A Beginning

or A Manifesto,
or An Invocation,
or A Resolution for my new year

This year, I want to be myself.
Be creative.
Be alive.
Be full of joy.
This year, I will write letters by candlelight.
Remember that it's never too late to reconnect with old friends.
I will knit things that aren't scarves
and sew beautiful things as well.
I will explore this world I live in,
not cower in fear of the unknown.
I will explore myself,
map out my mind,
discover my desires and inclinations.
I will be excited
and enthusiastic
and alive.
And I will choose to trust God,
to hold onto him, and joy,
when depression and control are so much easier.
I will smile from my heart
and climb trees
and invite others into my life.
At the beginning of next year
I want to look back and marvel
at the beauty that I found,
that was given to
and shared with
and lavished on
and birthed by me.
I will do things that make me smile
and do things for others that will make them smile.
And I will suffer and sacrifice and struggle
and forget and fail and fall,
and I pray to God above that I get back up,
that I forgive and love and hope and trust in the midst of it all.
I want to be genuine and have integrity.
I want to be inspired,
not amused;
engaged,
not entertained.
I want to interact with this world I am living in,
not just react.
I want to live,
not just survive.
I want to be myself in the truest sense of the word
and the truest sense of me.
I want to be.

An Introduction

So basically, I decided that I wanted a more private blog to put the poetry I write on. Not that my other blog isn't private, but it's private with a condition; Anyone who facebook stalks me can find the link, so anyone who cares enough can find my blog. But I wanted to be a little more selective about the people who read this, so this blog is hidden on my profile, and I'm only going to give the address to a small group of people. One, because most of my poetry is bad. And two, because my writing is kind of a private thing for me, even though I want to share it with some people. And three, because a lot of the poetry that is going to appear here (especially in the near future) will be about stuff that I am currently feeling very happy about, but also a little shy. So this blog is going to function as an online mode of communication between me and my closest friends. I also might put things on here that aren't poetry, that I wouldn't be quite as explicit about on my other blog.

As for the name, this blog is going to contain a lot more of my poetry than Dancing Trees does, so Singing Trees was a good choice. And they make a good pair. Dancing and Singing.

For the first several weeks, I'm just going to be putting up poetry that I've written over the past four years or so, the stuff I like the most. But after that, it's all going to be live and pretty much rough draft stuff. To start with, it's going to be old school writing group stuff. Also, I've put up some of it already on Dancing Trees, but I'm going to repost it anyway.

Lastly, if you're reading this, congratulations on being part of Hannah's group of good friends! You warranted being given one of the limited links I'm sending out.