"Chapter Two: I Am Nailed to the Hull"

A friend once said I was a tree-shaker but not a jelly-maker. Really, I'm probably more like some kind of lazy termite, meandering its boring way through that tree. 

I'm not good at finishing things. Ideas? I've had a few. Embarking on projects? I've done that now and again. Getting that degree, that publication, those tomato plants in full fruit? Meh.

I had this notion, a couple weeks ago, that for National Poetry Month, I'd write a poem a day. I had to back off that a bit, to cover my ass...I'd *attempt* a poem a day. 

Ideally, I'll come up with something like a draft of a poem. I'm going to allow myself some leeway to post some pretty rough drafts, or just musings, if all else fails. The flip side is that I might also post later drafts of the April poems as I go along.

I've just had two wonderful classes at the Writer's Center end on me, with no new ones on the horizon. I'm looking at applying to grad schools in a few months, with an eye toward finishing an MFA in poetry. I'm unemployed, my sleep schedule is less consistent than... 

[OK, I just spent some five minutes trying to come up with a good metaphor--most of my choices involved either weather or television--and then gave up]

...anyway, I'm not leading the most steady of lives. And April will involve some traveling, among other complications. But I'm going to try and get in here every day and post something.

I hope it'll make me accountable. I hope it'll keep me humble--Anne Lamott talks of the value of allowing "shitty first drafts." And I hope it'll give me lots of material to shape into finished poems.

(I have finished some poems, incidentally--more than a few. So I guess I'm not hopeless at jelly-making.)

Stop by in April if you want to see me flounder.