A few weeks ago, my high school poetry teacher and good friend, Gianna Russo sent out a poem she wrote. It captured beautifully the complex emotions of living through December 2020.

I've been called to write more and it had been so long since I'd written a poem I figured she was the one to ask for advice.

So I responded and explained and asked "Can you give me a homework assignment or something? How do you get yourself to write during these times?"

She shared with me a new form she created for herself last October during a time when she was finding it hard to write. It's called "the Daily" and it's a simple form that can be done any day.

The goal was to "lower the bar" and make something simple to complete. I'm a big fan of lowering the bar to make goals manageable.

So I set out to write one. I added up the numbers from the date (December 29th, 2020) and go the number 45. Here's what I came up with:

It’s about

time we

say goodbye

to the

rat dressed

as a

Cheeto in

a suit.

Couldn’t he

have been

the one

carrying pizza

on the

subway stairs

that we

laughed at

years ago

and then

forgot? I

just hope

my fingers

won’t keep

stains.

I texted her immediately, "You're like drano for my poetry pipes!" Not the freshest image but hey, I'm just getting back in the swing of things.

I tried it the next day and got another poem. It was December 30, 2020. The number was 46. Here’s my poem:

Finally the

end is

near enough

to taste.

Bitter but

bright, the

light of

dawn after

a four

year long

night makes

shadows disappear

on sight.

I open

my mouth,

allow patience

to land

on my

pallet and

breathe in

the perfume

of hope.

But then, the New Year came.

I decided to write something for the first of the year. It was only as I added up the date that I realized writing Daily poems in January is a little more challenging than writing them in December. My word count went down by almost 40 words.

Luckily inspiration struck while I was on a walk in the woods on January 1st.

Here's my daily poem from the first of the year:

Flooded path,

bridge on

left. I’m

saved!