Poetry Writing 101

There is something different about saying, “I write poetry,” and saying, “I am a poet.” For a long time, I could say the first one more easily than the second. I have always written from memory, from family stories, from cloth, from grief, from the land, and from those moments when the past seems close enough to reach out and touch. Poetry found its way into my writing naturally. Still, calling myself a poet felt like claiming a title I had not yet earned.

Taking my first formal poetry-writing class through the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is helping change that. And I didn’t have to travel to Minneapolis to receive the gift. I could sit at home, turn on my computer, and enter a community devoted to poetry. At this season of my life, an online class at the Loft Literary Center feels like a blessing.

Order Came Into My Life

Something else happened as I began taking poetry more seriously. Order came into my life. I began getting up each morning and observing the sunrise. Not rushing into email. Not immediately checking what needed to be done. Not beginning the day with somebody else’s demands. I began with the sky. I watched darkness become morning. I noticed the changing colors. I gave thanks for being given another day. And then I wrote poetry.

Sunrise. Gratitude. Poetry. That simple order became a writing practice. I am discovering that being a poet isn’t only about producing finished poems. It is also about learning how to pay attention. The sunrise was there before I started watching it. The birds were already singing. The morning light was already moving across the landscape. What changed was me. I began noticing.