Grex Poetry Conference

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Grex Poetry Item 40: Questions of Learning
Entered by bookworm on Mon Feb 22 07:52:11 UTC 1999:

What is this life?
              I live.
              I breathe.
              I learn,
                 grow,
                   am.
Who am I?
              I am me.
              I am special.
              I am a loved one.
              I am a daughter of eternity.
Where do I come from?
              I come from a place where there is no death.
              I come from a warm place
                          a place of love,
                                  of joy.
              The place I am from is the jumping off place.
What is my purpose?
              To live.
              To be who I am.
              To be from where I am from--

              And to make as much more of that
              As I can.
         
        --Written this 21 February, 1999 at 11:51 PST

11 responses total.

#1 of 11 by toking on Mon Feb 22 16:35:55 1999:

I like this, but I can't help imagineing it on a poster in some
classroom somewhere

#2 of 11 by logansan on Mon Feb 22 20:38:46 1999:

        This is wonderful, bookworm .... 'The place I am from is the jumping
off place.'     .... that line sent a chill down my spine :)

#3 of 11 by bookworm on Mon Feb 22 22:05:08 1999:

This is another one of those poems written out of inspiration drawn from 
this conference.

I am always inspired by the writings of other poets.

#4 of 11 by orinoco on Mon Feb 22 23:18:19 1999:

I'm with toking.  

The way you line different things up - sometimes the same word, sometimes the
beginning of the line, sometimes the end of the line - is a nice touch,
though.

#5 of 11 by bookworm on Tue Feb 23 05:26:01 1999:

Thank you...I think.  ;)

#6 of 11 by arianna on Sun Mar 14 01:00:29 1999:

<erinn nudges jon -- "and you're actually married to her; ain't that neat?">
(;

#7 of 11 by lumen on Mon Mar 15 23:37:42 1999:

Yes, Erinn, I'm so lucky :)

#8 of 11 by bookworm on Tue Apr 13 04:27:05 1999:

<blush>  Thank you, dear.  <bookworm favors lumen with a sweet little 
kiss>

#9 of 11 by morwen on Fri Jul 6 18:53:47 2001:

Hey, guys.  After some editing, I entered this poem into a poetry 
contest.  Keep fingers crossed for me.  It's a monthly contest at 
www.poetry.com.  If you want to see the poem as it stand now (I'm not 
so sure it's very good) search for the name "Julie Pratt" and 
check "Questions of Learning" in the (last time I checked) 3 name list.

#10 of 11 by aquarum on Sat Jul 7 04:51:58 2001:

Erm, Julie...  poetry.com is a vanity press.  If you "win" (terribly likely),
they'll stick you in a book and then expect you to buy some copies and
convince other people to buy some, too.  Being published by this kind of press
doesn't look so hot on your CV.
At least, I'm pretty sure that's them.  Erinn?  Same people, yes?

#11 of 11 by arianna on Mon Jul 9 02:29:11 2001:

yeah same people.
don't expect to win.  good luck, though, if you're hopeful.  but they send
the same "semi-finalist" letter to EVERYONE.  literally.  I've seen documented
stuff online showing a poem written by picking random words out of a hat got
the semi-finalist letter.  it's a subsidy publisher.  <shrug>

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