two-year anniversary
Posted by Daniela Elza on Mar 03 2009
Two years ago I launched this blog with a poem and my first post despite all the questions that plague one in such endeavours. I cannot say how important this tiny little drop is in the big pond out there, but I am happy to say it has been useful to me, and a good experience so far. Gets me writing, puts me in touch with people whom I may never have had a chance to (otherwise) meet, or just helps me keep in touch.
I have pretty much gotten over the fear of writing and publishing right away. Click— and it is out there in its immediacy and imperfections. Which has relaxed the editor in my head by now to the point where I can tell it to shut up, and Ha…it will. I do not know if one can entirely get rid of that ingrained voice, “what would people say?” (which is very much in the voice of my grandmother). I do want to know what people would say. Is that a good enough reason? I ask this little voice, and for a while it leaves me alone.
There are aspects of poetry that I keep thinking about, but may never end up writing about, if it were not for writing about them here. In other words, I do not do the writing I do here, anywhere else in my life. Only once was this blog useful in a writing class when we had to write every week, and I could do it here, and it counted. The rest of the time I do it out of the sheer excitement of putting thoughs and words down and giving shape to what is whirling, swirling in my head. And the fact that all this may be of no use, somehow makes it more interesting to me. What use is writing a poem? Or painting a picture?
And here is a question I thought I will put out there:
What has poetry taught you?
I wonder if by next year I will have an answer. For me this year is a manuscript year. I have to, have to, have to put a manu-script together. Ok, there, now that I have said it there is no going back.
Writing into the void of the internet has been good to me. For which I am grateful. And thank you all for your thoughts and support, which always gives face to this void. Here is to another blog year.