Some of you following this blog may have been wondering about my brief hiatus. Well, those who have followed me longer know that sometimes I just kind of disappear like this, but this time, it’s not because of faulty internet connections, or from being extremely productive (if it ever is).
This time, it’s because I’m participating in a 30-day poetry challenge!
As I’ve mentioned before, we in Hangzhou have started our own poetry society, (check out our website here) and over the past year, it’s grown by leaps and bounds. From more active members, to a greater desire to write poetry, we’ve been able to build a creative community to enjoy.
For summer fun (and to beef up content cough cough) one of our newest members suggested we do a 30-day challenge.
Well, we’re about halfway through already, and I can tell you that it’s harder than I thought. In the beginning, ideas were exploding all over the place and it would take me about 10 minutes to write a draft of something. Cut to several weeks later, and I’m staring at my notebook, wondering if I could get away with writing another nonsensical haiku to meet the deadline. True, we have no way of making sure that people aren’t just recycling already-written work, but there’s no point of doing the challenge if you’re just going to cheat.
So anyway, this has been occupying my brainspace for a while (along with reading articles/books for my thesis, translating a knock-off Transformers script for work, and watching an ungodly amount of Game of Thrones). I’ll leave you with a poem I wrote about one of the magical forces that’s keeping me going: coffee.
“Coffee”
Sweet poison of mine
who breathes life with every kiss
and death once away
strangle my insides
set fire to my mind and fly
phoenix-winged as dawn —
strike fast the heavens
curl up like the smoke-tails
that rise from my tongue,
my “Hallelujah”
your inferno and rebirth —
my teeth, but your bite.
Through the Dragon Gate 