I did it!!
So, I fully participated in Katie Kay Chelena‘s February Bad Poet workshop. In February, I wrote 29 poems!! Yay, me!!
I was introduced to it through an Instagram ad, and I’m glad I clicked through. I’ll admit, part of me joined because I wanted to see how she did it! How she facilitated this 100% virtual offering. I’ve had a similar idea for visual arts floating in my head, but I was getting stuck on the how. I got a lot of great ideas for when I’m ready to move forward with my own workshop.
Another part of me had already been thinking about writing poetry. I’ve written some in the past, and they are shared in these blog posts. (I may have to bringthe pages for them back to the website.) When I was jogging, I would think of haikus to keep me going and I’d try to write them down when I was done.
Why did I share them here?
I started Living Daringly as a blog to share my stories about working to live a more authentic and vulnerable life. I continue to share my experiences and stories, because I like the possibilities of social media and also see the foibles and flaws of them. By the former, I mean that social media can be a great connector and community builder! I’m “friends” (maybe that shouldn’t even be in quotes) with folks I have never met. We check in on each other and celebrate each other’s wins!
By the latter, I mean that too often on social media folks try to just present the bright side of life, or worse outright lie to show what they think the bright side of life should be. I don’t want to do that. I want to share my celebration times for sure! Like, I’m damn proud I wrote 29 poems in February!! And yet, I want you to know there were days that were challenging, and I had to push myself to stick with it. I want you to know that I let go of the bullshit in my head and I just wrote stuff about the prompt, instead of worrying about creating the perfect poem. I’ll admit that I work better with a prompt, both with my daily drawings and poems. Otherwise, I get stuck in “I don’t know what to draw” or “I don’t know what to write.” I want you to know that, because maybe you’ll know you aren’t alone with struggling with creating!
Why did I share them here? Because I’m brainstorming an offering that will encourage folks to connect with their creativity, to explore that part of them. And I don’t want to bring that offering to you without showing you that I live my words. In a world that tells us we’re only artists if we make beautiful, sellable art? I say, we are artists if we create art. Of any type. Our value is not just in our final products. It’s in living…