This is what I was doing last Friday.

I missed Poetry Friday last week because I was off having an amazing time at the Celebrate Reading Conference in Fremantle (did I say amazing? I mean really really stupendously amazing!).

It’s not the first time I’ve missed Poetry Friday since I started doing it earlier this year, and it probably won’t be the last, and there are some weeks where Friday comes and I think “oops” and I rush to get something suitable posted. This week I got to Thursday afternoon before I thought ‘now what am I going to write about this week?’ And, because I was about to rush out the door to do the school pick up, I wondered if maybe I’d give it a miss again this week.

But, as I drove around town doing pick ups, drops offs and errands, I got thinking about why I joined in Poetry Friday in the first place, and how much I’ve learnt from writing posts myself and reading other people’s posts, and the fun I’ve had, and I knew I had to come home and put together this post. So here you have it: Why I Love Poetry Friday

1. I love poetry. And Fridays. And Poetry Friday celebrates both of those things.
2. I love discovering new poems, poets, collections, verse novels, poetic forms. There is always something new to discover.
3. I love the way Poetry Friday puts so much focus on (of course) poetry, which often struggles for air time.
4. I love the way being part of Poetry Friday encourages me to blog about poetry every week (or nearly every week – and I love that if I miss a week, that’s okay, too)
5. I love that I am connecting with poets and poetry lovers from around the world on a weekly basis and, as a result learning not just about poetry but about stuff happening in far flung places.

So much love! Which made me think I should finish off with a poem. It’s more than a wee bit corny, but here’s my love poem for Poetry Friday, with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee for the way you share poetic heights
Of friends and strangers, folk far out of sight
For the joy you give, the peace and grace.
I love thee for the poems of everydays
For offerings shared and read from morn till-night
I love thee freely, as poets strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old joys, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I’ll never lose
With poet’s truth – I love the joy you give,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! – you chase the blues,
I shall but love as long as I shall live.

Okay, it’s a bit OTT, but I do really like Poetry Friday, which this week is being hosted by Write. Sketch. Repeat. Pop over there if you have some time and click though to some of the other wonderful poetry posts.