Day 15 — NaPoWriMo — Dear Poem

I’ve continued to read the Ted Kooser book and it’s wonderful but my brain is thinking more about poetry than about writing something tonight. NaPoWriMo suggested a prompt which I accepted gladly as a starting point. I tried to keep some of the Kooser ideas in mind even though I had to write it as an “I” point of view. Here’s the prompt:

Today, I challenge you to write a poem that addresses itself or some aspect of its self (i.e. “Dear Poem,” or “what are my quatrains up to?”; “Couplet, come with me . . .”) This might seem a little meta at first, or even kind of cheesy. But it can be a great way of interrogating (or at least, asking polite questions) of your own writing process and the motivations you have for writing, and the motivations you ascribe to your readers.

So here it goes:

Dear poem, I’m not sure what to write about
or what form to use or how to rhyme you.
I’ve been reading about writing details,
considering the reader, and to catch
the large, important things and small moments,
to note how they feel or what happens next
rather than always telling my response.
I may write about cats far too often.
Tonight I truly lack inspiration
and nothing has caught my eye or my mind.
What will the readers think of all this?
Will they welcome the break from cat haiku?
Oh thank god, they’ll think while reading this poem,
we couldn’t deal with another whisker.