As part of my random 3 digit reading project, I discovered a Smithsonian book on different types of shells. Of all of the books that I got that I probably never would have picked up on my own, this one is the one that has drawn my attention most so far. (Thanks to @adanishheart for a really great lucky number!)

The whole point of this project was to inspire something new for me and this totally has. Although I have occasionally looked for shells on the beach, admired beautiful shells and even kept a handful of them in a vessel in my home for awhile, I’ve never thought one way or the other about them. This book has taught me that there are sooooo many different kinds of shells, that they all have histories and their own unique parts and stories.

And I’ve just fallen in love with the language in the book, the language of shells with their whorls and spires, their iridescent pearlized insides and concentric ribbed outsides … It has been awhile since I’ve felt like writing any kind of poetry but this book totally re-sparked my poetry bug. In fact, I went to a coffee shop today with a new notebook and the book on shells and five poems came flooding out of me. Of course, they are the bare bones of poems. They need to be edited, explored, worked on. But the structure, the spark, is totally there. I felt inspired. I love inspired!

I also have an idea for crochet shell art that I’m developing in my mind. We’ll see, we’ll see. What a fun adventure!

Tags: poetry, reading project, shells

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on Twitter lately. After a lengthy period of adjusting to using the site, I’ve finally come to really like Twitter. I feel like it’s giving me a great opportunity to share links and ideas with other people.

One of the really fun things that I’ve gotten into doing on the site is participating in a daily poem project that @dragonblogger does. Almost every morning, he puts out a request for people to send in random words. These random words are then worked into a poem for the day which is posted on the Wanderer Thoughts blog.

These poems are always really interesting. Sometimes the words that are submitted are really challenging. For example, check out Unstoppable Disease which included a lot of medical words in it. (My word for that day was simpler: productivity).

This is just a fun little project to participate in when I think about it as I’m on Twitter. I think it’s inspiring to do little daily projects and this is an example of a good one.

Tags: fun, kathryn vercillo, poetry, projects, twitter, writing

People seem to take poetry way too seriously. I think it’s because of the way that poetry was approached in school. We were asked to deconstruct the meaning of every line of poems that probably didn’t interest us. Sometimes a red wheelbarrow is just a red wheelbarrow, you know.

But poetry is meant to be fun. Even when it’s not happy, even when it is intense, it is meant to be an experience that we immerse ourselves in. It is meant to be something that we enjoy.

Celebrating National Poetry Month is all about bringing that fun back to poetry. It’s about honoring the fact that poetry exists in our history and in our modern lives. It’s about finding that poet that you can fall in love with and reading his or her works again and again. It’s about attending poetry readings and feeling the energy of a crowd or getting lost in the page as you pen your own poems for no one else’s eyes.

There are many small things that we can do to celebrate poetry but the main thing is to stop looking so negatively about it, to stop taking it so seriously, to stop thinking that we know what it is and instead to give it a chance to reveal something new to us. Who knows, it may just make us laugh with glee!

Tags: arts, celebration, ehow, kathryn vercillo, national poetry month, poetry, writing poetry

Every month I sit down and list twenty small creative goals that I’d like to complete in the month. I usually get at least half of them completed which makes me feel like I’m adding creativity to my life on a regular basis. I truly believe that almost anyone can do ten small things in a month that add up to big creative changes in their lives.

April is National Poetry Month so perhaps we should focus on what we can do that’s creative and related to poetry. Here’s a look at ten different small things that most of us could do to bring poetry to our lives this month:

1. Write out a quote about poetry. It doesn’t take long to find a quotation about poetry that we like and then to write it out on nice paper. Hang it somewhere that you can see it throughout the rest of the month to feel inspired to appreciate poetry.
2. Attend one poetry event. There must be a poetry reading or poetry slam somewhere in your area this month. If you’re free, take a few hours out of your day to go on a poetry date with yourself.
3. Check a book of poetry out of the local library. You don’t even have to read all of it. Just read one or two poems this month.
4. Write a poem. It doesn’t have to be perfect or even good. The idea is just to get your creative juices flowing.
5. Blog about poetry. If you don’t blog, write about poetry on your Facebook or Twitter account.
6. Watch poetry videos on YouTube. There are recordings of people reading their poetry, visual poetry pictures and footage of poetry competitions.
7. Buy those poetry magnets and play with them.
8. Go to a bookstore and read a children’s poetry book. You’ll be reminded of the fun of poetry!
9. Copy a favorite poem and send it to someone you love. Share poetry month with others!
10. Give poetry a chance this month. Most people ignore poetry a lot of them. Do anything at all that allows you to give it a chance.

What are you going to do to embrace National Poetry Month?

Tags: celebration, holiday, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, national poetry month, npm, poetry, writing