In Answer to: When Did You Start Writing Poetry?
First, I had to get out of school
I had to find my soul in Motown
and hear Leonard Cohen
sing Suzanne on the radio
I had to smoke my first joint
Remember Macbeth
and Romeo and Juliet
Hear a poetry reading
at a coffeehouse in Boston
and think ‘I could never do that’
I had to write a poem
about the fault line of cracks
on a blue china cup
that breaks when it’s hurt
I had to discover Kurt Vonnegut
and poems by Richard Brautigan
cracked open and folded into pockets
like fortune cookie secrets
I had to keep Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit
opened to the page
about letting everyone in the city
say ‘yes’ at the same time
I had to love nursery rhymes
and jump rope songs
Buy my first cheap camera
and electric typewriter
I had to save up money
for my chapbook from California
that I could have put together myself
with a copy machine and stapler
And then I waited
until I stopped saying
that I write poetry
Until I simply stated
that I am a poet
But sometimes I’m not
because every new poem is a new start
a first that feels like my last
a baring of the soul that won’t be imposed
that doesn’t reveal where it comes from
__________Colleen Redman / dVerse Poets Pub / Poets and Storytellers United
February 4th, 2022 2:41 am
Oh Colleen, I just loved reading this, it brought to mind sooo very many of the “Good times” I’ve had both when I was young and again during my three years of freedom between marriages. I was at a “coffeehouse” only once, while visiting a friend in Huntsville, Alabama, in an evening after work (attending a school for the Skylab electrical power systems) my NASA Houston job.
We sat on the floor around a very large room an a few bottles of unending wine were passed around after having a swig. There was a lot of poetry read or recited that night; it was other’s published that a person liked or some that the reader had written.
In my hippie days some was shared under the trees in the Houston parks or in evenings on the loading docks of the downtown businesses. But there was much more music and singing than poetry. ZZ Top and others not so exciting started here. I rode my motorcycle around to the hear some of the various groups.
..
February 4th, 2022 5:01 am
Oh, what a wonderful path to becoming a poet! I became one as a young child – still, I share many of those experiences with you, which I guess helped me to become publicly a poet instead of scribbling privately, and which got me too to the point of being comfortable to say ‘I am a poet’.
February 4th, 2022 5:55 am
That was unexpectedly beautiful, and I was drawn into every line. I really liked it very much, who wouldn’t, a poignant and inspiring journey….
February 4th, 2022 10:28 am
OMG, CR this is fantastico.
All I had to do was to open Mr. Ferlinghetti’s “A Coney Island of the Mind” & read about him discovering love in the candystore beyond the El & I was born into poetrywriting.
Write on, Sister!
February 4th, 2022 11:49 am
So many things we “have to do” before we become who we are! Great write,.
February 4th, 2022 1:20 pm
I had that Ferlinghetti book too, Ron, along with Howl. It helped me see what was out there but I was more shaped by the musicians of the time and Brautigan.
February 4th, 2022 3:01 pm
Your journey into poetry resonated with me from start to finish. I loved all your references. And yes, doesn’t it just end with yeah, I am a poet! 🙂
February 4th, 2022 6:08 pm
Yes! I had to do all that and still so much more to do. it took a long time to finally say, “I’m a writer”! Yes, a poet. It takes courage, right? I remember the first time I heard Leonard Cohen and the first time I read Howl. Yowsers! I enjoyed this.
February 4th, 2022 7:44 pm
The ‘history’ of Colleen bogles the mind. Rich, and diverse. Look where it led you … Leonard is my favorite man.
February 5th, 2022 3:11 am
This is so lovely… makes me think.. and wonder when I will say to someone, oh I am a poet. Thanks for this poem!
February 5th, 2022 6:26 pm
SMiLes Old Poetry
FRiEnD Colleen
It’s So True
Poetry Freed
My Soul
From
Confines
of iRobot Life
Yet i Didn’t Ask it to
Come One Day my Breath
Was New With Words i no Longer
Had Control Over Then i Found my Soul
Free Fumes Left on Pages Roses to Smell..:)
of
Soul
E-Scape..:)
February 6th, 2022 10:48 am
Love, love this. See you at 2. Chelsea
February 6th, 2022 11:59 am
I absolutely love this Colleen!
February 7th, 2022 10:54 am
This is so wonderful, Colleen. I love your poetic road. So many wonders and feels to pour into the ink, to give new life to. So much living from writing to poetry to poet.
February 10th, 2022 2:46 am
I went through the poet in you, reading the poem again because you said ‘ every new poem is a first
that feels like my last’. You are a poet indeed.