Prioritizing Poetry

In the wake of the delicious poetry retreat last weekend, my life right now is bursting with poetry. I had already made an agreement with my dearest poetry buddy, Clara, to resume our practice of writing a poem each week to email to each other. One year, following the retreat, we managed to keep this going for most of the year. Last year, I petered out when the stresses and strains of my difficult year overcame me. This year, I'm hopeful that we'll continue unwavering. Thursday is my poetry day for Clara. We are Thursday poetry buddies.

But then two of the other poets from the retreat asked me if I wanted to try doing a poem a DAY with them, at least until mid-February, when one of them may have to bail. What could I say but yes? So now I'm doing a poem a day to email to Lisa and Elizabeth. And along with writing my own poem a day, I read and critique theirs.

As if to recognize that this is going to be my year of prioritizing poetry, yesterday was the grand opening of Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe, here in Boulder, one of only THREE poetry-only bookstores in the entire United States. I went with my friend, Laura, and on the Skip ride down to the store we started planning a poetry reading group we might launch this spring. When we reached the store, it was so wonderfully crowded that you could hardly scan the shelves for treasures, but I still bought five books, collections by Sharon Olds, Ted Kooser, Billy Collins, Amy Lowell, and Rumi. Colorado's poet laureate David Mason did a reading, and it was all so festive and fun.

Right now my life is absolutely crammed full of poetry. And right now I think that's a very good way for a life to be.