CONVERSION OF A POETRY-HATER

I have always despised poetry. Abhorred it, in fact. So many people seem to write in their own private language, understood by only a few. I read their lines over and over until my head aches, and still I have no clue what it is they are trying to say.

There is one poet, however, who is a bit different. It's almost as if she speaks a universal language. Over and over again, in the past few years, lines of poetry have jumped out at me from something I was reading -- a blog post, facebook, someone's art journal, a magazine -- and stopped me in my tracks. Each time it was lines from the same author, Mary Oliver...lines guaranteed to reach out and slap you awake, if you have been sleepwalking through life...lines like:

 "Tell me. What will you do with your one wild precious life?"

So much said with so few words. Anyhoo, I'm not quite sure how she managed it, but she has me seriously considering the very last thing I ever thought I would do -- buying a poetry book!

Speaking of my one wild precious life...

I'm having tons of fun with the new on-line class I mentioned a few days ago, Draw Your Awesome Life. After completing those first two cover pages, we moved on to doing little daily vignettes in a sort of diary or calendar style. Next came sketching our "To-Do" lists, which, as you may know, is something I have great affection for. Coming up next? Sketching our grocery lists!