National Poetry Month

I know today is Earth Day (so please take care of Earth and reduce/reuse/recycle!), but I wanted to talk about April being National Poetry Month, instead.

Before I was a writer, back in high school, I was a poet. Not a published poet, not a brilliant poet, but a poet nonetheless. In 10th grade, I got a journal for Christmas and filled it over the next couple of years with my writing.

See, I didn't really keep a diary in school--I wrote poetry (I bet there are others out there who did the same...?). Same diff, really: I wrote about guys I fell hard for who didn't feel the same way about me. I wrote about my friend who died when my ex accidentally shot him in the head. I wrote about impending graduation from high school.

Then, in college, I wrote more and filled another journal--and though the subject matter grew more mature and dark at times, I found writing poetry to be a consistent, continual safe place to express my feelings. And much cheaper than therapy.

Some of my poetry is bad. REALLY really bad. Maybe for one of my posts in the future, I'll post a few poems from "the early years," just to show you how awful it was. You'll die laughing. It took me a while to learn that lines didn't have to rhyme. haha

Since I've been writing novels the last few years, I've found my poetry writing has dropped off to almost nothing. I'm thinking I should change that--it's still a useful exercise to flex those creative writing muscles. And like I said, it's a good place to vent. hah

So, in honor of National Poetry Month, I'd like to share with you a few poems I wrote (of course, please keep in mind that all poetry below is copyright Rhonda Stapleton--not that anyone is going to plagiarize me, but I just wanted to clearly state that. thanks).

Here are two funny haikus I wrote the manpanion last month:

Conference Calls

Sitting on the phone—
Wish that it was you, and not
“Irregardless” guy.

Road Rage

When I drive angry,
I just think of you punching
All of them for me



Hah. Ah, good times. So, what about you? Are you an amateur poet? Or a professional, for that matter? If not, are there any poems you adore? Share your writing, or your fav poems here!! And thanks for reading my work. I appreciate it!