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In honor of poetry month, we're going to be discussing poetry all this week on 2k8, including our favorite poets, poems and inspirations. We may even get a little original poetry from some of our members! Poetry, like all writing, begins with words; words that inspire, create an image or evoke an emotion. Join the class of 2k8 as we celebrate words, poetry and poets!

Today we begin with Zu Vincent, author of The Lucky Place, who penned an article about one of her inspirations, Susan Wooldridge. Says Zu: "Her writing is so evocative and she's very passionate about it. She is always keeping a journal, she carries one wherever she goes and fills it with bits of found objects, stray words and thoughts until the journals become like personal poems in themselves."

poemcrazy by Zu Vincent

“I can’t stand to lose anything,” writes author Susan Wooldridge in her collection of essays on the poet’s tools, poemcrazy, freeing your life with words. “That’s part of what writing is all about for me….if I put words in poems, I can begin to see my value.”

And helping others see their value through words is what poemcrazy is all about. The book evolved as she gave poetry workshops in schools, juvenile halls and libraries around the country, and found “poetry was being damaged by the way it was taught.”

Instead, she wanted to bring joy back into words. To give people permission to express their deepest feelings. By “tricking people into using imagery and metaphor to discover their voice without even knowing they were writing,” she says, she was able to get amazing results.



Poemcrazy has proved so popular it’s now in its 20th printing. And Wooldridge’s second book Fool’s Gold: Making Something From Nothing also cuts close to the creative bone.

“…Not only do I discover I exist when I write poems,” Wooldridge writes in poemcrazy’s chapter, ‘Catching Myself.’ “I learn I’m larger than I thought. I extend up to where the air gets thin and down into the earth’s core near the red hot spots.”

That chapter was, for Wooldridge, a lot like poetry itself. “It’s one simple page I whittled down from twelve,” she says. “I was trying to tap why I wrote, what is really going on here.”

She finds that distillation is often the process of writing, especially poetry. But you have to let yourself expand, first. “Let things build up,” she says. “I notice that when I have a dripping faucet, by accident, this brief little drip will eventually fill the sink.”



Susan Wooldridge


Tomorrow we feature some original poetry from the Class of 2k8. Until then, what are you waiting for? Go write a poem!

You have to be careful if you're planning on living by the law of attraction.

My mother used to tell me the best place to meet someone is in the grocery store. Well, that was one of the many things she told me that was pure bull! If you read my blog, you know I hurt my finger awhile back and didn’t have any band-aids. Well, from that moment on, I haven’t remembered a thing I needed from the grocery store. I will forget what I went there to get, whether I write it down or not. The fact that I will forget half of my list, leading to some disastrous happening, I believe to be the result of the law of attraction.

It is a universal law, I know, and one I wholeheartedly believe in. The law of attraction has changed my life and I’m grateful. It's also the reason for most of the things happening to me, because it's the result of the way I think. For example, my most recent experiences at the grocery store are a direct result of my own imagination. If something has happened to me already, I wonder about how or why it happened, thereby attracting a repeat of the same occurrence or situation.

In addition, I'm forgetting to get these items because I’m distracted by the latest disastrous occurrence I’ve managed to create while I was there. I keep thinking about what silly disturbance may occur, and in doing so I 'm actually creating the event. I insist on thinking about the grocery store, period. Yesterday, I started my weekly post that will ask my readers (you) what’s happening in a picture. I’ll help you out, it’s below you right now-the picture of the grocery shopper lady with her screaming boy and their blue dog!

I’m posting the readers comments today, but first I wanted to tell you what happened last night on my latest trip to the good ‘ole grocery store! This is the second time I’ve posted about a grocery disaster or something happening to me relating to the grocery store, in the last two months….

The first post is the one where I stay enslaved to the bathroom faucet since that one brought up the band-aids. The second was discovering my shirt was on inside out, and this one is date shoppers. The name “date shopper” is a name I created for couples who stroll down the grocery aisle at a snails pace, softly voicing their opinions of the latest grocery art resting on the shelves.

I always wonder what they’re whispering in their romantic hushed tones, and I see them every time I go shopping! It makes me think of a joke we used to tell in junior high school about a family of tomatoes. A family of five tomatoes is strolling along one day when one just cannot keep up with the rest of the family.

Seeing this, the father tomato stops the rest of the family and says, “Wait everybody stop walking” and the family stops. Then the father marches toward the little tomato, and stomps him with his foot, “ ker-splat! “ and says, “Ketchup!”

I imagine that joke because that's what I wish I could do to a pair of date shoppers. Especially when I get stuck behind them in line. Date shoppers stroll, and stroll shoppers are like Sunday drivers who stop every few minutes to admire the view while everyone else waits! For example in the grocery store, they admire the golden grains of wheat germ on the aisle, while you literally climb the shelves in front of them in order to reach your cereal! What do they think you’re trying to do, gymnastics?

I'm sorry, let me tell you what happened last night: I was trying to get a box of Peanut Butter Crunch, but there were two sightseers in front of me. I said, “Excuse me, um excuse me,” except they just stood looking at me as if I weren’t talking, so I said, “Excuse me, um” and before I could get the words out, it happened, and it happened so quickly I didn’t see it coming. The first thing I noticed were two boxes of cereal on the top shelf, rocking in slow motion! They began to sway back and forth like a house of cards, until finally falling like rain on the top of our heads!

This always happens before your brain can tell your body to move or voice to shout, “Get out of the way!”

As the boxes fell I watched the date shoppers and wondered, “Why do they have those expressions on their faces?” Only later did I realize, my shirt lay squished around my neck, since before the boxes fell, I had to stand in a back bend, in order to grab my cereal from around them, and even then, they would not MOVE- OUT –OF- THE- WAY!

