"We all have that power"

During one of the sessions at the recent Dodge Poetry Festival, Steve Sanfield opened his reading by telling that while he was originally from Lynn, MA, he was living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Coming to Waterloo Village is a little different. He is used to arid and dry but came here to find lush, deciduous greenery. He did not feel comfortable until he smelt a skunk. Now that was something he could recognize.

I was intrigued to hear him. He was featured as a storyteller, yet he also writes haiku. Two extremes of the writing rainbow. He has much to say for us to ponder.

He said:

"Words have great power. We all have that power."

and

"What it all comes down to is a belief in yourself and your work."

You can find and read some of Steve's haiku here

"When did you stop being one?"

Also at the recent Dodge Poetry Festival 2008, Naomi Shihab Nye told an anecdote attributed to William Stafford who, when asked

"When did you become a poet?" Stafford is reported to have said,

"That is not the right question.

The right question is: When did you stop being one?"

See, what limits do you put upon yourself?

You may very well have poetic capabilities. Don't close yourself off to them.

I claim that if you can twitter you can write a haiku! The restrictions are very similar. The one GREAT benefit Twitter has over a printed haiku is the ability to link. But if you haiku (or sherku) on a web site, that advantage is nullified.

There are more limits being explored this month over at the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog. Joanna claimed "But I'm not creative!" amongst the several posts exploring learning from failure.

Stay tuned to explore more limits!