Though it was a short month, February was a busy month and a sad one. One of my best friend’s from my home town lost her father. I memorialized him in a Facebook post that I turned into a poem. I wrote six new poems total this month.

I thought it would be a good idea to look through my old poems from years past and choose a couple to rework. It wasn’t a very good idea at all! By looking through my old work, I learned that I’m a different poet now than I was back then and there’s no reason to go back and fix the old poems. They aren’t broken. If anything, poetry teaches us to grow. There are new poems to be written and no reason to look back!

I’m still enjoying my daily meditation on poetry and have been reading Mary Oliver’s “Devotions” each day. I’m still reading Michelle Obama’s book too. For some reason, I decided to start reading Donna Tartt’s “Goldfinch.” I’ve started and stopped this book many times, but I’m going to finish it this time. As I’ve said before, I’m a firm believer that the book chooses you when it wants to be read. And apparently, three books have chosen me at once.

I came across an interview with Donna Tartt about how she prefers to write slow. That resonated with me because I’ve always felt the need to rush. Donna has only written 3 books, and has taken about 10 years to complete each one. So, now I’m not worried so much about the pace of my writing. I worked on my book  every day in February except one. I’ve been tempted to stop and go back to the beginning again, but for now I’m still plugging along and still have no idea how the book will end.

I mourned the loss of Patricia Nell Warren in February. She was the author of “The Front Runner.” It is one of the most celebrated gay love stories ever. I read it late in life, and never read any of Patricia’s other books though I loved TFR dearly. I’m going to try to revisit her work this year. I’ve followed Patricia on Facebook for many years and always enjoyed her reflections on nature.

I finally dropped off the donations I’d been collecting for my local animal shelter. I had two boxes of disposable gloves, some flea collars, and a brand new puppy play pen. That didn’t seem like much so I asked them what else they needed. They said Fancy Feast cat food! So I picked up 3 twelve packs for them.

I watched “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” the Oscar nominated movie with Melissa McCarthy and Richard Grant, based on the biography by Lee Israel about her real life adventures in literary forgery. Wow! What a great film! It’s also a love letter to queer loneliness in a 1990’s pre-internet New York. Brilliant film! Now I can’t wait to read Lee’s book.

I saw Kelly Clarkson in concert. This was my second time seeing her. She’s definitely matured as a performer, singer, and song writer. It was a great show!

I did meal prep for my work lunches three weeks straight. I blogged about this in a previous post this month. I’m not trying to diet, though it really turned into a game of counting calories and carbs without me intending to do that. It’s nice facing each day without having to worry about what I’m going to eat and trying to throw something together before leaving for work.

And that was pretty much my February. It’s been a gloomy one thanks to midwest winter weather. I’m looking forward to turning the calendar and getting closer to spring weather.