Friday, January 07, 2011

Waxing Poetical!

Ahem! I need to explain something here regarding my Facebook and Twitter profiles - specifically, the part about "published poet (really!)". OK- it's true: I had a poem published in "Award Winning Poems" by the North Carolina Poetry Society in 1992, because I entered their yearly contest and by some weird quirk of fate won third place in the "Light Verse" category. My brief stint at writing poetry was mostly in 1991, when I was venting over a lost "love". I wrote poems about him and about a lot of other stuff, and decided to make it my goal for 1992 to have something published. That was all - just get something in a book. Doggoned if it didn't happen, and I actually got an award for it! Since visual art is my true love, my thinking was it would be a fun thing to add to my resume (like my Honor Society of Agriculture membership). So there you have it - I am a "published poet" - but only once! And here is the poem (makes me blush now) :

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE)

Thanks for your help in my research;
From the data I've collected, the conclusion is:
Men are nothing but trouble--
Better off without 'em.
Know what? I rather enjoy spending my Saturday nights
With Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise;
Beats your company in those last months, anyway.
The dog and I now have more time together;
And I don't miss the late nights on the phone,
Or the hours spent waiting on you to arrive,
Or your delinquent kid, or your dump of a home;
In short, my dear, I'm glad you're gone.


Needless to say, it wasn't one that'll go down in poetry history - but it was cathartic, to say the least. And that was the end of my poet phase. So now you know.