Sometimes I Forget

I forget how good poetry makes me feel.  I went to a poetry workshop last night, more or less as a favor to a friend.  My friend Ceku works at a library nearby and was organzing her first program...this poetry workshop.  She was so nervous that no one would show up.  I was free and I love poetry and I try to support my friends when I can. 

The poet was a woman named Traci Kato-Kiriyama.  She is a working poet and she also does theater and teaching.  There was a really good sized crowd after all.  People of all ages, but a good many were high school students.  I wondered if one of the teachers in the area made going there an extra credit assignment.  (Libraries love when teachers do that, by the way!)  Anyway, Traci read some of her poems, then she directed us in some writing exercises.   Then, we were given a writing prompt...our name and the phrase "you have no idea".  We wrote a three stanza, three line per stanza poem in about two minutes, which we were asked to share if we felt comfortable to do so.  It was funny, the older people were raising their hands, all ready to share.  The students were much more reticent and needed to be called upon.  Here is mine:

When I was a child

I didn't appreciate

The beauty of my name

I wanted to be a flower.

A Rose, oh how perfect!

Me, a beautiful Rose...

Now I love my name.

Laura, the laurels go to the winner.

And you have no idea.

Yeah, of course I read it aloud and felt all proud and stuff.  It really was very fun, and I loved hearing so many other different ways that people had taken this very basic idea.  It was quite amazing.  I also bought a copy of Traci's book, called Signaling, because I enjoyed what she read so much...and you can never have too much poetry. 

If you'd like to do the assignment too, that'd be superb!  The key would be to just pound it out quickly.  It's fun!  And for those of you out there who are interested in doing more writing you should check out this sort of online writer's workshop called The Undeniables.  

I'm really glad I got to be reminded of how much I love poetry.