Writing Life

Yesterday I wrote a blank-verse sonnet for my spouse's birthday, coming up in a few weeks. I didn't get it together for Christmakkah. After 46 years together, it's sometimes hard to know what else to say. Lately I've been writing senryu, especially scifaiku, sensu lato. Today I wrote a longer (~20 lines) free-verse SF poem, but I don't yet know if it's any good. I also wrote a couple of senryu. I find it's valuable to wait a day or three and reread what I've written. Sometimes what seems pretty good at first doesn't after a few days. This process continues for months or years in some cases, but I don't wait that long to submit poetry to publishers. Sometimes they come back and when I read them again I'm glad they were rejected.. Reading a poem aloud helps even more. This is especially good for identifying words that need to be changed.