What does a Poet need?

Something to write with,
something to write on.
And these three things,
that is all.
A poet needs a spine,
a delicate eye
and a thick hide.

Gardens and Poetry

It doesn't get much better than the event put on at the Tea Tree Gully Library yesterday. Jude Aquilina and Sarah Clay read poems, Lolo Houbein (One Magic Square) and Miles Trench (Holistic Gardening) told us about their gardening philosophies. It was interesting, clever, funny and anything else good you can think of.

The poetry was exquisite, the gardening tips were timely and ever so useful. I still thinking about feng shui in the garden and also about how I can get started on my own one metre garden.

We should all be supporting our own kitchens with vegetables and fruit - there's no excuses really, one square metre is big enough for a plot to grow your own salad - thank you Lolo. And if you're interested in slightly new age ideas, well Miles has it all for you.

Both of the garden speakers has books available for purchase, and they did a roaring trade. I've driven around the Tea Tree Gully/Modbury area and I can see why Lolo's ideas were popular.

I believe this was Sarah's first big reading of her work, and if so, well, she did a fantastic job. I enjoyed her poetry and her homespun truths about what her garden gives back to her.

Everybody should take some time and have a look at the wonder and beauty waiting for them just outside their back door.

Poetry Prompts

Sometimes you want to write a poem but you can't think of anything to write about. Other, glorious times are quite different, the ideas are buzzing and the words are flowing. It happens all too rarely.

One idea to try when nothing seems to be prompting a poem to appear, is to look at the newspaper. Headlines can be intriguing and can be enough - you don't even have to read the article, and in fact it's less limiting if you have no idea what the story is about.

A good idea I heard about recently is to have a box where you cut out interesting things and put them in the box. Then, when no ideas are coming, just take a couple of ideas from the box and see what happens.

Of course, this won't make a poem happen immediately, but if you play around with the idea, something may pop up and away you go. I find inspiration from just sitting outside and watching what nature is up to.

Last night I saw domestic disputes amongst some sparrows, and some territorial issues were being sorted out by other birds too. I have written about birds quite a bit and I'm currently thinking about Hornets, because I've been challenged to write a poem about them.

That poem is still brewing and I know I need to start writing down the thought scraps flitting around in my head. Not writing ideas down is the biggest waste of poetic talents. So many great ideas arrive, only to disappear when we finally get around to working on them.

I could fill a poetry collection with the fantastic poems I never wrote! If only I could remember them.

Connecting with others, finding hope

I've begun an online conversation with a young girl on the comments section of one of my Ezine articles. It started when she commented on my post, saying she disagreed with it and was offended, I responded, she responded, I responded (yet to be published). Now I'm waiting to read what Jasmin has to say next. The article in question, with comments is here. I'd love to find out what others think about the whole thing.

I don't know where Jasmin comes from, but I suspect she's from the US, because she seems to have a lot of self-confidence. It doesn't matter where she's from, it was the words, and the connection that is the most important thing.

We started out on a bad line, but I'm feeling happy about the whole thing and I hope Jasmin is too. I feel this little connection shows how good things can be achieved if you don't jump to conclusions and you keep your mind open to other ideas.

The reason I'm writing about this here is that Jasmin mentioned acrostic poetry and alliteration. I like alliteration lots and lots, actually I love alliteration! It's a tool for poets and other writers, a good tool, but you have to use it wisely.