Wow, it’s National Poetry Month, and I’ve …I feel like I’ve arrived by way of being yanked through a log, backwards. Sheesh, what happened to March? Poetry Princessa Liz Scanlon once again has raised and flung down the tiny, exquisitely wrought gauntlet of a-haiku-a-day, and so we’re off… blogging Some Kind Of Poem A Day for the month of April, whether an original contribution, or a favorite taken from elsewhere. This year, I’ll focus my attempt on actual haiku, that is, the traditional fare which includes naturalistic imagery.
Potential. If you just search Teh Interwebs (TM) for the word, you come up with tons of stuff — Maximize Your Potential. Reach Your Potential. Show Your Potential. You Are Living At A Fraction Of Your Potential.
Potential: It’s a word that I both love and hate… In Writer Politese, it’s a word we use with each other in critique when something isn’t right. “It has tons of potential,” we’ll say, and hope desperately that the other writer doesn’t ask for details. It’s a word loathed on an school report card: Sarafina is not working to her full potential. What kid wouldn’t hate it — and wonder how the teacher knows how much they can do, when they haven’t figured it out yet? Parents must dread it, wondering, “Why isn’t my son doing his best?” Some of us sang as children, “I am a promise, with a capital P, I am a great big bundle of potentiality…” and meant it with no hint of irony. We weren’t interesting as we were just then, we were possibilities! Our value was in our potential, within our future, not in anything we could do or be in the present.
Potential is a little word that brings with it an assumption of something limitless… we can do anything, tomorrow, can’t we? We are the little seeds which will grow into the future.
I think potential is all very well, but it runs up against a wall when applied in that manner to people… I think I’ll simply take, with joy, the potential – the possibility – of the Right Now.
the egg crates are full of earth, and
possibility
shrink-wrapped. Brown husk enfolds
newborn Spark, furled green.
This month, Laura is doing the cutest Riddle Ku project – daily haiku riddles for elementary-aged kids. Tricia’s pairing science books – science-centered picture books – with poetry, so she has some really neat selections. Cousin Mary Lee is poetically highlighting man-made and natural wonders, including the remaining Seven Wonders of the World (And chocolate cake, which remains a strong contender for The 8th).
I have such creative friends. Happy National Poetry Month.
HUGE PROPS to Mimi and Eunice Comics for their fun, freebie comics that are made to be shared.
Thanks for the shout-out, Tanita. I don’t know that I’d call what I do creative. You don’t see me jumping into the fray to write a poem a day. Highlighting the work of others is SOOOOOOO much easier! And hopefully, I’ll get to inspire some teachers along the way.
Oh yes, “potential.” It got overused. When I learned the word “kinetic” in science class, I was glad to know that all that Potential could do something tangible, and not just linger at the fringes.
Happy Poetry month!
Ah, kinetic! Another good word, hmmm…
Everybody who has bothered to read through all 30 wonders I chose seems pretty jazzed up about the chocolate cake! Something to look forward to, after a grueling (pun intended) month of poetry-writing!! 🙂
Love those newborn Sparks! They are finally unfurling here. Finally.
Hahah… well, Mary Lee, cake IS an awesome concept, but honestly? So is the Chunnel — I never got to go into it, but I am both terrified and awed by underwater tunnels and bridges, so I look forward to that one, too.