Those who have been following my blog (thank you!) may have noticed it’s been a bit a lot busier lately. On January 19, one month ago, I began a project with the intent of keeping it going for the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency. Knowing me, however, I didn’t expect to stick with it. Since here we are, one month and 31 poems later, I figure it’s time to own it.
Having not voted for our current president, I was (and remain) pretty disappointed that someone I see as unfit made it this far. The morning after Election Day, I vowed that I would make something worthwhile out of this situation. This resulted in two ideas:
- I would make my voice heard and be more involved, and
- I would create more.
So here’s what I’m doing:
Every day, I’
m making a poem from one page of the same source material: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. The material pick was somewhat random – it just so happened that here was a book that I enjoyed, but also didn’t mind destroying. Upon closer look, however, it is a novel about solving a mystery on an island for the criminally insane – and lately, I feel like we’re on one big island filled with people just this side of crazy (myself included) and there is a huge mystery taking place in front of our very eyes. So it all seems preordained in some way.
These are intended to be disposable poems. Once they are created and photographed, the pieces are discarded. The picture above is the next-to-final resting place of the last 20 or so poems. Sometimes the poems will respond to the events of the day; sometimes not so much. They may not all be lovely (and some poems are better than others (and some poems’ mothers are better than other poems’ mothers)), but they will be me creating in some way or other.
I hope you keep reading. I thank you for sticking with it so far. And I hope you are finding your own art and beauty in these trying times. Feel free to share anything you’re making in the ole comments.
james (w) moore 
Great idea!