Week 23 words from @loveisyourcompass: kindness, flow, soul, shine and magic.

let kindness to yourself

flow from your soul

threading scarlet desire

round your beating heart

take up the skeins

of your transcendence

and shine a light

on your own magic

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the twenty-third week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

As you know I've been struggling with writing a poem each week for the challenge. As I've already mentioned, my own self imposed rules were holding me back somewhat. But that wasn't the whole story. Even now I still I don't know the whole mystery of my creative process for this challenge and I doubt I ever will. There is at the very core, an elusiveness in creating something from nothing.

However, I have just figured out another piece of the puzzle thanks to the words from two of my collaborators and partners in rhyme. Both @beiteshai and @_heart_land_ mentioned something about enjoying the process. And I realised I hadn't been enjoying the actual process of writing the poems. Of putting pen to paper and playing with words, rhyme and metre. I'd been expecting to turn up at the page with my five words for the week and scribble down a masterpiece. Ha! Crazy fool.

Knowledge equals power and now I am focusing on enjoying the process of writing the poems. It's easy to get caught up in all the other stuff - posting on Instagram, designing in Canva - and forget about the point of the whole exercise. To write poems. To improve my writing. To collaborate and connect with others. To share words, language and ideas. To have fun! Here's to having more fun while writing poetry.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!