Poetry Goals

A lot of people seem to think poetry is all about the muse. It’s the mood; it has to strike you; it’s out of your control.

For me, that’s a bunch of…baloney.

Poetry is a craft. It benefits from discipline and practice. People have varying amounts of talent and creativity. But these things can be increased and improved by simply working at it. Well, simply might not be the right word. But you know what I mean.

In 2007, I wrote 10 poetry books for Capstone Press, kept a photopoetry diary (where I tried to take a daily picture and write a 15 Words or Less poem based on the image), and worked on several trade poetry projects (all unsold, as of now). I was writing poetry on an almost daily basis. Many days, I wrote more than one poem. Some days, I wrote 5 or 6.

But for 2008, I don’t have any poetry book assignments. And that makes me a little nervous. Will I keep my skills sharp? Will I improve? Will I get lazy and let weeks go by without writing poems?