2010, a Year in Poetry

Scott Woods encouraged others to do this so I'm going to take a stab at it.

While I think my work this year suffered due to a lack of writing discipline and distraction, I had a hell of a lot of fun with poetry. If you can't have fun with it, to me, it's not worth doing. This is in random bullet form.

Good memories of this year include the Decathlon Slam at CSCC. Doing the Dozens round against Izetta. Death by Fantasia.

Then there was the Decathlon Slam at Arts Fest. I captained a losing squad, but we kept our dignity by blasting the winning team (including Izetta) with Silly String.

It was an honor to be invited to the Face Off Slam at Writing Wrongs. I went head to head with Izetta, and lost again.

Anyone else detecting a pattern here?

There were some fine features at Writers Block this past year. A few memories are Adam Stone's "Robert Frost Checking his Netflix Queue" poem, Bill Campana's "When Love Met Love" and Jon Sands hitting the stage again and again.

Some nights after Writers' Block, you need a Silkwood Shower. Triggers include Mountain Love. Legs of Silk. Shake and Bake. Irene Cara's Raisinets.

Another honor was being included in the Language of the Art exhibit at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. My poem and Ed Elberfeld's photography together was a good combination we both learned from.

Creating the Uni with Beverly Wilkinson, hardware for the IWPS Champion. Had a lot of fun with that and hope to sustain a tradition.

Came in third place at the Upper Arlington Arts Festival Poetry Slam. Izetta was not there.

Thanks to Tyrone I wrote "Knocking You in the Bluetooth", a poem about cell phones going off during poetry readings.

I tried upping my game a bit with a trio of Persona poems, subjects that only I can come up with: An Obscene Phone Call from Mr. Potato Head. David's Rock, about, yes, that rock. Juan Valdez's Donkey Speaks.

The LeBron James slam. Ethan started the slam with a poem about the freshly departed basketball player. I followed with another. Joanna referenced him in one of her poems and I paid Louise a dollar to do the same.

A fun piece inspired by actual events was formed right before a staff meeting. Lincoln Tower, the Grassy Knoll - the poem about the Cows, thanks Henry.

Completed the exhausting task of writing 30 Autism poems in April. Autism Awareness Month and National Poetry Month gave my brain a workout and forced me to write in a few unfamiliar forms

I wrote two pantoums!

Featured at Cover Me! in January. Thanks Nick.

I'm sure I forgot something. The fine poetry that I witnessed at WoW, the establishment of the No Touching Party. 2011 is going to be nothing but a continuation of the journey. I'd like to thank my wife, and everyone at Writers' Block for all of their support, and to you for reading.