Life has a funny way of rushing by

I just realised that I have not posted on Behind Dreaming since July. Life does have a funny way of seeming to drag while you are in the moment but then you realise months have gone past. With this year coming towards its conclusion it is time for a little bit of reflection.

Since July I have found so many things that inspire me. I am starting to pay attention to other poets more than I have before. This has made me realise that being a poet is not simply something that would be nice, it is who I am.

This week I spent some time putting together a Haiku for a unique challenge. I needed to write a Haiku which explores the Spirit of Open Access. For many poets out there the fact that they listed the structure as 17 syllables (5,7,5) would mean it was not a Haiku. However, this was not the point and it was an interesting challenge. This is another example of where I find inspiration for my poetry from my job. I ended up writing 4 Haiku and I have just realised I probably should have applied Creative Commons to them. Oh well, I am sure I can sort that out if any of them get selected.

Between my job, the paper I have been doing recently and also trying to put together a body of work that I can submit for publication - Behind Dreaming has been neglected. I constantly think about what I should post here, but get caught up with trying to find the perfect, informative thing to post. I think it is time to get over it ;-).

So as this year comes to an end I can not help ask - where to from here? I do not really know and in some ways that is both scary and exciting.

For me I think this year can be explained by both A Bottle of Happiness and Reconnecting :)

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.

The challenge of Sonnets

I mentioned in a previous post how poetry challenges that a friend had given me. I went on to talk about the limerick challenge I gave myself and linked to one that I had written called The IRR within DR. I wrote this as a present for a friend and so the title can really only be understood by people who work in the sort of job I do. If someone really wants to know what it means ask :)

I also mentioned Sonnets though until now I have not posted either of the Sonnets I have written so far. They are both in the style of an English Sonnet and the one I posted on my blog of poetry is the 2nd sonnet I wrote and this is called Endure. I am still not sure if or when I will post the first as it needs other sonnets to go with it before it is complete.

I have found sonnets much easier to write than limericks: though I think this may because I over think limericks. This experience has reminded me how little I know about poetry and that I need to spend more time reading the work of other poets. However so many times I find myself looking at poetry that is nothing like what I write.

Poetry Challenges

A comment left by a friend was the first stage of the eventual 3 challenges that I would undertake. The first response I made was to outline the haiku challenge and I then posted next some of these haiku. Now to clarify something before someone comments that the haiku I have written are not actually traditional haiku: my response -- I was given a structure and style to follow and I believe based on that structure I have succeeded. As for traditional haiku, the main problem I have is that I do not understand Japanese. I see that as a challenge to give myself - learning to understand what is required of a haiku that is not written in Japanese.

The other two challenges brought about the poems titled Change and Swinging Moods. I found all three challenges a fantastic way to take my writing in directions that I had never thought to do so before. It has been a while since I have challenged myself as my friend sought to do so and the next challenge I gave myself was to write a sonnet. About 24 hours later I had completed my 1st sonnet. Is this perfect, well I did surprise myself and what I did write I have not posted as it is I believe one of a series of sonnets that only time will allow me to finish. The 2nd sonnet I have written may be posted when I am ready.

The other challenge I found myself putting my hand up for is a limerick. I have never found limericks easy to write. I believe my main issue is that I over think what I am writing.

After experiencing all these challenges I believe I will keep writing sonnets, not sure about limericks and beyond that I will just have to wait and see.