Reflections

Usually for the A to Z Challenge, since I also participate in NaPoWriMo, I choose a type or classification of words. I started with learning new words, then I branched out to musical terms, Janus words, abstract nouns, and contradictory abstract nouns. But this year, I tried something very different. I let my physical collection of Poets & Writers Magazines choose my words.

Here is how I stated my theme back on March 31st: Miscellaneous poetry topics inspired by reading physical Poets & Writers Magazine issues from July 2018 – February 2021. For this year’s challenge I read one magazine cover to cover every two days. I let what stood out to me in the magazine dictate the words I used and what I talked about. I ended up with three magazines left in my collection to read.

I also cut out images and text from each magazine and made a collage for each post. Here’s an image of all twenty-six:

Reading through my titles, they read like an abcedarian list poem, so I made some alterations and wrote the poem:

Poetry Is . . .

Poetry is acceptance
Poetry is boxes
Poetry is carrying
Poetry is decisions
Poetry is ephemera
Poetry needs focus
Poetry has gravity
Poetry is hypnagogic
Poetry is an integral ingredient
Poetry is a journey
Poetry is kaleidoscopes
Poetry is listening
Poetry has music
Poetry detects novelty
Poetry is ordinary observations of opposites
Poetry has power of perspective
Poetry ponders a question
Poetry has reach
Poetry is survival
Poetry is time
Poetry is unpinnable
Poetry is violence
Poetry is a wedge
Poetry is collected in Pushcart Prize XLIV
Poetry is you
And Zoom It’s Over

I found my inspiration from every part of the magazines: from Kevin Larimer’s Editor’s Notes; the News and Trends section; The Reactions section of readers letters; The Time is Now writing prompts; The MagNet section that shares the literary magazines that have published one writer on his/her path to their debut collection; The Literary Life section articles; the Special sections of debut writers, and contests; and the main articles and interviews. Every magazine had so much more to offer than just its cover story which was usually a Q&A with a writer.

My Favorites

Posts – Because my main goal for the month was generating poetry drafts, more than the one in my post for NaPoWriMo each day, everything I read and talked about was with writing poetry in mind. My favorite posts were the ones in which my reading inspired a writing exercise or technique. I’m still enjoying the Poetry as Boxes technique that was inspired by a quote from Terrance Hayes. I used the technique for my poem in the post Hypnagogic Poetry. I’m looking forward to trying out my Poetry as Decisions idea, and the You are Poetry idea of fill-in-the-blank questions is something I can use whenever I need a prompt to get started.

Comment – My favorite comment came from Alana from Ramblin with AM. I commented on her Xanthic post and she wrote, “Thank you for commenting on my Blogging from A to Z blog and my use of the word Xanthic. You way out did me, and I liked the photo, too. The letter X is a hard one for many A to Zer and you gave me a couple of more ideas for 2025, if I decide to participate next year. You also taught me about repugnatorial organs and I now have a new vocabulary word.” 

Blogs – Along with Ramblin’ with AM, I enjoyed It’s PH‘s “26 Moments.” I enjoyed Illusions of Chaos (made it to N). And at The Confusing Middle I enjoyed learning from posts about names in Greek mythology.

As it has every year, blogging from A to Z enhanced my National Poetry Month. I learned a lot and I reached my goal of writing more than one poem a day. I have a lot of unpublished poems to revise, edit, and submit to journals. I look forward to coming up with something different and fun for next year.

Thank you to the coordinators at A-to-Z Challenge and to everyone who came by and read my posts. I’m looking forward to joining you on the Road Trip.

I want to continue to submit to journals and contests, however, in this age of Submittable, many journal submissions and almost all contests cost money. On a very limited budget, those costs add up quickly. If you have the means, and would like to help me and my poems along the journey to publication, I set up a buy me a coffee account, so you can now buy me a beverage. It will help a lot.