Hello,
Welcome to 365 Days of Poetry & Honesty. I hope you're well <3 We’ve entered a new month and I’m feeling hopeful about April. Here's a poem I wrote in celebration !
I was thinking about which song I'd share with you this week and there was nothing that really stood out till yesterday morning. It was around 6am, I was watching something and a bit of this song played. It felt like I'd heard it before but in a dreamlike kind of way, and it woke something up inside so I searched through the comments to find it. It's a different vibe to the last couple of songs! At the moment I'm playing it repeatedly and then I'll come back to it after about an hour later to play it again ! I even listened to it while I was making some of the collages. I love it! Especially her live performance. I hope you like it x
I hope you enjoy the poems this week :)
Monday
I thought I’d start the with something short and sweet <3 I like the ambiguity in this poem, and the painting is by Haitian artist Roger Francois!
Tuesday
I’m really proud of the imagery in this poem and also the refrain. I started with that line and wasn't sure where I would take the poem until I landed on something vampiric ahaha
Wednesday
My favourite line is ‘oh how i wish i dreamt you up !’ I like the exclamation, it feels very dramatic.
Thursday
Something holy. I’ve had a few good mornings recently and I’m very grateful for the light!
Friday
You know I really had to psyche myself up to watch ‘Malcom & Marie’. I don't like arguments, shouting, I don't like conflict, especially when it gets explosive because it becomes about how can I do the most damage, what can I say that I know will hurt and render you feeling powerless. I don't like it and I don't think it's okay or productive to want to hurt someone because you're having a disagreement, and sometimes we get lost in the emotion but I still think it's cruel and I have a tendency to shut down so I avoid it.
However, I’m learning that conflict isn't always something to be afraid of or to avoid. There are healthy ways to sort through disagreements and I’m working on regulating my response to difficult situations so it isn't suddenly flight or freeze but that takes time. I have to constantly remind myself that i’m safe, that i can trust the people i love with myself and whilst i'm still working through the why, compared to a couple of years ago, i'm making progress on just allowing myself to be & do! This is already very long lol but with the poem the point i’m trying to making is be careful that avoiding conflict doesn't leave you heavy and carrying around unsolved grievances and open wounds. That kind of suppression & repressing your emotions - things that at the end of the day you have a right to feel (it's how you express those feelings & move with and through them that matters!) - means that at some point you'll just explode or crumble. Life becomes terrible, something like an obstacle course and it's awful! It all comes out anyway so don't run from it or try and numb yourself !
Saturday
This began as two separate love poems but I was calling on the same kind of imagery and language so I put them together! I think it's a beautiful poem and the painting is also by Roger Francois.
Sunday
I’m not sure about where I’m going with this poem but I hope I’m evoking Richard Siken! He’s one of my favourite poets, the way he writes love, violence, desire & yearning, it's beautiful, shameless and a little frenzied, I’m inspired by him!
Thank you for reading my newsletter. I hope this week’s poems spoke to you and I would love to know which was your favourite!
Wishing you a wonderful week :)
With Love,
Oyinda