Each year, my friend, Mendy Knott, undertakes the challenge to write one poem for every day in April, which is National Poetry Month. Read more about it in her blog post: http://hillpoet.com/april-time-for-30-in-30/

I've decided to take Mendy up on the challenge this year, although I consider myself an essayist. Can you find time for writing a poem in the 30 days of April? I've posted my first entry below. Stay tuned for more!

April 1, 2015 - 30 Poems in 30 Days

In the Books

“It’ll be fun,” she says.

“It’ll be easy,” she says.

“I can do it with one hand tied behind my back while sketching with the other,” she says.

And, I trust her.

I trust that it’s true.

“Heck, if I can write a book in 28 days, what’s 30 piddle-y poems in 30 days?”

I respond in the voice of my most macho braveur.

Yet, I know deep down how my list of things to do draws me like a Siren

From the oceanic depths of my soul

Onto the safe sands of routine.

Her lilting tune washes over me.

It hypnotizes me with lyrics that repeat,

“It’ll wait until tonight. There is real work to be done

Right here, right now.”

The bass in the chorus chants the descant,

“And besides, you’re no poet. You’re no poet.”

But today, as the bluebird perches on the feeder

Blissfully ignoring the cat below and the hawk above,

I write.

In clear resistance to the Siren song,

In bold defiance of the list of busyness,

I write this first poem.

Day one of thirty, in the books.