Schedule Success

March 30, 2015 — #NaPoWriMo, dawn, poets, schedule, work out

sunrise on the Rillito

Today I am preparing for the verbal marathon of #NaPoWriMo, during which I will produce 30 poems in 30 days. April in Arizona is a very rapidly changing display of flower to fruit to summer heat. We have hit 90 already and are staying just below that 90 degree mark for our high temperatures this week. Wild flowers and cactus blossoms are liberally painting the desert with saturated colors. Nights are cool, with a drastic differences between the low and high temperatures. Our climate is one of extremes, and we seem to be drifting into ever more unpredictable weather and endless drought. By May the heat will keep many folks inside for most of the day. April, however, is the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors and appreciate nature.  My preparation to become a poet has fostered a schedule change in my routine.  I started going to the gym as soon as I awake in order to log my exercise and clear the slate for the middle of the day.  Much to my delight my gym is not yet very crowded at 6:30 in the morning.  I hit the weight room, take a walk along the river, then linger in the steam room as long as I can.  The accomplishment feels good, but the steamed clean body is also a wonderful benefit.  I leave feeling uplifted and energetic.  I had such a great time today I am sure it will be easy to implement this new routine for April, and maybe for the entire summer.

I have been gathering my strength as well as my supplies for this challenge.  I have a few notes, some art I have been preparing, and a notebook for freehand writing.  I normally do all my composing on a laptop or iPad, but all the poets say longhand unlocks a certain part of the brain not accessed on a keyboard.  I am interested in illustrating my own poems, so I will jump back and forth from paper to digital formats in creating the visuals.  Anything goes.  I am not educated in all the themes and forms that poetry takes.  I always end up in iambic pentameter if I make up a rhyming ditty out loud (limerick style).  On paper it is fun to write in different colors, applying doodles, notes, mind mapping, or any device that fills and shapes the page.  My goal is to stretch creatively in both my written and visual material.  I am looking forward to reading the other participants poems because I know from past years that is where the real inspiration occurs.

I am also setting up my sewing machine on my office desk for daily use.  I believe that creativity runs in streaks, and to capture it all, one must work in different mediums.  I have a stash of beautiful fabric; and who doesn’t like to have new wardrobe options that nobody else has?  The tactile, somewhat mathematical activity of sewing a garment is a good balance to word craft.  I plan to make clothing suitable for wear at poetry readings and gallery openings, in other words, unusual.  I am seeing  this challenge as I might perceive a duck that looks and quacks like a duck.  If I look and act like a poet, I am on my way:

• I will be in nature for the sunrise because that is what I think poets should do.
• I will conclude my active work out early in the day to make plenty of uninterrupted time for art and poetry.
• I commit to sewing some new garments designed to tell the world that I am a poet (or at least an eccentric).
• I will mingle daily with my fellow poets who are sharing this month with me
• I hope to turn on some of my gentle readers to my fellow poets and their work

Following the hashtag #NaPoWriMo will take you to the source.  I wish you pleasure, perception, and connection during this special month.  Enjoy!!!

NaPoWriMo 2015

spring green