Conventional wisdom holds that the way to begin a productive new year is to set goals, but I’m loathe to do so because I have a rebellious nature. I even rebel against my own goals. How self-defeating is that?
Some of my writing friends have set benchmarks such as accumulating 50 or 100 rejection notices so that they maintain a steady stream of sending out poems for publication. Last year I agreed to shoot for thirty, but I think I only sent work to five or six journals. I did receive two acceptances, though–
“Letter to My Father at the Winter Solstice” at Heron Tree, one of my favorite online journals. They publish one poem a week and then gather all of them together and publish them in one volume. Here is a link to volume 5, which is ongoing: Heron Tree, volume 5.
The other poem I published in 2017 is a contrapuntal poem, a specific form I learned about in a workshop led by talented poet and teacher Amy Pence. I wrote this poem, “Dependent Co-arrising” from a prompt based on the writing of Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of Space at Switched-on Gutenberg.
Amy had already led a contrapuntal poetry workshop based on ekphrasis, where we described an image in one column and then wrote from the perspective of a single individual in the next column.
In the second workshop we used intertextuality as a springboard. I wrote four or five contrapuntal poems last year, and found inspiration from this technique for revising other poems I had abandoned.
I took two other poetry workshops in 2017, one with the poet and teacher with Jenn Givhan on narrative poetry and the other with Ada Limón at 24Pearlstreet. In both of these workshops, I wrote about the pilgrimage I took to Fisterra this past summer.
I have written many new poems in the last year, but I don’t like sending them out into the world because they all feel like works in progress. Maybe once I complete the project I’ll feel better about trying to publish individual pieces.
I suppose when I look back on what I did and did not accomplish last year, I will say that my intention (not a goal), is to continue writing. I find inspiration from reading poetry, walking in nature, practicing yoga, just from being alive, really.
But motivation to write comes from discipline. It requires daily practice. That’s where the workshops factor in for me. The deadlines to write, read, and comment on other poet’s work helps me stay focused.
For more concrete guidance on goal setting for 2018, read “Poetry Action Plan” by January Gil O’Neil at Poet Mom.
For inspiration, take a look at poet Dave Bonta’s erasure poems based on the Diary of Samuel Pepys–this one is titled “Gusto.”
Balanced On the Edge 
Nice plunge into 2018. I look forward to following you. Inspiring. I agree with ya on goal setting for the year ahead. I prefer daily go / goal setting – get out of the bed, make some coffee, spin the activity wheel and go forth…
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I also don’t like resolutions – I think that coming back to the blog platform for me is the one thing beyond my usual writing practice that I will attempt to stick to. And I’m headed to my favorite January writing conference, The Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway in Galloway, New Jersey – I always have a good start to the new year of writing when I attend.
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Oh hey, thanks for the shout out! Resolutions work for me as long as I treat them as game-like challenges. (I too have a rebellious nature.) Goals are empty, as far as I’m concerned. A memento mori is a much more honest and useful goad.
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Yes, it’s more fun to challenge yourself rather than to be dutiful, especially when it comes to making art.
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That father poem rings true for me. Love the ending and the awareness & hope it holds. Also very interested in your contrapuntal (new form to me) poem. I like the look of it on the page and how it opens up possibilities for reading/meanings. Have bookmarked and will try one at some point 🙂
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Thanks for reading, Elly! I’m going to another workshop with poet Amy Pence in two weeks, so I’ll share any new poetry sparkle she imparts.
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Enjoy the workshop, Christine. I look forward to hearing about it.
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I have an ambivalent relationship with goals. Like you – I rebel against myself. Or – maybe more often – I keep raising the bar on myself so I am guaranteed to fail.
“But motivation to write comes from discipline. It requires daily practice.” This rings true for me, too. Attention on the moment of poetry as an activity… not submission. And yet… readers 🙂
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I have been so preoccupied with US politics that I have neglected my art. Nice to converse with you in the blogosphere again, Ren!
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