One of the blessings of the past year has been the opportunity to participate in poetry classes via Zoom. One of these was a 6-part series called Poetry of Resilience that was hosted by James Crews and Danusha Lameris. I have become very fond of them as poets, thinkers, and teachers.
This week I have been thinking about my experiences with poem writing. I am a novice, at best, but with each poem I write, I gain a little confidence. Poetry is something that is a private practice to me. I read and write it mostly by myself, and haven’t shared my poems very widely. I’ve never had a desire to be published, or to enter a contest, but I’m happy to have this small space in the universe to try out a few thoughts.
Belief
Walking beaches
and country lanes
Climbing mountains
and city hills
Circling the track
and neighborhood block
Strolling along rivers
and wandering forests
Always looking
Always searching
Always listening
Starting to believe
the poem
is
in me.
DRAFT, 8-27-21
pelicansandprose 
Oh, Marilyn, I love that ending. Yes, the poem is in you. I especially love that ending. I had no idea where it was going, and then I re-read again and said BINGO. I had a similar story of never before having felt like a poet. I am gradually believing it myself too. Lovely!
Thank you, Denise! I appreciate that you took the time to re-read and that my meaning was understood. What revisions might make my meaning clearer on a first read? Or is that necessary? I have so much I want to learn!
This is beautiful! I love how each stanza gives us two examples – circling the track and the neighborhood block. I just taught an English lesson today on words with two meanings, and I am struck by how you have done something lyrically, poetically, that was so prosaically presented in our coursebook. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you, Elisabeth! I apologize for misspelling your name above! I’ll fix it now.
It feels very much as if your ‘adventuring’ brought out a poem & I predict more will come. I love the surprise at the end, too.
I was just reading about a curricular approach called Learning on the Move which seeks, I think, to capitalize on the intensity of experiences we have when we are the way from one place to another. Your poem fits right in there, finding belief between here and there!
Yes! So glad you have reached that place. 🙂
Yes to your ending, ” the poem is in me. ” I like your repeating lines of “Always” too, thanks Marilyn!
Once you start writing poetry (and believing in yourself as a poet), you see poems everywhere!