It’s a 10K weekend! I’m smashing 5K words on my latest WIP both today and tomorrow! The cat has been brushed, fed, & watered. The crockpot is on, the kitchen has been cleaned. No excuses!
#AmWriting
#CreatingWorlds
#WriteForYourLife
#AmWriting
#CreatingWorlds
#WriteForYourLife
February 8, 2025 at 4:45 PM
It’s a 10K weekend! I’m smashing 5K words on my latest WIP both today and tomorrow! The cat has been brushed, fed, & watered. The crockpot is on, the kitchen has been cleaned. No excuses!
#AmWriting
#CreatingWorlds
#WriteForYourLife
#AmWriting
#CreatingWorlds
#WriteForYourLife
THREAD: It's April! Which means #NationalPoetryMonth. This year is less about volume & more about mining notebooks to write "micro" pieces. I’m prioritizing wellness and discovery over a polished product with short, sustainable daily poems. #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife
April 2, 2026 at 11:01 AM
THREAD: It's April! Which means #NationalPoetryMonth. This year is less about volume & more about mining notebooks to write "micro" pieces. I’m prioritizing wellness and discovery over a polished product with short, sustainable daily poems. #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife
As Billy Collins says, "poetry is the history of the human heart." None of the poems I wrote early every morning this month is perfect. All are practice, which helps me find my voice every day. #AmWriting #WriteforYourLife #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth
THREAD: It's April! Which means #NationalPoetryMonth. This year is less about volume & more about mining notebooks to write "micro" pieces. I’m prioritizing wellness and discovery over a polished product with short, sustainable daily poems. #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife
April 30, 2026 at 10:17 AM
As Billy Collins says, "poetry is the history of the human heart." None of the poems I wrote early every morning this month is perfect. All are practice, which helps me find my voice every day. #AmWriting #WriteforYourLife #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth
Day 21: Written beside “Heavenly Bodies” by Alison Luterman, today's poem was drafted in my notebook late last spring prior to my husband's and my 20th wedding anniversary. #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth #AmWriting #AmRevising #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 21: Earthly Bodies
We’re falling asleep side by side. I can touch his lower back, silky and broad across ligaments, a back that bears weight most days...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 21, 2026 at 9:29 AM
Day 21: Written beside “Heavenly Bodies” by Alison Luterman, today's poem was drafted in my notebook late last spring prior to my husband's and my 20th wedding anniversary. #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth #AmWriting #AmRevising #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Day 10: I love how poetry can take me through time in a matter of lines, to remind me that every day we are all reshaped into our next selves! #NationalPoetryMonth #PoetryasPractice #PointofView #NWP #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting #Poetry
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 10: Thanksgiving 2025
Each of you began first as a flutter, a blurry grain of rice, a beating heart, taking up at most a half inch onscreen. Now, how many more ...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 11, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Day 10: I love how poetry can take me through time in a matter of lines, to remind me that every day we are all reshaped into our next selves! #NationalPoetryMonth #PoetryasPractice #PointofView #NWP #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting #Poetry
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Only three days remaining in #NationalPoetryMonth and here is my 28th poem of 2025, written beside “A Drink of Water” by Jeffrey Harrison. #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 28: A Ribbed Tank Top
When my eighteen year-old son steps into the kitchen in a tight ribbed tank top and reaches into the pantry I think of my grandfather more...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 28, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Only three days remaining in #NationalPoetryMonth and here is my 28th poem of 2025, written beside “A Drink of Water” by Jeffrey Harrison. #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
Day 15: This was written beside "Water" by Rudy Francisco. It reminds me of Flannery O'Connor's statement: “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth #WriteforYourLife #WriteBesideThem poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 15, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Day 15: This was written beside "Water" by Rudy Francisco. It reminds me of Flannery O'Connor's statement: “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth #WriteforYourLife #WriteBesideThem poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Poem 4, "At Galway Lake" captures a mindful moment in nature. #mindfulness #writingaswellnesspractice #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife #NationalPoetryMonth
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 4: At Galway Lake
I want to remember kayak’s oar lapping languid descent algae deep sweet shoulder ache waist unlocked breathing respect awe pausing glim...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 4, 2026 at 11:23 AM
Poem 4, "At Galway Lake" captures a mindful moment in nature. #mindfulness #writingaswellnesspractice #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife #NationalPoetryMonth
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Poem 2 is "Ultrasound, October 2005," a snapshot of pure joy! #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 2: Ultrasound, October 2005
