Commit Poetry: Committing Romeo (and other stuff)

 

Here we go again. I swear—I can’t seem to resist a good dare, especially during National Poetry Month and Tweetspeak’s “Year of Shakespeare.” This time, it’s to memorize three sections of Romeo and Juliet. Why these particular three sections? Why not ones I’m already familiar with like . . .

Like what? Follow me to Tweetspeak Poetry, and I’ll tell you. I’ve also got a video up over there where I recite my Romeo section–or as my friend Megan Willomie says I #CommitRomeo.

In other news…

I’ve been taking a 12-week Tweetspeak Poetry class with Megan to kindle my curiosity, encourage my whimsy, and spark my creativity through children’s literature. I think it’s working. I’m reading all kinds of children’s and young adult books, some familiar and some not. I’ve also been revisiting fairy tales, too–and trying to write one.

There’s another class coming up next month on writing in place–called “Place Yourself–With Courage and Imagination. I don’t know if I’ll be able to take it, but my friend Laura Brown is teaching it, and it’s going to be awesome. Check it out.

The 30-mile bike ride was a bust. The traffic was awful by the beach, and Florida actually has hills (as in overpasses.) I did make it about 18 miles and at one point nearly took out a pedestrian. He swore at me. I also discovered my speedometer (or is it odometer?) was out of whack, and it turns out I’d actually been riding significantly fewer miles at a significantly lower speed than that device had led me to believe I could. I don’t think I’ll be taking on that kind of biking adventure again any time soon.

My husband and I continue to explore our new digs and are feeling quite at home. We went kayaking in the Everglades down a not-so-wide canoe trail and counted at least two dozen alligators lounging on either shore.

And yes, I’m still trying to find some kind of predictable rhythm here.