Am I a poet?

I spent Writing Friday this week reading and thinking about poetry. It's been on my list of creative things to do but I also knew that it was avoidance of the new novel. I haven't worked at all on the Frankie story since I came back from the July 4 writing retreat. And when I get away from a project too long, I get cold feet. Or maybe it's just a loss of momentum, like how hard it is to go back to the gym when you've been off sick for a week.

But I enjoyed reading the poems I had written in my 100 poem challenge and I spent time dividing them into the best, workable, and way too personal. Then I started to work my way through the maze of the Poet's Market, a giant compendium of journals and magazines that publish poems, contests that take manuscripts and collections, and publishers of collections. It was overwhelming and I realized that I am way too early in my life as a poet to do much marketing yet. That I need to write more, read more, and hone my craft. And that's okay.

I'm looking for another 100 project and poems might just be it.