Incidentally, we all helplessly watched the cereal boxes smash on the ground and bottles of wheat germ roll hundreds of miles down to the double doors of the meat department! I heard a soft gasp that turned out to be one date shopper’s biggest reaction, as they stood holding each other in a sway admiring the view!

I wonder what is going on with this lady? I know she's grocery shopping, but there is always something going on beneath the surface, and I wonder what that something is with her?

I ‘ve been looking at this picture everyday for a few weeks now, because it's posted by the grocery list I never use at the bottom of this page. I put it there to remind me of what I need from the store. After I wrote the post about my getting trapped with my hand under the bathroom faucet, I decided to post the list as a reminder of what I needed from the store. It was the day I cut my finger and couldn't move my hand away from the faucet because of the lack of one band-aid in the house! For some reason, especially lately, I can’t remember what to get from the grocery store. For example, this week I forgot cat food three times, milk once, and bread, too many times to count!

I thought if I put a reminder in a place I look everyday, I would stop forgetting stuff, and what better place than A Nice Place In The Sun!

I love coming to my blog now, well…I always have, I don’t know why I said “now” like I didn't like coming before? Oh well, what I was saying was, A Nice Place In The Sun has become one of my favorite places to hang around. This childish blog is where my friends come to visit, and read my never-ending childhood memories and take part in my silly questions.

This blog has offered me a perfect way to find friends with good character, because my readers have to have excellent dispositions in order to read the content. I’m working hard to make Anpits a great place for me to work all day, in addition to a great place to visit, ... because a life without friendship would be so boring and sad... What in the world am I rambling was about ?

Do you see what I mean about the character of my readers? To survive while reading my posts you must be both kind and patient. Because you have to be able to cipher through posts in order to understand what the post topic is, then wait for me to get around to writing it!

I'm sorry, and I plan on getting better- The subject of my post today is another "talk my friends into participating post!" What I 'm now asking you to do is answer the following question in reference to the cartoon above, it's a participation topic I'll call, What's happening in the picture? If you have fun playing you can return every Friday to play, just like we do every Tuesday with Tuesday's Question!

What do you think is happening in this picture? Here's what I think ….

I think the store manager just asked her to leave because she took her dog with her inside the store! You can’t bring a dog in the grocery store, at least not where I live! Moreover, you can tell her little boy is a wild child. I'm sure he's already had a blast knocking down cereal in the cereal aisle, and sliding on his knees into other people's carts ! Can't you hear him in the cart now?

"Wheee! Push harder and faster Mom, Blueberry is catching up! " (Is the the dog blue on your computer screen? )

What I think is hilarious is the look on her face. She looks as if someone has offended her! It's a great picture, so I could go on and on, but I would rather know what you think. What do you think has happened, is already happening, or is going to happen to this zany woman? I'll met everyone in comments, and I can't wait for your answers!

It was raining, so I ran to my car and jumped inside. I could see my neighbor from inside the car, waving to me, but the rain was so loud I couldn't hear him, only see his mouth moving as he stood in his doorway.

I wondered what he was trying to say. After all, I was running with a purse on top of my head in the pouring down rain. Wasn't it obvious I couldn't hear him?

Although I was relieved when I got in the car, I felt so tired I could hardly hold my eyes open while driving down the road. I’ve been working hard lately, trying to save money for this and that. For example, my cat Simon’s root canal, in addition to the cost of his therapy. Every time something unexpected happens, it threatens the wind in my sail, throwing my life off course, and delaying my dream ship from docking. I’ve been o.k. though, well, managing, but yesterday was one of those days when my "troubles looked as though they were here to stay," to quote, The Beatles.

When I got inside the grocery store, I felt like I was walking in a daze. I kept staring those long stares that never end, you know the ones into thin air? When your eyes focus on a spot and you can’t move them? Then you begin to yarn a long yarn, that stretches your mouth open so wide a semi truck could drive through.

Well, I keep yarning that yarn on the coffee isle, of all places. I stood staring at the coffee on the shelf for, I don’t know how long, until someone woke me. I felt someone’s hand lightly touch my shoulder, and say, “Are you o.k. Miss? “

“What? Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, yes, I’m alright; why do you ask?” I said. Instead of just answering with an “I’m sorry, I’ve just been tired lately." At least I wouldn’t have appeared delusional or on drugs.

The stranger looked at me as though I was a creature who recently entered the Earth’s atmosphere, and who decided to jump out of my spaceship and have a look around. I said, “I’m fine, sir," thinking he would go about his merry business, but he continued his gaze! I could see his eyes look down my shirt, and then move back to my face, as if he was looking me over. It was creepy, and I said something like, "O.k., good day then” and scurried out of there to get my milk.

I went and got milk and got in line behind another starer! It was weird; usually when you run into one starer, and I don’t mean the "stare into space" stare like me, I mean the type that stare at people. When they stare at you, you never know if you should stare back or not, since you don't want to appear threatening or anything.

Well to sum this story up, the cashier looked at me as if she had pity on me, and the guy that bagged my groceries smiled sweetly and said, “Hang in there. We all have bad days!”


By this point I was really confused, and I wondered "Do I have something on my face?" My blood ran cold at the thought of what could possibly be wrong with me.

I quickly put my groceries in the car, and hightailed it home, but when I came in the house my son took one look at me and started laughing! I said, “What is it? Everyone keeps looking at me like I have egg on my face. What is it?

He playfully took me by the hand and brought me before the bathroom mirror to see I had my blouse on inside out, and wore two different earrings in each ear!

I guess that's why I got so much attention! I think I'm tired.