August is Commonplace's birthday month. Looking back, Commonplace was born on August 5th 2010, but I've only just got round to updating things, so no jelly and cake until today. When I started writing the blog it was a way of recording events and what I was up to. Keeping a poetry blog is never going to be be quite as popular as say paintballing, but I'm very surprised at how many people I seem to know have one too. Since 2010, I've read a great many blogs and new ones keep appearing all the time. I was never one for Sunday papers, but there have been many Sundays where I find myself catching up with different poetry blogs. It feels very odd that this has been an on/off habit for 5 years now. Like any birth there was a gestation period. I'd been 'poeting' a bit for a year or so before the blog. In spring 2010 I had my first poems published in 'Under The Radar.' It felt like quite a natural thing to want to discuss and make a record of some of the things that had been happening, like an on-line scrapbook or diary. It was also a way of talking about readings and the kind of poetry I was encountering.
I'm not sure what the future holds in store for Commonplace. I guess I'll keep going like I do now, but at some point things will be different. Some new form of technology may come in and make Blogger redundant, or I'll pack in poetry and join the circus perhaps. It did actually surprise me that I'd been keeping a blog for so long. Which leads me to the conclusion that I've actually been pursuing this poetry lark for a while now. I like looking at the stats and finding out where readers come from. Thank you to contributors and readers wherever you are.
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| Me aged 5 with badge...by the way, the ashtray isn't mine |