All there, the evidence a boy, a boy I couldn’t believe the appley head arms curled fighting Irish snapshot saved ultrasound a funny soun...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 2, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Poem 2 is "Ultrasound, October 2005," a snapshot of pure joy! #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Happy Sweet Day 16 of #NationalPoetryMonth! Today's poem, "Living Will" is #Ecopoetry & TBH didn't realize it at first. But that's what working with @katebaker.bsky.social can do for a gal! #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #AmWriting #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 16, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Happy Sweet Day 16 of #NationalPoetryMonth! Today's poem, "Living Will" is #Ecopoetry & TBH didn't realize it at first. But that's what working with @katebaker.bsky.social can do for a gal! #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #AmWriting #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
Halfway through #NationalPoetryMonth today! I wrote today's poem "thanksgiving and rains finally come" after returning home from #CEL24 in Boston. It's a tiny homage to E.E. Cummings #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 15: thanksgiving and rains finally come
thanksgiving and rains finally come out of the thatch float browned patches muddy bald spots a splotchy patchwork so much waiting for th...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 15, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Halfway through #NationalPoetryMonth today! I wrote today's poem "thanksgiving and rains finally come" after returning home from #CEL24 in Boston. It's a tiny homage to E.E. Cummings #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
Finally got around to "When I'm 84: The World Still Needs Ringo Starr" by Mark Leibovich. Collected mentor excerpts to write beside. Great #MentorText for biography writing and for music lovers! #MentorTexts #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #MovingWriters docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Mentor Sentences from "When I'm 84" by Mark Leibovich
Original article Mentor Sentence Craft moves: What does the author DO? Try it: Why? He is among the most scrutinized, fetishized, analyzed, and catechized people in history. List of -ed verbals to...
docs.google.com
May 3, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Finally got around to "When I'm 84: The World Still Needs Ringo Starr" by Mark Leibovich. Collected mentor excerpts to write beside. Great #MentorText for biography writing and for music lovers! #MentorTexts #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #MovingWriters docs.google.com/document/d/1...
I've made it to the end of #NationalPoetryMonth & met the goal of writing a poem each day in April. It meant making dedicated time VERY early in the AM to do this, but it was worth it! 🥳 🎉 #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #AmWriting #WriteForYourLife #edusky
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/
Poetry as Practice
To challenge myself as a writer, I compose and write one poem a day every year during National Poetry Month.
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 30, 2025 at 9:32 AM
I've made it to the end of #NationalPoetryMonth & met the goal of writing a poem each day in April. It meant making dedicated time VERY early in the AM to do this, but it was worth it! 🥳 🎉 #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #AmWriting #WriteForYourLife #edusky
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/
Day 9 of #NationalPoetryMonth is looking fine! Sun forecasted today amidst all these April Showers. Today's poem, "Girl on the Hillside" was mined from a #WritersNotebook entry! #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 9, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Day 9 of #NationalPoetryMonth is looking fine! Sun forecasted today amidst all these April Showers. Today's poem, "Girl on the Hillside" was mined from a #WritersNotebook entry! #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
One third of the way through #NationalPoetryMonth today and my 10th poem is a sonnet. Maybe not purely speaking. But it's 14 lines. And more Petrarchan perhaps than Shakespearean. But: poem! #WriteBesideThem #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 10, 2025 at 9:56 AM
One third of the way through #NationalPoetryMonth today and my 10th poem is a sonnet. Maybe not purely speaking. But it's 14 lines. And more Petrarchan perhaps than Shakespearean. But: poem! #WriteBesideThem #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 27th! How is #NationalPoetryMonth almost over? Today's poem is dedicated to my voice teacher from Old Town School of Music in Chicago. She is still going strong all these years later! #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 27: She Taught Me To Sing
She taught me to sing, showed me first to breathe deep from the toes, to expand capacity… So much shame abiding, I never held my voice...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 27, 2025 at 10:52 AM
April 27th! How is #NationalPoetryMonth almost over? Today's poem is dedicated to my voice teacher from Old Town School of Music in Chicago. She is still going strong all these years later! #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
Woke up thinking about poetry this morning. I cut my teeth on free verse and enjambment and the release of weird little emotions. Writing saved me then and saves me now. Check out a few of my poems for a dollar. payhip.com/b/Vij31
#AlwaysPoetry
#CreativeLife
#WriteForYourLife
#AlwaysPoetry
#CreativeLife
#WriteForYourLife
Selected Poems (ebook)
Selected poems by Krystal A. Smith to rile, beguile, and soothe.
