Finding My Voice

Last night was my first Contemporary Poetic Voice class of the semester. There are six of us in the class which I think is ideal for the work we are going to be doing. If the class was much bigger it would be more difficult to read and discuss everything in depth AND workshop/critique each person's poems. Yes, homework is to write one poem per week and bring it in for critique. Scary, but not so scary in a smaller, more intimate group like we, thankfully, have.

The first thing Carrie, our professor, asked us to write about was why we write. Surprisingly, this is something I have never really thought about until she asked.
Why I Write (the Top Ten List Version)
1. I can't remember a time when I didn't
2. It helps me get to know myself better
3. It will make me a better editor, I believe
4. It teaches me things I didn't know I knew
5. It brings me peace and clarity
6. It challenges me
7. It is something I can leave behind in hopes my descendants will know me
8. When I write it makes me happy
9. To keep my imagination and the five year old inside me alive
10. To become better at it and more aptly express myself in all forms. Plus, writing is sexy ;-)

We were also asked to write a poem in class inspired by a poem we read in class by Brigitte Byrd titled "Enlightenment" from her book "Fence Above The Sea". She is awesome, by the way. Her poems are prose poems which I have never really been exposed to before, but which I instantly loved. My poem inspired by hers:
She sits like a butterfly lights on a flower. Just a wisp in the wind in the night. Whims cause whispers but what do whispers know of whims. Slim to none but her self knows dreams without limit. Immense expanses beckon. No destination, just destiny. A whiff of perfume takes flight.

Rest assured there will be more poems coming and hopefully better ones at that.