©2017
by Patricia Harris
Inspiration,
A fickle beast.
Today a river flowing,
Tomorrow a dry gulch again.
The muse delighted
Ideas a plenty,
While art completed
Few indeed.
Feast, young poet,
Writer, or artist.
While the muse is generous,
Lest your time of
Creativity become too lean.
Well I have been extra prolific this year with poetry. I just published my third volume for the year. That was three times what I have managed before. So I was not expecting to do much else poetry wise this year. I have two children’s stories I want to finish, a novel half written(as Serena), a novella that needs more(again Serena) and two stories due to an anthology I am doing by March. So I was sitting down to work on Serena’s Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie.
I found myself distracted…and so to clear my mind I started to write out my thoughts. A mental cleansing if you will. Next thing I knew I have seven poems for my next volume. I don’t have any idea of why I have been this inspired, but I am not going to complain.
Go peek at my author page. I have added Literary Drops already. There are other great volumes available too. It seems that my muse has decided to be kind, so I will be releasing more soon. Tomorrow, when I type the new ones in, I will be sure to post at least one for y’all to enjoy.
And in case you are curious about Serena, she has an Author page as well. Currently it only has a single novella, but keep your eyes out for that to change.
By Patricia Harris ©2017
Word Jazz
Not structured
Poetic improv
Pieced together
Thoughts, emotions,
Smiles and tears.
Word song,
Spilled soul
To paper
Spilled mind
To sight.
Eclectic,
And smooth.
Energetic,
Makes the heart move.
Just when I felt my most alone,
Lost from my soul, unknown,
That is when discovery came.
Teaching me,
Learning how to lean in,
Learning to accept love
Growing, evolving.
Welcoming the arms
Of unconditional
Support wrapping
Self doubt,
Carrying the dream
Carrying the need
To be known.
Each one a star,
Shining brightly in
The darkness of the night
Of a soul lost and forlorn.
Stretching across the chasm
Of eternity.
I have a confession…writing poetry with certain constraints has always made me antsy. I have felt like I was somehow not good enough to write following the rules. So, I have written copious amounts of free verse…avoiding the structure of any fotms.
Then, as I grew as a writer and a poet, I found myself saying I don’t write that way too often. Well why the Hell not? Am I a Poet? Or do I just pretend I am?
So, when presented with a form/structure poem idea, I start by looking up the rules. For me, this is my go to site.
Believe me, I feel like a high school student again. In high school I knew the rules and felt my style was better as free verse. I think that if anyone tried to tell me that I needed to follow rules with my poetry I even would blow it off with poetic license.
The rebel nature of free verse still appeals. I will likely never be the next Haiku or Sonnet genius. Poetry speaks from the heart, and mine is often chaotic and unstructured. The meaning remains though.
So, just out of curiousity, what is your favorite types of poetry? Why?
By Patricia Harris ©2017
Even perfect days
can end in rain,
Soft mists that barely cover
Or wrenching downpours
That wash away
The emotional bubble.
Dancing in the wet,
Playing with the moment
Much as a child unsupervised.
Pretending that all
Our troubles are forgot,
Yes, even a perfect day
Can end in rain.
Rain, though it symbolizes
Dreary, dark moments
Can bring a pause,
A simple time to let go,
To play as the clocks hands
Move across the tic tocking
Of adulthood.
Release,
Allowing joy to wash off
Stress, pain, tension,
And then to leave us
In a forgotten moment
In the lost minutes of
Childhoods hour.
©Patricia Harris 2017
I shed my wings for you,
Tearing free each piece of
That which made me.
Ripping out blood and bone
To become that which
You have always known.
Making sure that I could
Never again take to the wind,
For to become the one
You imagined that I would be.
I shed my wings for you,
And then you turned away,
You said goodbye.
I am pleased to claim 19 of the 24 prompts given for the marathon. I have 20 poems now for Literary Drops. I hope to be publishing it in December.
How many times have you found yourself thinking about the past? I am guilty of doing it often. We are all a collection of stories, some that we do not tell. The reason why we don’t varies some, depending upon the story. Some we are ashamed of, some we think are going to be boring to the world around us.
I am finding out that sometimes those stories are more interesting than we realize. I try to be open about my history and tell my stories, but some of them do not really sit on the mind as something that I need to tell. Yet, each of them are a part of who I am. I am a unique individual who has seen some of the darkness that lives in the heart of man. I am a survivor who has learned to make do with what I have. And I am a woman who has seen both good and bad, and came through it ready to try to tell my stories. I don’t know if I will ever be able to write all of the stories of a life survived, or even if I should. Not all of my mistakes are ones that any one would learn from… Even me. Still for now, I will attempt to continue to dribble my story in small gushes to this blog, and to my poetry. Perhaps my journey will aid those who stumble across my words.
Who is my audience? As an author there is not a day that goes by that I am not asking myself this question. I have, I think come to a decision on it. My children’s books: the audience is fairly obvious. Children. I really write them for my daughter (and now my grandson). Which is why I believe that the third bedtime stories will be mid grade. The first two were stories written for her when she was small. The third started for a preteen. (And now she is helping me write it. She was suggesting ideas for the story and is looking forward to hear it when it is done. She refused me reading it until then.) But I write more than just children’s books.
My poetry I have always written for me. So do I really have an audience for it? Yes, and no. It is always going to be how I cope with the world… It is more that then it is written for a particular audience. That being said, the reason why I published it is because my coping mechanisms can possibly help someone else who may be in a bad place. Or not, I am not sure it matters there. My poetry is the clearest view inside of my soul. To tell the truth I publish it because I can. I have lost so much of my poetry over the years… This is the way of preserving it digitally so I will not lose anymore.
Last but not least, there is Serena’s stories. Anything that I write that is adult in nature will be published under Serena Mossgraves. Currently that seems to be horror. I am not sure if it all will be… I just know that I will not be doing erotica… It embarrasses me to write it. So I figure her audience will be adults, preferably who enjoy what I write.
All seems simple enough. I only hope that I am able to create a story that someone likes.
Pattimouse 