Observational Poetry

I wrote my poem next to the pond in my fiancé's neighborhood.  The trees were so vibrant and the leaves were beginning to fall.  It was a challenge for me to write "in the moment," maybe because of so many other things on my mind at the time.  I have found, recently, that my poetry hides in my moments of calm.  In the moments when I have very little going on and I have time to let my poetic side run wide.  Unfortunately, at this point in the year, it is a struggle.  However, this could be a lesson for my future students.  While I struggled with being in the moment, I found a way to conquer that mind-wandering and create a poem that I can feel proud of.  Being a perfectionist, it is hard for me to be 100% happy with my writing, but I am working on it.  After writing this, I stood up from the bench I was sitting on, and I walked home with a smile on my face.

I sketched the tree first (pardon my lack of artistic abilities), but as I was sketching, I was able to think about what was going on around me.  First off, I was a little bit chilly!  I knew I wanted to mention that in my poem, and it ended up being the first line.  Overall, while I was trying to let go of my stress, I found myself feeling thankful.  When the leaf, literally, landed right in my hand, I knew I had to write about that feeling of being blessed on this beautiful fall day (which later turned into a snowy winter day).