What I love about poetry is that it breaks the boundaries of language. In poetry anything goes, and that’s exciting for the creative process.

That’s why I was thrilled to interview poet and writer Samantha Reynolds for our monthly series. I only recently discovered Reynolds’s popular poetry blog, www.bentlily.com, but it’s already become an important inspiration for me.¹

It has inspired me to write poetry again, and sharpened how I see the world, paying attention to the smallest details, finding beauty in the smallest of things. And I bet her poetry will inspire you, too.

Only a year ago, in 2011, Reynolds pledged to write one poem a day to try to “be present” and not miss the fleeting first year of her son’s life. Now she wouldn’t know how to stop even if she wanted to. Bentlily has sparked a movement of people around the world to slow down and savor their lives.

When not racking up reams of poetry, Reynolds runs Echo Memoirs, a publishing company specializing in personal memoirs and company histories. She lives in Vancouver, BC, with two of the loveliest men in the world.

1. Do you incorporate creativity-boosting activities into your daily routine? If so, what activities do you do?

I walk around the lake outside our house. The fresh air is a remarkably effective weapon to slay the stuckness.

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Footnotes:

1. It arrives in my inbox daily. I also bought her collection of poems, so I can dog-ear the pages of favorite poems and double-underline my favorite phrases. [↩]