December Writing Challenge, Day 1

Introduction

As many of you know, I am pretty set when it comes to my major and that plan.  However, I have been going between a few different minors to start once I transfer to UNO next year.  One of these minors I am considering is Journalism.  I know this will require me to write more often than I currently do, so for the month of December, I figured I'd do a writing challenge (thanks to Pinterest).  

Basically, I am going to try to write a small post every day about a random topic.  This will force me to write about things that maybe I don't want to write about, and at times that maybe I won't feel like writing.  Some of these topics will force me to do something small and write about it. I enjoy writing and taking pictures on my own terms, but I am hoping this will make it slightly more like a responsibility, to see if I still enjoy it. 

(If you have any topics you want me to write about, just comment/message them to me!)

Right off the bat, here's a topic I usually wouldn't write about.  

Day 1 - What Memorable Poetry Have You Ever Read or Heard?

Poetry.  The first poet that comes to my mind is always Edgar Allen Poe.  While dark, his work has always captured my attention. He was able to weave together dark and mysterious in The Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven, and he also wrote one of my favorite love poems, Annabel Lee.  

There were a few months in I think my junior year that I became really focused on poetry.  I tried to use poetry to influence my lyric writing, so I stayed up late reading the greats, like Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson.  I also loved Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rudyard Kipling.  And when I was younger, Shel Silverstein poems were on the top of my list. 

While I didn't particularly love the play Raisin in the Sun, the opening poem, Harlem, but Langston Hughes, is one of my favorite poems:

"What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up

      like a raisin in the sun?

      Or fester like a sore—

      And then run?

      Does it stink like rotten meat?

      Or crust and sugar over—

      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags

      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?"

 The movement in this poem is what draws me to it so much.  I love how each person can interpret it differently, too.  I remember discussing this in one of my favorite English classes in high school, and each of us had a different idea about what Hughes meant by the word explode.  

I've also liked hearing poems on the Facebook videos within the past few years.  The group Button Poetry, from my limited knowledge of them, has some really good poetry.  The first video I remember watching was of Neil Hilborn.  He is incredibly talented.

The thing I like the least about my knowledge of poetry is how few females are really included in this list.  If you know of talented female poet work, please contact me with suggestions of what to read!