I was a songwriter before I made peace with poetry. Music made intuitive sense to me, but I had to be taught to see the beauty in poems. One of my favorite exercises in my creative writing class was when we listened to an instrumental together and were asked to write a poem inspired by what we heard. Here’s mine: “Wind”Wind, blow harderI dare you to knock me downI’ll clench my fists and faceYour locomotive forceI’ll step forward just to spite youStretch my arms and expose‘Do your worst,’ I sayI know in my heart that I’m stronger than youDon’t say you’re giving up now

I used to write song lyrics all the time, but I never wrote much poetry. I enjoyed it when I did, but writing songs was usually more interesting to me. However, sometimes the poetry comes out instead. As it did with this piece I wrote after hearing about a friend’s death. I stumble across it every few years and I thought this time I should share it in her memory. 1/29/2010 I recall the cushy chairIn attic spaceYou first in placeSmall cadreDark corners I recall the old manDancing zydecoBefore MenanderYou joined unbiddenBefore us all I recall the yellow lightYou, Bret, DavidASL, IPAFamiliar and foreignBoth dancing in your eyes I remember…