Poetry Friday -- In Praise of Challenges

It started with #nerdlution, back on December 2. Fifty days to try something new, get something back, make a habit. My #nerdlution was to walk a mile and write for 30 minutes every day. The walking has dialed back to 5/7 days a week, but the writing has stayed strong.

At the end of break, I layered in a weekly TED Talk/illustrated notes challenge.

On January 1, I started writing a poem a day for Month of Poetry.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been giving Tricia's Monday Poetry Stretch challenges a try.

So what's up with all of these external challenges? Can't I keep busy enough on my own?

I look at them as nudges. Each has moved me to a new level of creativity and into new ways of thinking. The funny thing is, they don't really function as layers. It doesn't feel like I'm doing more and more. Because things like this happen:

I watched this TED talk on doing something new for 30 days. My notes weren't rich

and his talk wasn't so much of a WOW as a *nods head in agreement.* But that idea of Rut vs. New got in my head and became a part of my first ever pantoum that I wrote for #MoP and Monday Poetry Challenge in my #nerdlution 30-minutes-a-day writing.

Layers.



YIN AND YANG

I crave both
the comfort of routine
and the thrill
of unknowns.

The comfort of routine:
the well-worn path through a day full
of unknowns,
surprises at every turn.

The well-worn path through a day, full.
And the thrill --
surprises at every turn.
I crave both.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014


(Here's last year's version on this theme.)


Keri has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Keri Recommends.