all this to say

I used to write every day, but somewhere back in 2019 — between being rejected to MFA programs, getting married, and working on a campaign — the habit fell off. And then in 2020 my writing just stopped. You’d think the three months of unemployment while the world shut down would be enough time to put a sizable dent into a new project. Instead, my creativity seemed to stuck. Perhaps if I’m more charitable with myself, I could say it was transmuted: protests and organizing and even running for office (lol). Regardless, very few things were written that year, with the exception of 3 minute remarks for county council, short speeches about the police budget, and copy for text-banking and MailChimp blasts.

It has been a while since 2020, and I still haven’t been writing. Occasionally a short poem will be gifted to me, and of course there’s this little Substack project. I appreciate each and every one of you who have stuck it out here through my sporadic posting. More than a handful of y’all send emails, comments, and texts after every post. You don’t realize how much your encouragement means. It’s been a tough few years of trying to put pen to paper.

All this to say: I’m hopeful.

April is National Poetry Month, and I’ve been using Beau Sia’s 30 poems in 30 days prompts to reignite the discipline of writing in my life. After being away from the craft for so long, it is tough. I’m hyper-critical, the mind’s editor looms large and unapprovingly over every little poem I eke out, but it is a start. I’m going to trust I can rebuild my skill and love for this work.

All this to say: if perfectionism or failure hold you back from doing something that feels like home in your bones, you’re welcome to join me in stumbling forward a bit. I’d love to hear how you’re persisting, despite everything. In exchange, I promise to share some of my fledgling, frail poems with you.

All this to say: expect more poems at Forward Notion. They’ll be pretty rough starting out, but hopefully every few months they’ll get just a little better. I’ll start you with my response to prompt #4 “the truth is” — a rough draft & a rougher draft. Our little corner of Pittsburgh is all abloom and this was written after a neighborhood walk with Stevie. I had Eliot’s “The Waste Land” and Sappho’s “One Girl” on my mind. Much love to all of you