Blog Boggled: Prodigious Poetry

         Have you written any poetry?  What has inspired you to write poetry in the past?   What inspires you now?  Some of us may write poetry to express our innermost feelings.  Or we may come up with some verse in order to say something special to a loved one.  Some of us may have to feel really inspired to dredge up some doggerel lines of verse while others seem to be naturally inspired writers who speak the language of poetry.  We have had the opportunity to experience the fine craft of some bloggers who have spoken that language of poetry while versifying from A to Z.

       Some of you who have been following Tossing It Out may recall having seen some of my own attempts at poetry.  I began writing poetry as a child and wrote a great deal during my years at the University of Tennessee where I majored in English.  I took a few poetry classes to hone my skills,   I even think that some of my poetry was not half bad.  Often the verse came in the form of songs, while other times it was free verse.  I have even left poetic comments on some of the poetry blogs.  I'm not a stranger to poetry by any means.

       During the course of the challenge we have seen fine writers like Stephen T McCarthy reach back to pull out old poems for our enjoyment.  He was somewhat self-deprecating about some of those products of his youth, though I and many others agreed that it was some fine work.  And if you didn't see his post from Saturday I am sad to announce that Stephen has dropped out of the challenge.  Drop by his blog and give him your love and appreciation for the contribution that he has made to date.  I'm still hoping he will at least post a few more of his A to Z entries.  Stephen had indicated that the poetry he presented was from a time of youth when he had a different outlook and philosophy on his life.  I would say the same is true for myself and for many of you as well.

        Probably everyone of you has received a comment from the wonderful Yvonne from Welcome to my World of Poetry.  This prolific poetess blogs verse after entertaining verse.  She has made us laugh and cry, remember pasts near forgotten, and opened up her own life to us.  She is a favorite of many of us, and many of us will continue to read her poetry after this challenge has ended just like I was reading it before the challenge had started.  Yvonne does not dabble, she speaks the language of Poetry.

          Leo is another poetry pro.  His Symphony is a delightful mix of poetic styles.  His verse is like music and his words work magic.  He writes so many different forms of poetry, some that I had never seen until I saw his work.  Whether you are a serious student of poetic form or one who just appreciates beautiful writing, this is a blog that may amaze you, inspire you, or just settle you into peaceful appreciation of the beauty that language can be.

        Yamini Meduri is a student from India who delivers lovely poetry in her blog, The Land of Dreams..!! She writes poetry from her heart to yours.  Her lyrical language conjures meaningful concepts and evokes winsome memories.  Ever faithful to the challenge, she has given us some wonderful works of poetry.

      Another student from India goes by the name "a dreamy gal".  She writes words of whimsy and odes of observation.  One who can turn a phrase nicely, she writes some dreamy poetry in her blog called The Meeting Place (former Woven Words).

        These are few of the actual poetry blogs participating in the challenge.  If I have missed any please let us know in the comments.  Also, I know I have seen poetry appearing on many of your blogs.  Were you one of those poets?  Do you plan any poetry for future posts?  Let us know in the comments if you are a blogger poet. 

And now I would like to present a bit of poetry of my own:

A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post

As we blog toward the end of the alphabet,
Our Challenge is almost through.
So much has been gained in the things we have learned
That there's something I ask of you.

Please give your thoughts about what you went through
As you blogged each day from A to Z.
Anecdotes, memories, and what you observed
As your blogging progressed from I to we.

We met the challenge, you and I, you see,
And we'll reflect upon this, you may have heard,
On each of our blogs challenge reflections we'll give
In the A to Z Mega Post on May 3rd.

For more information see my overview post.

Please let your blog friends who are not in the A to Z challenge to see my post tomorrow Tuesday 4/20 as I recognize the great effort that all of you have put into the challenge and announce the A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post.  We want to make sure that we have as many readers to our blogs on May 3rd and we will need to start spreading the word now.   I have something special planned for the letter Q so please make sure you are there to check this post.