When I first started writing poems people would often say - How do you do it? So I wrote a poem about it.

Writing Poems

"How do you write the poems?"
They're always asking me
It's kind of hard to answer them
Okay! Well now, let's see!

I write them down in pencil
A little bit at a time
Line by line, verse by verse
I try to make them rhyme

I start out with a topic
Then list what I should say
I think about the order
And then I'm on my way

Some of them are very short
They take less than a day
Some of them are more detailed
For there's a lot to say

Sometimes the words come easily
I hear them loud and clear
At others they refuse to form
Although they seem so near

And when I feel that I am done
I leave it for a while
Then I re-read and make changes
Until I get a smile

Sorry to be so long to comment on your work, Pam, I've been right down with the flu, still feverish but upright now. Thank God! Hopefully it will be shortlived, I get very impatient with myself when I'm sick!

This is a very good look at the mechanics of writing a poem, all right! People go about the process in different ways - with me, I hear the beginning of a poem in my mind, know that I'd better get to something I can write with, and try to keep up with the flow of the words. That's why I used to call myself 'God's Pen,' it seemed like Someone else dictated and I just wrote the words down. Sometimes I want to write something, and go about it like you've said, most often if someone asks me to match a poem to a piece of artwork or something. We're all different, and it's all good!

I'll be seeing you soon, my friend! It should be fun! Jenn and her two kids are right now stuck in the airport here, because there's a big storm in Toronto - everything all right with you and yours?

Have to go and get some catching up done around this machine.

Love and Hugs,

Alice

We've been getting a lot of thunderstorms this week. Should be nice for the week-end?!
there's been flooding in Peterburough!
Actually both Ron and I have been having hip pain - I HATE GETTING OLD!!
Let's talk soon.

Love and Hugs
Pam