I’ve not set any hard and fast rules about how much to update my blog during a particular 30 day challenge because they’re all so different, and have different outputs. I only wrote an intro and an outtro to the Core challenge because what else is there to say? I didn’t gain a six pack so let’s move on. Meanwhile, I wrote three times about the Marvel Comic book challenge because there were things I needed to get off my not-very-defined chest.

This month’s poetry challenge has fallen somewhere in the middle. I wasn’t sure I would write about it at all but after 15 days, I think I can share some thoughts.

I’ve been reliably reading through my daily poem and have developed some habits - the first thing I do is get dates of birth and death (if applicable) so I can place myself in the right timeline. Sometimes the poems have a bit of an intro to also set the scene, then I’ll read through once and look up any words I don’t know. Then I’ll read through again and make notes in the margin of any thoughts that arise - usually snarky, because what is this life without a hilarious comment or two?

So far we’ve covered everything from A. A. Milne to Christopher Marlowe, Michael Palin to Thomas Dekker, and whilst I’m quite enjoying the journey, I’ll be honest and admit I’ve only liked a couple of the poems outright. Sometimes the poems are really short and it feels like I’m almost cheating that day, but then another day it’ll be Edward Lear and then I’m making up for it.

Out of context, here are some of the notes I’ve made:

• Such a noisy start to the day
• So true - school days are the worst
• This is a type of banana
• Who TF is Alice?
• Are the toes and nose connected?
• Pingle is my new favourite word

I’m still not sure how I feel about this reading poetry business, but I’ve still a few more days to make up my mind.