My muse enjoys dancing in the rain

In typing in the title for this post, I now have the song “Singing in the Rain” on high volume slamming around my brain. And I think some memories of middle school chorus are trying to push to the front of my memories. Oh my!

It’s amazing what the writer’s mind does with words, isn’t it? And that leads into my topic today.

Intense rain storm and flooding

I’ve discovered that my muse is very active and vocal on rainy days more than any other type of day. In fact, just saying ‘rain’ gets her doing jumping jacks.

She feeds me a lot of character dialogue in no particular order or manner, and seldom related to a single story. On the day I took this intense rain photo (in July ’08), Ms. Muse had all sorts of things to say, including children’s dialogue as they played at the beach, dialogue from animals (a la Dr. Doolittle) relocating from the country to the busy city, and dialogue from two 20-somethings trapped at the top of a local mountain in a blizzard.

Glorious sunshine

On sunny days, my muse is open to exploring the outside world in search of new ideas. In a way, she likes to sun herself and take it easy. She lets the world be her cabana boy and serve ideas to her instead of going out to find the delectable fruits and seeds of ideas herself. (And, yes, sometimes she falls asleep in the sun without sunscreen on, which brings a lot of adjectives out.)

Snow and Sunshine

On snow days, she likes to gander at the landscape and wonder about the critters and people moving around ‘out there.’ She feeds me ideas about how the birds don’t fall out of the trees (after all, they can get a lot of snow on their shoulders!), and wonders if all the chipmunks found their way into a hole safely (and have enough food for their families to survive behind underground for a few days). Eventually she thinks about humans getting outside and unburying their world. More poetry flows through my muse on mornings like that, than prose.

On dismal, cold days, I’ve discovered my muse likes to play around with dark fiction and suspense, anything that gets my heart rate up. It must have something to do with the brisk air. She’s very ‘sharp’ on cold days, especially evenings. Everything is pointed (like icicles), brittle (like wind chill), and dark (like the short days). She brings me a lot of visuals, movies in my mind. There’s always an over abundance of activity with the characters that I can’t possibly keep track of everything, but I do end up warming up.

During the fall and spring, when a breeze can kick up a lot of scents (I love the lilacs right now!), my muse enjoys reminding me about such things as being in my grandmother’s kitchen while she was baking, being at the sea shore, and the moment I reach the peak of a mountain after hiking through the woods. A lot of journal writing pours out of my fingers at these times.

Now I have “America the Beautiful” on a loop in my head.

Does your muse react differently to the weather and temperature?

Lisa J. Jackson loves working with words in her own work and with businesses. She also loves New Hampshire and is focused on completing several 5Ks in 2013 as a way to get off the couch consistently. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

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Let’s write or read a poem

If you haven’t heard yet, April is National Poetry Month. 

As a writer, I believe it’s important to always stretch and grow in the craft, and that entails writing daily and trying different types of writing.

I don’t consider myself a poet, but I did have a poem published in 2007. Specifically a haiku, using my pseudonym. Here it is:

Loss

by Lisa Haselton

Death knocked on the door

Two brothers separated

Pain too deep for smiles

A traditional haiku follows a 5-7-5 rhythm. I wrote this one after having one of my two cats got ill and I had to let him go. It’s a remembrance to Gizmo, a sweet soul gone too soon.

The Huffington Post is featuring “four great poets” this month at the rate of one poet per week. The first author they talk about is Eileen Myles. Ever heard of her? I hadn’t, until now. Reading her work has entertained my muse and sparked a couple of ideas.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying I find a lot of poetry challenging to read. I think of poems like sampling wines. You can’t rush through them – you need to be ready to take your time and enjoy each part of the experience.

A lot of libraries in my area are promoting poetry month. The one in my town is hosting a contest with a local poet. I’m working on a free verse poem (it doesn’t follow any ‘official’ form at that I’m aware of) to post in the library and then read at an open mic night later on this month. I like the poem, but I can’t quite get the ending to work – yet.

I may just be using my well-honed procrastination skills, at the moment, but deep down, I know it would be a great experience to read my poem in front of an audience. Just something I can add to a list of things I’ve accomplished.

