time to go

"time to go" is a chapbook that took seed across a process of writing a poem every day for a full month, rain or shine. The approach to the 30/30 Challenge included reading a new poet every day for a month, to invite the muse in or to allow it to come out. As a result, "time to go" is an approach to poetry inspired by the admiration of other poets and their poetry. The intent of this chapbook is to explore and extend of the conversation about poetry that poets share in the creative consciousness. Where do poems come from? What happens when poets connect with other poets in a collective consciousness of creative experience? The answer is, more poetry comes: like "baby rabbits hoping out of their mothers into the dewy grass" (Billy Collins The Trouble with Poetry). Literary inheritance is the gift and the reward. Like finding rocks on the beach on different days under different skies and in different ways reading a variety poets during the challenge opened up the infinite possibilities of a poem. For example, dithyrambs, are an ancient Greek form of poetry dedicated to the worship of Dionysus the Greek god associated with fruitfulness, theater, and ritual madness; part tribute, part interpretation, part parody, dithyrambs celebrate admiration. Not unlike the ritual madness of collecting stones on the beach: picking and choosing from the texture, color, shape, and weight of words is not a unique approach to a poem. Making some of these poems was like casting a stone at a certain angle with a certain force at a certain time, metaphorically of course; there were few rules to follow and fewer expectations to aspire to when it comes to poetry. The poems in this chapbook are the result of following the freedom of possibility and taking the opportunity to discover the curious connections between the figurative elements of my creative consciousness, a stone, and a body of water. "time to go" represents an Ars Poetica of sorts, a brief journey through the inherent influence of poetry. How are we changed by admiration in the process of writing a poem?