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March 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Woke up thinking about poetry this morning. I cut my teeth on free verse and enjambment and the release of weird little emotions. Writing saved me then and saves me now. Check out a few of my poems for a dollar. payhip.com/b/Vij31
#AlwaysPoetry
#CreativeLife
#WriteForYourLife
#AlwaysPoetry
#CreativeLife
#WriteForYourLife
Day 29: Written beside “Bending Sound” by Paula Gordon Lepp, this poem is both process analysis & object lesson. Writing about the everyday beside #MentorTexts inspires poetry to emerge! #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth #WriteforYourLife
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 29: Father’s Day and Cheesecake
The cheesecake cooling overnight inside the powered down oven, belted in its springform pan, took time to make well. He had to pay att...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 29, 2026 at 9:52 AM
Day 29: Written beside “Bending Sound” by Paula Gordon Lepp, this poem is both process analysis & object lesson. Writing about the everyday beside #MentorTexts inspires poetry to emerge! #PoetryasPractice #NationalPoetryMonth #WriteforYourLife
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Day 27: Written beside “This Year Peonies” by Marjorie Moorhead, today's poem alludes to lines from "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by W.B. Yeats, which I memorized as a teen. #NationalPoetryMonth #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife #EcoPoetry #AmWriting
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 27, 2026 at 8:49 AM
Day 27: Written beside “This Year Peonies” by Marjorie Moorhead, today's poem alludes to lines from "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by W.B. Yeats, which I memorized as a teen. #NationalPoetryMonth #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife #EcoPoetry #AmWriting
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Poem 5: "Birthright" was written beside a poem by Ada Limon. Writing beside #mentortexts is so important, because you never know what might emerge when you do! #surprisedbywriting #AmWriting #NationalPoetryMonth #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 5: Birthright
Claim your birthright: time. Brutal, shaking truth is a refuge. Truth clings to the hours and minutes. In the lit cave of too much and...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 5, 2026 at 9:51 AM
Poem 5: "Birthright" was written beside a poem by Ada Limon. Writing beside #mentortexts is so important, because you never know what might emerge when you do! #surprisedbywriting #AmWriting #NationalPoetryMonth #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Poem 3, "Ironing," is an homage to my mom. When I began to type it, it took the shape of an iron! Not in the initial notebook draft, but ❤️ how we can be #surprisedbywriting #writingjoy #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife #NationalPoetryMonth
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 3: Ironing
In 1987, before she headed back to work, Mom taught me to iron a button down shirt holding the scalding iron over damp cotton she commande...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 3, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Poem 3, "Ironing," is an homage to my mom. When I began to type it, it took the shape of an iron! Not in the initial notebook draft, but ❤️ how we can be #surprisedbywriting #writingjoy #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife #NationalPoetryMonth
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
Poem 1 is "Chiminea," a poem about the simple practice of making time and space to be together. #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
April 1, 2026: Chiminea
Before Saturday sunrise before syrupy pancakes we sit outside lighting, igniting a silence, substance of love: blazed brilliant blade...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 2, 2026 at 11:04 AM
Poem 1 is "Chiminea," a poem about the simple practice of making time and space to be together. #AmWriting #PoetryasPractice #WriteforYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
We have arrived at the final day of #NationalPoetryMonth here is poem 30, written beside “In Memoriam” by Leo Dangel. ✍ 📓 📜 📝 💻 💕 #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #AmWriting #WriteForYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 30: Folded
When I arrived home on school days, Mom was doing laundry. I’d peer down the cellar steps to greet her, I guess, and she’d call back. I w...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 30, 2025 at 9:28 AM
We have arrived at the final day of #NationalPoetryMonth here is poem 30, written beside “In Memoriam” by Leo Dangel. ✍ 📓 📜 📝 💻 💕 #WriteBesideThem #PoetryasPractice #AmWriting #WriteForYourLife poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
2nd to last day of #NationalPoetryMonth & I don't want it to end! Wait a sec... it doesn't have to! Today's poem memorializes a small something in my maternal memory to treasure in my heart #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 29: Diagnosis
Snow and ice were imminent, so when he complained of pain, named the discomfort in words, and after failed phone calls, we just went, ...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 29, 2025 at 8:46 AM
2nd to last day of #NationalPoetryMonth & I don't want it to end! Wait a sec... it doesn't have to! Today's poem memorializes a small something in my maternal memory to treasure in my heart #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
Day 26 of #NationalPoetryMonth & this was written beside “Taking a Walk Before My Son’s 18th Birthday” by Mary Elder Jacobsen. Made edits to it just now. Poetry revision = agency. #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
April 26: On a Riverside Walk
On a riverside walk, I spied a muddy slab of ice, glistening wet, melting a bit for the sun, wandered there on that path and made a wish ...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com
April 26, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Day 26 of #NationalPoetryMonth & this was written beside “Taking a Walk Before My Son’s 18th Birthday” by Mary Elder Jacobsen. Made edits to it just now. Poetry revision = agency. #PoetryasPractice #WriteBesideThem #WriteforYourLife #AmWriting
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...
poetryaspractice.blogspot.com/2025/04/apri...