A Poet You’re Not!
In talking more about experiments I need to go back to 2010. I began writing poetry in my head. Wait just a darn minute! I thought, I’m not a poet! I don’t know the first thing about pentameter, or phrasing, or any of that stuff! Cut it out!, I ordered my brain! ……No sale!
So I began to put it down on paper to see what I might have. One day I remembered a little silver journal that sits in my bookcase where I keep quotes that I like and don’t want to forget, tidbits of this and that, and (surprisingly) quite a bit of what I, myself, had scribbled over the years and tucked away. (Remember what I said about the drawer and letting your writing rise like bread?)
So with my trusty ‘delete’ key at the ready, (the letters are practically worn off that key) editing and re-writing and with much trepidation I considered publishing my first book of poetry, “Butterflies and Bullets“…….but a little voice (the one that keeps me from exposing myself and keeps me from experimenting) kept 
whispering, “Who do you think you are? A poet now? HA!”
To protect myself if someone actually said: “She thinks she ‘s a poet now?!” I subtitled the book: poetry, musings and other stories. Then I showed a proof to an acknowledged poetess to see what she thought. To publish or not to publish, that was the question. With her encouragement (she thought I had some good stuff) I told my ‘little voice’ to shut up; I was going for it.
Well, I’ve never sold a single copy to a stranger. Plenty of friends and family say they love it but no real customers buying it for the love of poetry. An experiment that failed.…or was it?
This opened my brain and my heart further and I began to write Haiku. I had read the great Samurai warrior-poets for years and it must have rubbed off on me. For months I had an unfinished book with all the poetry written but the pen & Ink art work that I wanted to include wasn’t completed.
Enter my new website…….(May 2012) I started getting hits on my Haiku poetry. Almost every day! There has been a wonderful Renaissance of this time-honored poetry and people were coming to my site looking for more. So I put my book, “The World of Haiku” on the front burner and completed the art work. My audience was calling!
It’s only been out about eight weeks and it is selling! No one is as shocked and amazed as I am. I have since added a companion book, a Journal to inspire others to try their hand at writing Haiku.
So, writers, keep pushing your experiments….keep writing….if one thing doesn’t work try something else. Yeah, the money’s nice but what we, as writers, really want is for people to read what we write! Right??
Wind Horse © 
running free, wild, brave
tail streaming high in the wind
hoof pounding the earth
horses turn their haunch
to show their scorn for the storm
and nature’s tantrum
allows man to think
he can command elegance
and tame the wild heart
Trisha Sugarek
(image used with special permission by Lori Smaltz)
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