Tuesday Morning: Poems, by Sam Kilkenny

Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

This short collection of poems was created out of necessity. Like any good writer, artist, or living human person, I was having trouble feeling motivated to write. So, like any good writer, artist, or living human person, I looked to my friends for help. My friends, Danielle Camille Dollar, C.W. Bryan, and I came up with an idea to break this writer's block. We called it Poetry is Plagiarism.

The idea was simple: Read a bunch of other writers to get inspired to create your own poems. Creativity is a fickle thing, and sometimes it just leaves you in the lurch. But it is always hiding in someone else. At first, I thought my poems felt derivative, and that I was hardly writing poetry at all. We soon found, however, that the more you try to emulate others, the more your own voice comes out. A sense of myself started to form from these poems, my own twist on so many poets who inspired me.

The title, Tuesday Morning, is taken from the last poem in the collection. It serves as a reminder that you don’t have to be productive to be happy. You don’t need to tie yourself to one way of living. Lean on others, try to write even when you can’t, and on days when you simply can’t do anything, allow yourself the grace to lay in bed all day.

I am really happy with how this collection came out, and am honored to share it with others. I hope that you can find some spark of creativity from reading it.

Sam Kilkenny is a nonfiction writer and poet. He lives in Atlanta, GA where he writes everyday. He is currently writing with C.W. Bryan at poetryispretentious.com. His work can be found on the website, most notably his poems for the Poetry is Plagiarism Series. When he isn’t writing, you can find him biking around Atlanta like a madman. He hates cars and loves Wendell Berry.