I encourage you to find a poem or a book of poems to look at this month. Take a few minutes and see what comes from dabbling in this type of writing for a little bit.

The Academy of American Poets has 30 ways to celebrate – I bet one might catch your eye, or your muse, if it hasn’t already.

Do you read or write poetry on a consistent basis? If not, will you read a poem or a book of poems this month (other than my haiku above)? How about writing a poem this month?

Nothing to lose, and only experience to gain!

Lisa J. Jackson is an independent editor, writer, New England region journalist, and a year-round chocolate and iced coffee lover. She writes fiction as Lisa Haselton, has an award-winning blog for book reviews and author interviews, and is on the staff of The Writer’s Chatroom. 

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Post Script to Cross Training

Several readers have asked for the title of the book I’m using for my poetry exercises. Poetry Writing: Theme and Variation by David Starkey was published in 1999. While it’s still available in paperback, it costs $25. I’m using it because a colleague or publisher or sales rep gave me a copy back in my teaching days, along with the Instructor’s Manual. I never adopted it for a course, though over the years I’ve dipped in to it for ideas. My point is: it doesn’t matter what book you use, just as it doesn’t matter if you use a weight machine or free weights. What matters is that we each make a commitment to work out.

If you’re like me, you probably have a few writing manuals collecting dust on your shelves. Dust one off. Or check out your local library, independent bookstore or used book emporium. Maybe some of you have favorite books from a class you once took. Or maybe someone can recommend a prompt a day service. Ideas, anyone?

Thanks, as always, for your feedback. – DLL.

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Teenage inspiration through poetry

Last Thursday, March 17, I had the great opportunity to be a volunteer for the NH Poetry Out Loud competition held in Representative’s Hall in the State House.

Since my writing focuses on non-fiction and fiction, poetry is exciting for my muse. This particular event is the culmination from several state-wide high school competitions. The contestants select 3 poems from a specific list and present their chosen poems in a way that (hopefully) engages the audience – especially the judges.

There aren’t any props or an official dress code. The teens’ poetry choices are submitted in advance and have to be presented in under four minutes.

The Poetry Out Loud recitation program is supported through the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and state arts agencies, which in NH is the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Competition starts in the fall at the high school level, moves to state regionals, and then the state finals competition are in the spring. The national competition is at the end of April in Washington, DC.

Poetry Out Loud encourages teens throughout the U.S. to learn about great poetry via memorization and performance. The competition helps with public speaking skills, building self-confidence, and learning about literary and cultural heritage. There isn’t any charge to compete and students from any high school—public, private, parochial, and home schoolers—can compete.

The 12 finalists who participated Thursday night each had 3 poems memorized.

• In the first round, speakers went in alphabetical order and performed their first poem.
• The second round was also all 12 contests in reverse alphabetical order, but with different poems.
• The third round consisted of the top 4 highest-scoring contestants from the combined first two rounds. They were named in alphabetical order, then drew for the order in which they’d perform their third poems.

The Champion of the evening was 14-year-old- freshman Olivia Vordenberg of Souhegan High School, Amherst. She won, among other things, cash for herself and for her school’s library, and an all expense paid trip with a chaperone to the National competition at the end of April.

The variety of poems and how they were presented intrigued my muse. I loved seeing teenagers embracing poetry with a fierce determination. These young people worked hard to memorize several poems over several months and present them in front of audiences of various sizes. If I had had the same opportunity at their age, I believe I would have passed – since standing in front of a crowd for any reason was the last thing I ever wanted to do!

Kudos to these young people for grabbing on to the opportunity to push themselves out of their comfort zones. Maybe some will become writers, since they already love words.

Lisa Jackson is an editor, writer, and chocolate lover. She’s addicted to Sudoku, cafés, and words. She writes fiction as Lisa Haselton, has a blog for book reviews and author interviews, and is on the staff of The Writer’s Chatroom where she gets to network with writing professionals on a weekly basis — and you can, too! © Lisa J. Jackson, 2011

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