was
gonna
pen one for
the poetry
foundation--confess
fake poet in their midst
--plead for poetic justice
show I'm willing to make amends
toil, put forth a concerted effort
if they would keep me on until next year
***
© 2021 selmamartin.com

The April event that is National Poetry Writing Month is an occasion, like the Olympics, in the public eye. I’ve been eyeing it for a couple of years now but never had the effrontery to dare — until this year, when I found myself some audacity to take the risk, make a bold attempt at embarrassing myself. Hey, what do I have to lose?

And that is how I got here.

I’ve been pleasantly amazed at the warmth and welcoming vibes of all the ‘real’ poets’ who never once stopped to question my credentials. I would have indeed had to do something– yet more audacious, and lied to everyone here, just so to keep face. Thank goodness no one asked.

To my greatest amazement, I was even mentioned (yes, me– mentioned, as in co-featured) by the wonderful Maureen, who found something to like in my Day 12 poem on Marcellus, Marcus Claudius. That was the day the two dictionaries turned my head, made me go cross-eyed. I had no idea there existed such dictionaries.

Anyway, that co-feature blew my mind. Thank you very much. But what has been even more surreal is how many people/poets have visited my puny little website this month. I dreamt of that happening many times in the last three years of blogging, but it took April, the memorable poetry month, to give me a taste of what web traffic looks and feels like. 124 views– In a single day! Oh, my heart. Thanks.

And then there’s the how of the matter. It is the commitment of belonging to a community that will do that.

I knew that all along but had no idea how to muscle my way into a community on the internet. I’m flabbergasted with you all. Thank you so much.

So, with a push from the timely prompt today, I wanted to write to the National Poetry Foundation to make sacred a confession and make amends for weaseling my way in here and pretending to be a seasoned poet. Hope all this came through in my “occasional” poem.

The prompt today:

Our prompt for today (optional, as always) is to write an "occasional" poem.
What's that? Well, it's a poem suited to, or written for, a particular
occasion. This past January, lots of people who usually don't encounter
poetry got a dose when Amanda Gorman read a poem at President Biden's
inauguration. And then she followed it up with a poem at the Superbowl (not
traditionally an event associated with verse!) The poem you write can be for
an occasion in the past or the future, one important to you and your family
(a wedding, a birth), or for an occasion in the public eye (the Olympics,
perhaps?).

Thanks for all the prompts and for reading my words. I will never know all the voices that stayed long enough for me to jot things down– all those voices that spoke through me. But somewhere in the words that precede me, I know that at least one voice carried my soul.

Main Photo: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 
Logo and photo: https://poets.org/national-poetry-month

Thanks for reading, and as always, I wish you miracles.

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Selma Martin

I’m a simple woman who dares to see the beauty in ordinary. I’d love to connect with you and like pen pals, I want something beautiful to blossom between us. Will you join me? Selma is my middle name. Its meaning—peaceful, complete, are euphoric affirmations I like to think of myself as having. They compliment the joy I feel when I write. I sincerely hope you decide to join me on my writing journey. I Wish You Miracles.

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