March

When I first challenged myself to write and share a poem a day in March 2018, I had no idea it would become a book! My goal was simply to get back into the habit of writing and give myself an outlet to deal with a series of personal and professional losses that had left me reeling. Going in to the challenge, I felt disconnected, lost, and a little bit broken.

By the end of March 2018, I had not only finished 31 poems in 31 days, I had gotten the idea for a book that would be published that December. On What May Be, a series of prose poem letters to my future family, let me explore the moments in my history that had irrevocably changed me and look ahead to the future that I still hope for. The book you're now holding, March, is more of a series of snapshots. Some of the poems are long, some are short, some flowed from a place of pure inspiration, and some were written by straight force of will. And unlike 2018, I didn't always manage to finish all 31 poems. 2020, for example, was pretty rough. (For all of us, I'm sure.) I wrote poems for the first five days, but the poems from the 6th to the 11th were written in April.

As I finished the fifth year of the challenge and looked back over the thousands of words I had written, I was amazed at how often similar themes, ideas, and even titles had popped up. After five years, three websites, a word document spanning 179 pages, and a number of requests to format the challenge poems into a book, here it is -- March. With minimal editing and formatting, this book comes to you as it originally did online; a journal, a slice of life, and a journey through the last five years.

Thank you for coming on that journey with me.