My Month of Reading Boldly
The 2022 Sealey Challenge
As a writer and poet, one of my greatest tools is reading (and sometimes listening to) books. I love classes and workshops, but sitting down and reading a poetry collection or chapbook allows me to see the theories in practice.
For Poetry Month (April) this year, I decided to read a poetry book a day. It was a lot of fun, and I couldn’t wait to do another poetry challenge this year. When I heard about the Sealey Challenge, which takes place yearly in August I had found the perfect motivation. The Sealey Challenge is to read a collection/chapbook every day, and since my April challenge had gone so well, I decided to up the stakes for myself.
Not only was I going to read a collection a day, I was going to write a cento poem from each collection.
MY RULES WERE SIMPLE:
Select one to three lines from each poem in the book as I read
Write down select line(s) in the order they appear in the poem
Do not read it back to make sense
Record poem and post on socials
I won’t keep you in suspense: I successfully completed the Sealey challenge and read 31 poetry collections/chapbooks in 31 days. I wrote 31 cento poems, but only 15 of them made it onto social media.
Even getting Covid towards the end of the month, I still had a blast doing this challenge. I didn’t plan out what books I would read, as that takes some of the fun out of it. Instead, I decided to use the library to put books on hold and go with whatever came in. While most of the collections were from the library, while I was sick, I did use the eLibrary (Libby app) for audiobooks and had two Digital Reader Copies from publishers (advance copies for honest reviews). On my bookstagram account, I also post every book & audiobook I read and I usually tag the poets/writers. This was a fun way to get to know some of the poets I had read, as some reached out to say thank you for reading or liked the cento poem I wrote based on their work.
Poetry books are always hard for me to review as whether I like a collection has to do with whether or not the work resonates with me on a deeper level. If I’m passionate or inspired by a collection, that’s a 4-5 star rating for me. Most of the collections were 4-5 stars and I had so much fun and was captivated by all the lines I used in my cento poem. Here are some of my top 3 lists for the month:
TOP 3 BOOKS I KNEW I WOULD LOVE:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
TIED - Obit and The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang
Now We’re Getting Somewhere by Kim Addonizio
The Voice of the Poet: Adrienne Rich by Adrienne Rich
TOP 3 NEW TO ME AUTHORS FROM THIS CHALLENGE:
🌟🌟🌟
An Honest Woman by Jonina Kirton
The Gospel of Breaking by Jillian Christmas
Danger Flower by Jaclyn Deforges
TOP 3 I WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO BUT DIDN’T MATCH THE HYPE:
😏
Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon
Goldenrod by Maggie Smith
Bless the Daughter Raised by Voices in her Head by Warsan Shire
TOP 3 VISUALLY-ORIENTED BOOKS
👀
With/Holding by Chantal Gibson
The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
During this reading challenge I learned a poet can be popular and write well, but if their work isn’t relatable, I find it difficult to gather inspiration from it. Art, in any medium, is finding that thing that stays with you.
Below is the cento I wrote based on lines from the poems in poet Jonina Kirton’s book Honest Woman.
CENTO FROM JONINA KIRTON'S HONEST WOMAN
KRIS KAILATalks never included race
Men do strange things with desire
who owns this body?
Her secrets remain shadows
question sanity of all involved
I try writing with my left hand
He considers himself king
father also drunk
How many times have I fallen on the sharp edge of obligation
no one will want to marry you
there are recipes on soup cans
My grief a quiet thread
the thread is broken
their bodies…places of conflict
bonding over privilege
I walk out alone
stood by her man
the authorities approved
satisfied smile says it all
As a child often considered skin too dark
will always require camouflage
until we agree to fall
but he pulled me back
between words
You felt safe when alone
until my colonized skip erupts
grief cuts bone
when watered with our tears
without safety nets
will only further colonize us both
Blood filled with the cries of my ancestors
I am earth
in the garden, naked
broken mirrors hanging
we are all storytellers
it begins with DNA
Write love poems to her future
unpredictable
I prayed to know
does a father always love his child?
Some would say
yet to many seemed oblivious
we ask so much of memory
the many versions of our story
towards the end in the middle
I find myself without words
The marriage bed a place of potential
we will have denied ourselves
what will they say of us
Brown skin
you were once a tree
under cloudy skies
no words have left
a shapeshifter
I am a bird by day
fish by night
This article was posted on January 10, 2023. Written by:
