Started Training

Woke up this morning in bed with my alarm clock. Apparently I had shut if off in my sleep. I had had it set for my usual 4:50am wake up call, but my body apparently said, “No way,” and I slept until 6:43. Felt good.

Yesterday was my first commute by bike of the season as I begin training for my upcoming cycling events. In may I am doing the Gran Fondo event for the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure, and at the end of June I am doing the Cape Cod Getaway event for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Yesterday’s ride was ridiculously hard after about a month off the bike, and little three-mile rides before that. I am definitely feeling it today. Weather will prevent me from further training this week, so I’ll work out indoors and keep my eye out for the next good day.

Poet's Tool Box

When writing a poem, the poet uses words in a special way to convey meaning. “Meaning” is a slippery word, isn’t it? Well, for our purposes, let’s agree that “meaning” means what a person wants to communicate. Let us further stipulate that the reason poetry exists is because words alone are often not quite up to the task of fully expressing meaning. Poetry helps words do more than what they were designed to do by painting pictures, evoking feelings and triggering thought processes in the mind of the reader or listener. The poet attempts to do this by arranging words in a certain way.

Here is a series I wrote at the request of a friend on how to get more meaning into your poetry:

• Rhyme
• Meter
• Form
• Imagery

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