Remember the 30-Day Challenge we did for National Poetry Month?
Poet L.L. Barkat decided to participate with you, despite still experiencing a severe case of writer’s block that had spanned seven years.
She wrote to the prompts, determined to finish the project, even though there were multiple life challenges in the way (including, as it went, having to serve for a whole month on Grand Jury!).
The result? Beyond the Glass: Poems.
As she notes in her introduction to Beyond the Glass, “I would push myself to pen poems even when I felt nothing—or, worse, when I felt exhausted and disinterested.”
The new collection includes all 30 of the original prompts, so you can try them out if you haven’t already.
And, you wouldn’t necessarily know what the prompts are just from reading Barkat’s poems. Here are a few of the poem titles:
• After a Collage by Catherine Abbey Hodges
• The Big Red Heart Box
• Titania’s Note Left by the Door, Photocopied by Oberon
• Twins with My Sister’s Steel Grey
• The Spice Carousel
Of course, this one was written to the prompt to write about your closet…
1930s Bedroom Closet
Too small for me to fit in,
you dutifully hold
all I put of myself
(except myself).
No room for shoes,
barely room for clothes,
you ask what I really need,
and I am wishing
I knew
the answer.
—L.L. Barkat
We hope you consider picking up a copy of Beyond the Glass. For the poems, the prompts, or both.
L.L. Barkat is the author of twelve books, including The Novelist: A Novella; Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing (twice named a Best Book of 2011); and Love, Etc. Her poems have appeared at Every Day Poems, Best American Poetry, VQR, NPR, and the BBC.
Featured photo by Justin Heap, Creative Commons, via Unsplash. Book photo with teacup by reader Bethany Rohde.
Fine poem. I am looking forward to the book!