Every Day Is a Poem by Jacqueline Suskin (manga ereader txt) 📗

overhear. Get into a practice and keep it steady. Witness your handwriting; fill up notebooks with rambling ideas and secret expressions. Set a timer for five minutes and write about the first object you see or the first image that comes to mind. If you start writing about something else after one sentence, that’s okay—just keep going. Ramble, be free, and don’t worry about making sense. This is just a way to get you to arrive with your pen and turn on your writing brain.

Develop a dedicated practice. Show up for your writing like it’s a job you adore. Make it a ritual of devotion. Discipline is a huge part of the craft of poetry: you have to make time every day to sit down with your words. It doesn’t have to be a long time, even ten minutes in the morning before work or a short spell before bed at night. I like to light a candle on my desk while I work on a project so I don’t get distracted. I set working hours for myself and turn my phone off during that time. If I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea, I turn the light on to write it down. I get it down because the muse waits for no one. I made a vow to myself that I will not turn away from concepts or sparks of creativity even when I’m tired or busy because this is my purpose, to write.

I like to experiment with types of practice. I really enjoy paying attention to the seasons of creativity and how they link with the actual seasons. In winter I get a lot done, turn inward, and spend a lot of time alone at my desk. In spring, I typically start to share my work, giving readings and publishing books. In summer I let my writing become as social as possible, as I travel on book tours. When fall rolls around, I begin to collect myself for another winter of creation. I’m interested in this as a method of productivity and like to let the seasons influence me because it’s a framework I can comprehend. It doesn’t always work this way, and it’s best if I’m somewhat flexible with the routine. Having an ever-developing writing practice is the only way I can complete my projects, and it’s the only way I ever successfully process the things that happen to me. To fully value myself and because I am a writer, I have to show up and get the details onto the page.

What is your ideal writing practice?

POETIC MINOSET TIP

EVERYTHING IS A POEM;

DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE OUTCOME

You don’t have to write a poem down for it to be a poem. Often as I move through my day, countless poems will pass through my body. Sometimes they’re wordless, just the shivering feeling of awe that comes over me as I consider this giant universe. Sometimes I hear a full verse, and instead of trying to write it down, I simply take it as an affirmation, a voice of advice, a piece of praise in and of itself. It usually doesn’t matter how often I write, but more importantly, how I feel while I’m writing. When it feels like a task, I tend to move away from my desk and let the sensation shift.

Cultivating your poetic voice might not look

like letters on the page for you. It might

translate into more of a mindset that you can

encourage in shared conversation or that you

practice in the realm of your own thoughts.

I remind myself often that being alive isn’t about outcomes. My days are not made holy by tangible results, but more often, life is made significant by a blend of awareness and gratitude. If you treat everything like a poem, then everything has a chance to be important, sacred, powerful, or revolutionary, and we all have permission to enact that kind of remarkable meaning.

chapter 11

RESOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING

Language is a city to the building of

which everyone has brought a stone.

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Everything I read is typically recommended by a friend or someone I respect. I find that suggestions are the best place to start. There are so many amazing books to read, and it can be overwhelming. To figure out which book is next, I follow a loved one’s advice or the guidance of an inspiring peer. Sometimes I go to a local bookstore and just let a title or a cover grab my eye. But recommended reading lists are my favorite jumping-off point when I need a new book, so I crafted my own list based on some books and poems I love.

After college, I noticed that most of my poetic heroes were white men. This was a very unsettling discovery, and since then it’s been my priority to research and invest in writers with marginalized voices.

The Men in Me

Most of my muses are men.

Old men, dead men, Zen men from the 1950s.

When I read their books I think

these are my words.

Then I wonder if they are inside of my body, my blood.

Are they urging their language to come through my pen?

Are they whispering in my ear

asking me to bend toward their character?

Didn’t so many of them die alone, too soon?

To read more books by women, people of color, and queer writers, I look for lists and endorsements that come from folks in these communities. My library is beginning to even out and fill up with a diverse selection of inspiring voices.

My book collection is my medicine chest. Each shelf provides me with something soothing, inspiring, activating, or illuminating. Each publication is a sacred object, from the binding to the cover design. Sometimes I’ll hold a book in my hand and revel in the beauty of it, waiting to read it at the right time, appreciating it as a well-crafted entity.

The