eyes that pierce the veil which separates your mind from all else that is. don't look away listen the high priestess from The Gentle Tarot
April is coming to a close. I didn’t get to write as many poems as I would have liked. But I did get a few seeds for potential poems and project explorations to dive into. To close out this NaPoWriMo, I thought I would share a few poems I’ve written over the years and some of my experience in writing poems.
Thinking about poetry this month reminded me that I didn’t just start writing poetry as an adult; I used to write erotic poetry when I was in college.
In my Spanish classes, we read the poetry of Gioconda Belli and other prominent Latin American poets. Belli’s poetry must have inspired me to write sexually explicit poetry. Sadly, or thankfully, I don’t have any of those poems to share. I do have an embarrassing story to relate though.
On one occasion, it seemed like a good idea- to my young brain- to share my explicit poetry with one of my professors, to see what she thought about it. This professor was like a mom to me, she had shared the struggles she was going through with her own young daughter and I had grown fond of her.
When I shared my poetry with her, she awkwardly read it. Yes, I was sitting in her office while she read. It’s all very cringe now that I think about it, but this is actually how it happened. I was nervous and excited to get her feedback. I probably thought my poetry was good, or clever, or at least good at eliciting some kind of feeling. She commented that the poem was good, if that is the kind of poetry I wanted to write. I remember feeling a little confused, was there a different kind of poetry? Wasn’t poetry the language of love?
I don’t think I wrote many poems after that, until I was more mature, and my poetry became more soulful or spiritual. Although, I think erotics and spirituality are not entirely separate, but that is a topic for a different post.
I mostly have shared my poems on Instagram where I’ve joined many poetry challenges. Something I would like to do is collect all my poems into one document and see how they are communicating with each other. The first poem in the photo above is such a huge synchronicity with what I am currently experiencing thinking about- 2021 me did not know what was coming.
Searching through my Instagram feed, I realized I joined poetry challenges as early as 2017, but I don’t have those photos on my current phone. Below are some photos I do have from 2021.
You mayfeelthink that the veil of night hides your sorrow, and yet sheactuallyshine the light of compassion on your heart wounds, feel her sooth you and heal you
sounds of the evening: dishes rattling water flowing family guy. I close my eyes and hope that this moment is stored in my mental hard drive 3/2/2021
Thank you for going on this mini poetry exploration with me this month. I hope you’ve been inspired to give poetry a try by either reading more poetry or taking a stab at writing your own verses. Poetry is nourishment for our soul, and we need all the nourishment we can get.