tupelo press 30/30 project: day 04

i had a lot of fun with my poem for day 4 of the tupelo 30/30 project !! you can find my day it, along with other day 4 poems from my fellow 30/30-ers, at the 30/30 project’s web page.

one reason today’s process and even the resulting first draft delight me is because i had a chance to be playful. it’s called (for now) “december sonnet #4: a saucy advent calendar for your man,” and it happened quite by accident. i saw (on facebook) a link to an all over albany blog post: “planning a capital region wedding.” (NO, i am NOT planning a capital region wedding — don’t get off on a tangent; this is about the poem.) turns out, the woman getting married is a new-to-me local blogger — the thrifty ginger.

the “thrifty ginger” blog interested me for a couple reasons: #1) duh. she’s a ginger. #2) the tagline for the blog is “living well on less.” i’m a poet, a single mom… i could use some tips. so i browsed a bit, and i found this post: “advent calendar for your man: naughty or nice.” any poet worth her salt recognizes a poem title when she sees one. and so it was born. i ushered it along by borrowing my opening line — ” some of me always wants to be swallowed” — from jamaal may’s “masticated light” (hum). and just like with my day 2 poem, i used odd little phrases from spam comments i cleaned out of a blog i manage. they allowed me to give a nod to my pervy, i mean saucy, side without blushing or making my dad want to crush my “lovely accomplice,” who makes an appearance in the poem.

here’s a preview (it’s the opening):

some of me always wants to be swallowed.
and that is only day one. it is followed by
a day of scratch and dent and another dedicated to
the different properties of drawstrings. by day four
i want to know what we will do with reindeer antlers…

to read the rest (it’s another 14-liner with no attention to rhyme), visit the 30/30 project. and don’t forget to consider a donation… however small! (see my december 1 post for how to contribute to the project.)