First Blog: All about me...

I am finishing up my last semester as an English major. I have focused mostly on British literature with a smattering of American literature and little fiction writing. I love reading and am one of those people who can read a novel (or two) in a day, hence the literature focus. Math and science never made any sense to me but I can spend hours upon hours reading and daydreaming about literature. I am minoring in education at the secondary level, which means I will graduate with certification to teach 7-12 English in NYS. Having just completed my student teaching in which I taught a unit on poetry to sophomores, I am very interested in poetry...a form of writing I haven't focused much on since high school. I loved teaching and during my search for poems to teach, I realized I really don't know that much about poetry other than what I learned in high school (not much). This encouraged me to search out new poets and styles that may appeal to the modern teen.
I come from a small town in the Adirondacks, on Lake Champlain. Westport thrives mostly during the summer and my school had about 270 students K-12--my graduating class was 21. I adored the small town atmosphere while growing up, and still do. Currently, the town is gaining a slightly larger population of 'younger' folks but it is still very small and friendly.
I greatly enjoy writing but am not all that confident that what I write is any good. I have had mixed reviews of both my poetry and short stories, of course the people who generally tell me my stuff is good are my friends...I have a tendency to draft when I write anything. I cannot spit out a finished product in one sitting by working from an outline. I would rather write the entire thing over. Because of this time-consuming writing process, I prefer to edit others' work. Here on campus, I am an editor for the Laurentian Magazine (submit your work!!) as well as an editor for the SLU yearbook. I enjoy sports, particularly soccer and basketball but my enslavement to the bookstore keeps me from playing very often.
Who are my influences? Damned if I know. I get inspiration from many sources: television, novels, poetry, people, classes, bumper stickers, and theater. I admit, I am not well versed in poets but I admire Robert Frost and I love "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes (I am strangely obsessed, in fact). I admire anyone who can write using a specific rhyme scheme or structural pattern. I try but don't do so well... Generally, my poetry is abstract and occasionally morbid. I write whatever comes to mind, sometimes it rhymes, although usually not. Ironically, I prefer not to read abstract, free verse poems.
I believe one of the biggest challenges I face writing poetry, is the use of cliches--especially when rhyming. I try to avoid them but I usually can't think of a replacement until several years later. Or, I think of it just before I fall asleep and can't recall it come morning.
I have already answered this last question, "what do I hope to learn?" I enjoy writing poetry and I do want to "learn to write better poems" but more than that, I would like to learn new styles of poetry and expand my general knowledge of poets. However, my ulterior motive is finding material that I may be able to teach in the long run (see, I always write cliches!) and work on methods of critiquing poetry.