I hope everyone is just about thawed out now and enjoying spring. I barely made it through the kids’ Spring Break last week. While we are enjoying warm breezes here, we are also breathing in all the pretty yellow pollen. My head is just about to blow up. Generally, though, I love Spring. It definitely puts some more energy in my writing flow. And April is chock full of fun and treats for writers and readers.

I’ve been seeing lots of chatter on the Twitter about Scriptfrenzy, brought to us by the kind people who plot NaNoWriMo every year. The goal is a 100-page script finished in 30 days, which is undoubtedly harder than it sounds. Kudos to all you wild souls in a frenzy right now 🙂 It has to be a great way to learn the genre. I want to try my hand at a play, but am not starting another project now. I always liked reading plays and scripts, which is sort of odd (maybe? At least for a non-thespian, I think). I remember devouring “Plays” magazines and drama collections when I was in elementary school. Then, of course, I learned about Shakespeare, as well as geniuses like Ibsen and Miller. I even did a thesis paper on Lillian Hellman in my junior year. Maybe I subconsciously wanted to be a playwright, though that was when I was sure I would be a Pulitzer-prize winning  journalist by, um, now. Screenplay writing seems to be a whole other beast that I know little about. I did try “writing a movie” with a friend in ninth grade, which was going to star River Phoenix. Sadly, that can never happen, so my Hollywood dreams faded away.

I have been writing some poems for the April Poem-A-Day challenge over at Poetic Asides. April is, of course, Poetry Month. I always thought it was because  Shakespeare was born in April, but I could be wrong. Either way, it is a good month to read and write poetry of all types. Apparently there is also a NaPoWriMo which I did not know about, though 2011 is the ninth year. Though I usually write poems only when “inspired,” I sort of like using the prompts Robert Brewer comes up with daily. I have not written all of them, but it has been a nice writing stretch while I ignore the WIP and focus on work. Poems are relatively quick and easy, though they also force us to use other thinking muscles. Personally, poetry has always been my relaxing writing, when I just want to expand on a thought or event, though sometimes I have written in anger or other forms of stress. Sometimes getting the poem out helps relieve that, as I am sure most poets would agree.

One of the prompts was to write about a “type of person” which can mean anyone from a teacher, a nail-biter or a Type-A person. Any interpretation welcome. I am doing some research on hoarders and have had a slight obsession with this type of person for a few years now. Frankly, this is because I fear becoming one of them, as I sit at my desk piled with books, papers and bills in a house cluttered with a wide variety of clothes, toys and books (OK- I may be a book hoarder). I admit to having sentimental attachment to a few inanimate objects, and I am an obsessive recycler/reuser. I actually am related to borderline hoarders (only they call themselves “collectors”) and I have been helping my mother clean through years of collected stuff. So, naturally, hoarding is on my mind these days. I know that I am not *that bad* (yet) but I still get the cold sweats when I see some of those shows. So this was my rough draft poem on the subject:

HOARDER
It starts with the little things,
of course. Or maybe the big stuff
gets you first. Takes up room.
Then the smaller pieces add up,
Fill in spaces.
It’s not like you plan on it,
it’s just a fact. A part of life.
It makes sense.
You never know when you may
need the back of a pin, this magazine,
or one of those jelly jars.
Just the right size.
And you would never want anything
to go to waste.
That would throw you for a loop.
You’d never be able to get rid of
the image, never erase
gnawing, guilty thoughts:
plastic floating on glass, choking life,
taking over, never ending, leeching, trash.
All your fault.
At least you know it’s all here, somewhere,
safe. You can find it, if you need it.
It’s easier this way.