’s copy of the book – (leather bound too!) Then it hit me like a hammer when I was trying to explain to a friend how I was on the brink of literary fame and fortune. I almost fell for the horrid evil money daffodil sproutsmaking scam. I didn’t buy the book. I tore up my winner notification. I cried.

So that’s why I enjoy other’s poetry but was too afraid
to share again. But that was a lifetime ago when I was a silly girl with silly views about life and the world. I’m a grown up now – after three decades I think I’m over it. Kind of. 😀

Without further ado here is my ode to Spring. For all of my poetic and poetry loving friends this is dedicated to you!

Wake Up Spring
Drip drip drip drip
Winter’s snowy blanket
begins to unravel
From the gutters and stone walls
Drip drip drip drip
Crocuses rise and stretch
with sleepy purple petal yawns
Drip drip drip drip
Daffodil sprouts green with envy
of the yellowness of the sun
Drip drip drip drip
The trees grow impatient,
buds pointing an accusation at the sky
Drip drip drip drip
Wake up Spring
It’s time to get up!
Wake up Spring
There is work to be done!

Thanks for reading!

~ Tami

 

25 responses to “Wake up Spring!”

  1. I think you are very talented! I’m sorry that you had to go through that scam situation- I had that when I was younger too 😦 I love your poem! You should write more poetry! These days with self-publishing on Amazon it could be neat to make a book and self publish it of your poetry. I think you are talented enough it would be great!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Awww thank you! I’m not sure if I am quite that brave – yet. 🙂 Surviving scams is price of gaining maturity. I’m just glad that I didn’t send them any money – then I would have felt scammed AND stupid. 😀

      Like

  2. I think your poem is great! I went through the highs and lows of being the next great poet. The worse was the letter stating they were not interested because my poem rhymed. I mostly right in rhyme sometimes I don’t… I came to the realization when I write poetry it is for me most of all (selfish I know) and I share it so maybe one person in the world who needs it may read it. Have an awesome spring season!!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I got scammed by the turtle. I tried to tell my mom I was obviously a savant because they wanted me, she didn’t buy it lol.

    Your poem is lovely, don’t be afraid to share more. It may have been a simple thing but I could picture your ice and snow melting with sprigs of grass trying to poke through.

    I’m in GA and much warmer, but the weather just won’t make up it’s mind. Hopefully your poem does the trick and March does go out like a lamb.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you! That Tippy the Turtle is a shady fellow for sure – when I drew him he looked like a stick figure! So I kicked sand in his face at the beach and entered the poetry contest! (did you catch what I did there with the other iconic magazine ad reference?) 🙂

      Like

    • Aww thank you! As I was writing this post I was a little surprised by how much I could still feel the sting of that disappointment. It made me reflect on how much did I let that experience shape me – I wish I could go back and give younger me some advice – and a hug too! 😀

      Like

  8. Tami! What courage you have to tell us the story of your heart-broken younger poet self – thank you! All those literary hopes – dashed! Urgh! Well, I can tell you I like the drip drip drip drop repetition, and I especially thought “Wake up Spring/There is work to be done!” was very original. Kudos for posting your own poem! And, since you are a poet (yes, you are), have you ever looked at Ted Kooser’s “The Poetry Home Repair Manual”? I found it’s really hard to find information on how to write poems – teachers just say, “write a poem” and that’s all they give you (in my opinion). Kooser’s book was the first time I learned more than that, broken down step by step. When to use metaphor vs. simile, how to choose titles, what to think about for the first line, etc. Would love you to take a look and let me know what you think!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Oh thank you for the info Theresa. I am interested, but I really need more of a confidence self help book before I do more than dip my toe in the water. I never really thought of a certain way to write a poem – I’ve only ever jotted down what popped into my head. It will be exciting to actually explore the mechanics of it. Thanks!! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      • That’s wonderful that you’re willing to give yourself “permission” to be more self-supporting about it. I completely understand. Thinking back over Ted’s book, I think he is very encouraging…but you might try “The Practice of Poetry” by Behn & Twitchell – it’s basically a compendium of poetry exercises that you can take at your own pace. In fact, you can just open the book to something that looks inviting and try it – no need to go in order! I have found it really really helpful – and “real” poets use it too!

        I myself am a reluctant and self-conscious poet, and I only recently felt like I could embrace the poet-identity that I have finally come to. 🙂 Let me know what you think of Behn’s book! (small unassuming paperback)

        Liked by 1 person

      • Oh, Tami, you just made my WEEK! I am so happy you find my comments supportive. And, yes, I agree to share only cautiously at first. I find I will stop writing altogether if I expose my work to criticism too soon (or ever, sometimes!). Good for you!

        Liked by 1 person

  9. I am super proud you posted this! I love it, your amazing and talented. It’s always a daring thing to let yourself be vulnerable with a talent. I’m quite happy to share my stuff on here but when it comes to FB with my friends i can’t. Keep up the poetry even if we don’t see any for a long time. Also BAD PERSON WHO SCAMMED YOU! urgh the sleezyness.

    Liked by 1 person

I would love to hear your comments!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s