I don’t like poetry. I don’t get poetry. I don’t like writing poetry. I don’t like teaching poetry.

I like poetry about as much as my husband likes going to art museums.  I clearly remember a couple art museum visits with Keith. I was so embarrassed when he loudly said, “oh look that lady has rosacea,” about a painting others were admiring.  Then there was the time he mocked Grandma Moses’ paintings at a gallery in Vermont. “Hey, your grandpa paints better than Grandma Moses.” Don’t even take Keith near the “pop art” room with random sculptures.

It is a good thing there isn’t a museum of poetry. I would end up rolling my eyes too much. I would probably sigh and say, “Huh, I don’t get that.”  Maybe I would walk quickly through the halls full of poetic words and not give them a second glance. I would probably even make some wise crack about the poem.

Yet this slice of life challenge is a bit like a museum with its own wing of poetry.  I wasn’t looking for it. I would just click on slices. Oh, a poem, I would think.  Since I was already there, I figured I should at least read the poem.  And guess what? I appreciated the poems. I got them. I enjoyed them.

Then I would write a slice, post it and people would comment with “nice poem” or “beautiful poetry.”

What, a poem. I wrote a poem?” I skeptically wondered.

I would pull back up my own slice and glance over it quickly.  Yes, it was a poem. I wrote a poem. I actually wrote a couple of them.  Me, who can’t stand poetry. Who has only started to read more poems because of this challenge. I actually wrote and understood my own poem.

I might just like poetry a bit more than I thought.

But I’m still not taking Keith to an art museum again!

I’m attempting to take part in the “The Fifth Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge” through the month of March. The challenge is run by Two Writing Teachers.

What to write about today?

I could finish the draft I started about the songs on my workout mix. That will take too much work. I’ll have to listen to the songs and highlight which lyrics inspire me to lift harder or walk faster. Although I can easily say that Legs by ZZ Top is my favorite song to listen to while doing squats, Romanian Deadlifts or  running.

I could start the draft on what I have learned through this challenge. How I have become more confident in my informal writing.  I shake my head as I remember a former client who once told me I wrote too formally. Did I mention he is a former client! In my defense, I do a lot of formal writing, but he seemed to neglect the different types and purposes for writing!

I could write about my morning routine.  How I curl up on the couch with a blanket after kissing my husband and watching him walk to his car for his commute to work. How I sit in the dark with my iPad checking slices and local news websites, scrolling through twitter and facebook, and logging my son into his online school. All while balancing a cup of coffee between the couch cushions and listening to the local news and weather.  Yes – I don’t know why I check the websites while I’m watching the news too!

I could write about how I need to work on creating my superhero, villain and comic book pages to share with my homeschool co-op class next week at our final class. After all, it is important to show the students that I struggled, too, with creating what seems so simple. It is all in my head at this point. How many times do I tell the kids, “You have great ideas in your brain. We just need to get them on the paper now.”  I tell that to myself now.

I could write about how the novelty of vision therapy is wearing off after one month.  My son is still all smiles when we go, but there is a slower pace in his steps. Oh and then I could compare it to the novelty wearing off on working out, eating right, watching how I spend money. Yet we continue forward while seeing the small slow progress of better reading, less weight, feeling better and having more money.

I could write about how baseball season is starting for our family. Is it bad that I am secretly cheering when I see rain in the forecast? I could mention the parallels I see between my sons growing up in athletics versus how I grew up traveling on motorcycles. How I could expand on this “sports mom” life I never expected, or how I see sports families in my childhood a bit differently now. Now, I will just leave it that I secretly cheer for rain.

I could write about how I panicked when I expected my husband and son to be home any minute. Instead, I heard sirens all around, and my husband wasn’t answering my phone calls. And he wondered why I called him eight times in a ten-minute window. If only he would have answered his phone and put my mind to ease.

But I don’t write about any of those.

Well, actually, I did just write about all of those.

I’m attempting to take part in the “The Fifth Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge” through the month of March. The challenge is run by Two Writing Teachers.