This experiment that I have been undertaking in writing a poem everyday for a year seemed like an easy task when I first thought of it but there have been times when it has been a challenge.

Overall I have enjoyed the project and look forward to publishing the fruits of this effort as a fourth volume of poetry called Anno Vitae: MMXXV in 2026.

One of the cool and interesting byproducts of this year’s work so far is that writing a poem a day has been a little like hand cranking one of those old Russian cars to start it (Lada). It took a lot of effort and wasn’t pretty but it got the engine going.

For me that’s a little like what this effort has been. Forcing myself to write a poem a day was a little like hand crank starting my creative brain…it wasn’t pretty and it took effort but often the result was the creative engine started running.

What has resulted has been one of the most prolific years of poetry writing in my life. Note – quantity does not mean quality. I’m not overly fond of many of the efforts, but like an ugly child, it is out in the world now and I am proud of it.

What this means is that in the space of a year Anno Vitae will be a 365 page overly large volume of poetry that has instigated the creation of somewhere between 400-500 other poems.

With this being the case I have decided a fifth volume will follow Anno Vitae at some point and it will be called B-sides: Vol. 5. The concept of B-sides come from the era of musicians releasing music on small 45 rpm records. Each side typically held one song. Even though the point of the 45 was to release a single prospective hit it made sense to utilize both sides of the record and so a song less likely to be popular was added to the “B” side while the song most likely to be a hit was on the A-side.

Ironically I feel like many of my Anno Vitae poems feel like B-sides while the followup poems feel more polished. This is ok, good writing often includes a healthy dose of irony.

Anyhow every good collection deserves a title poem and so here is one for B-sides:

B-sides: Vol. 5

flip over that hit,
turn that well-known sound around
and you’ll find something different,
words never destined for ears;
and so they are naked,
and so they are unfraid,
like a crowd at an orgy
hidden away from prying eyes
being everything they wanted to be
in the absence of judgement
now sent suddenly
into the cold world,
angry at the betrayal,
but curious all the same
as they embrace the moment
in the sudden realization that
there is no life b-sides this one
so let it be lived
fully witnessed.