Delayed impact has been:
The Sealey Challenge has been tough, and while I’m over the halfway mark and I could’ve opted to simply read a poem a day, the endurance monster in me refuses to be even slightly chill about it.
I have about nine days left and I’m three ~60 page books behind. Which feels as heavy as running inclines when your legs are done.
When I last wrote about it at seven days in, I had many lovely things to say about the rewarding aspects. Stanzas appearing in my head like patterns I wanted to fit together. The urge to write was astounding. I’d chop vegetables or fruit in my kitchen and come up with strings of gorgeous observations.
Something shifted. The enjoyment waned. I feel a little more blank these days, as if the poems skim over me instead of soaking in. Maybe I just need the right poet.
My approach when I’m behind or I haven’t finished a book is to read at least one poem from the chosen book of the day and then try to catch up.* For example, today I read a little bit of Bell Hooks, and then finished Langston Hughes.
The most interesting thing about this challenge is the intimacy of it: sitting inside someone else’s body and world for the day to completion. To see with their eyes, breathe in their air, and listen to what they need you to hear. It’s something I won’t soon forget.
I’ve already decided if I glean nothing else from this, it will be to always at the very least aim to read a poem a day.
*between Day 8 and 11 there are some gaps. At the beach with family and they took ALL of my attention, but I did continue to read Day 7 (Worshipful Company of Fletchers by James Tate) daily. Zero regrets.
Pictured:
- Meet Me Halfway by Samantha King Holmes
- The Trees The Trees by Heather Christle
- The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich
- The Wild Iris by Louise Glück
- Feelings (A Mini Book of Poems) by Becky S. Knighten
- Thunderbird by Dorothea Lasky
- Branches by Rhiannon McGavin
- And Yet by Kate Baer
- The Government of Nature by Afaa Michael Weaver
- Blues In Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes
- Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
- Early Hour by Michael McGriff
- When Angels Speak of Love by Bell Hooks
Favorite:
- The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich
(Daily Writing 081)
Thoughts?