where the sidewalk begins | BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye

I know, I spend an entire month on here giving you a new poem (or something) every day, then I disappear for more than a week. I have been working and planning, though. My next book, Where the Sidewalk Begins (with apologies to Shel Silverstein), must be published! I revealed the cover at the end of April. Now I’ve begun planning the shape of the book itself.

I have (thanks in large part to April’s poem a day) enough love poems to make a book. It took me a while to decide how to illustrate it, though. I believe I’ve settled on the look I want. So, from now until I publish the book, I’m going to give you a “spoiler” image with a quote from one of the poems at least once a week. This will keep me working steadily. I’m hoping to have an illustration for each poem, so 50 poems, 50 illustrations, but it might end up being half that many. We’ll have to see.

Anyway, here’s “spoiler #1” for the poem “Where the Sidewalk Begins”.

It’s bittersweet this ending of National Poetry Month. This one, more than many others, has meant a lot. I’m happy it’s over, but sad at the same time.

I’m happy because I have a lot of material to work with when I got to put together Where the Sidewalk Begins. I’ve written some good stuff, some decent stuff, some stuff that needs work. It’s going to be interesting to see how it comes together.

I’m sad because I enjoyed the pressure of writing a poem a day. Why can’t I continue that after this month? Well, because it’s a bit of a pain in the ass. I mean, look at just the past few days. I’ve been sick, I’ve been trying to get caught up at work, I’ve had two big events this weekend. And every day I either had to write something poetic or do an Instagram live.

Speaking of the Instagram live, I do realize I owe you one of those. I promise to do it soon. As I mentioned before, I’ve been sick and I don’t really look great right now. So I decided to take today off and just write another poem instead.

So here’s the last poem of National Poetry Month 2023. Thank you for joining me this month.

Symphony in My Head
By Michelle Garren-Flye

Today I hear flutes playing 
…not in the distance…
No, they’re inside my head.

Trumpets kick in a blaring note
…make me start a bit…
But they’re not the only ones.

A harp, a violin, a trombone or two
…is that an electric guitar?...
It’s a full-blown symphony up there.

The drumbeats start and I have to move
…what other choice do I have?...
I’ll dance along, keep time with their song.

Oh, it’ll keep me going all day long
…the rhythm, the flow, the beat…
How I love this symphony in my head!