The Comma

Pull up a chair. I have a poem for you.

Friends, I’m finally jumping on the newsletter train this April 1st - not as a prank - but to coincide with the beginning of National Poetry Writing Month, aka NaProWriMo. Also, life is short and so are poems, generally speaking, and well, why wait, right? Right.

Photo by Finn Hackshaw on Unsplash

The Comma will land in your inbox on the first and fifteenth of every month. You’ll receive one poem per newsletter, as well as an audio link whenever possible of the writer reading their work. If there’s something fun, funky or newsworthy to share from the poetry world, I’ll drop that in, too.

I’m not a poetry expert. I’m an enthusiast, evangelist, writer, and reader of it. The only thing that makes me happier than sending a specific, intentional poem to a friend is receiving one. So if there’s a sonnet you swoon on or a couplet you covet, send it to me. I love to see what turns on your brain. If I can share it publicly, I will.

The Comma is here to give you a pause, to cut into your day, and to break up the to-do lists running in your head. It’s a reminder to breathe, to read, and to laugh. And if you hate poetry, I hope I convert you. Kisses!

So, here’s The Comma’s inaugural poem, which has been floating in my head since I read it a few months ago. It reminds me of Chekhov, it reminds me of being online, it reminds me of work and the bitch of living - shout out to the SPRING AWAKENING stans in the house. It reminds me of that moment you forget why you walked in a room or opened your pantry or searched your glove compartment and it’s the same and the same and same over again. (Same as it ever was? - shout out to my Talking Head homies, too.) Read it silently, then out loud. See what comes up for you. See if Ron Padgett’s poem hits a nerve with you. You don’t have to overthink it or give some high falutin response - just, what’s in your gut? Tell me in the comments. I wanna know!

NOTHING IN THAT DRAWER
by Ron Padgett 

Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.
Nothing in that drawer.

From Great Balls of Fire. Copyright © 1990 by Ron Padgett. Published by Coffee House Press. 

Here’s that audio, listen to the writer:

Ron Padgett reading NOTHING IN THAT DRAWER.

Thanks for hanging with me at The Comma. And if you’re in Los Angeles in April, stop by the LA Times Festival of Books. I’m moderating a panel over at the YA Stage, and hanging around the poetry events. Say hi!

Kayla