Poetry Practice and Musings

Enrollment for the Spring 2026 was last month. Unfortunately, being three days late caused me to lose my spot in the fiction worldbuilding class, and that was enough to give me a mild breakdown and question why I was even in this program. I’ll be in the Creative Writing Fiction program for an entire year without partaking in a fiction workshop. I had no idea the class would fill up as quickly as it did, which means that next semester I will be taking a poetry workshop. Although I am very interested in poetry, I don’t have a strong foundation. Thus, it’s time for some practice!

This first one is for Sam: “I Hope You See It”

When you look at yourself,

Do you feel appreciation?

Can you understand the adoration

That fills my chest and bloats my stomach?

Inside, the acid churns and burns and turns

The food within it,

Much as your presence dissolves

Hostility, negativity, displeasure.

My gut swells from the constant influx

Of news and blues and political worldviews

And you soothe that melancholy so easily,

Just by being you.

When you look at yourself,

Do you feel gratitude?

Can you understand the gratefulness

That expands my lungs and so freely permits me to say

Thank you?

Thank you for being mine,

For giving me a backbone

Without losing the strength of your own.

Thank you for your time,

For choosing to spend your life with me

Without giving up your own avocations.

Thank you for loving me,

For allowing this reciprocal love between us

To protect, respect, connect.

I am grateful for that.

Now when you look closely at yourself,

When you wash and miss the grease on your nose,

The new cuts on your hand,

The indiscriminate bruise on your shoulder,

I hope that instead you notice

The appreciation, gratitude, and love

That I wish to forever etch

In the core of your being.

I’m a fan of haiku poems, so figured I’d give those a try. Here are a few title-less attempts:

What use is a clear

Mind when all it precludes is

All that is worthwhile?

If you take away

The desire to help others

Then what is the point?

The winter brings the

Melancholy, leaving a

Better time behind.

All I think about

Is what magnificent food

I will eat tonight.

Away from the wind,

In connection with the roots,

Mushrooms rule the trees.

Despite lacking the skills most poets have, I do enjoy poetry. Perhaps I am harsher on myself than I need to be in anticipation of a college workshop, but it is what it is. I look forward to learning and improving, along with advancing my already growing appreciation of this art form. I hope you enjoy!