90% of Writing...

“Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.”—Paul Rudnick

Some Days This Seems Ridiculously True

"The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast."  ~Oscar Wilde

Art & Public Opinion

The artist is chosen by God to fulfill his commands and must never be overwhelmed by public opinion. ~ Albrecht Durer

Post Card - Sylvia Plath

Pardon me while I begin my seasonal affective disorder

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops."   ~A. Bartlett Giamatti

Being An Artist

The Liquid Soul...

“How we need another soul to cling to, another body to keep us warm. To rest and trust; to give your soul in confidence: I need this, I need someone to pour myself into.”  -Sylvia Plath

Thought for the Week -

Art is the most passionate orgy within man's grasp. 

~ John Doone

The Power of A Single Voice

Revisions, Organizing and Mixing it Up This Next Week.

I started this weekend Friday night dog sitting for my son. This lent itself well to getting some reading and writing done however Saturday we less productive. I was uncertain how my schedule would evolve so I use the time a little more loosely checking out some poetry stuff on You Tube.

Among other thing I listened to some You Tube material that featured Sandra Beasley. I have been reading Theories Of Falling and enjoying it immensely.  I've been aware of Beasley for a number of years  as reader of her blog Chicks Dig Poetry so she has been on my radar but I heard her read at AWP15 in April and that rejuvenated my interest in her work.

Of the You Tube video clips I listened to of Sandra Beasley, the workshop she did on April 15 of this year - there were a number of things that stuck with me. However, none quite as much as her comments on revision.

"There are many talented people who can write great first drafts. The people who will become poets are the ones who fall in love with revision."  Sandra adds that she is not one who can do great first drafts. She says she was not the best in her undergraduate class, but adds that she is here today because of revisions and that she has a determination to stay with the process.

There is no question in my mind that Sandra Beasley is doing something right. She is after all writing full time these days and has a number of honors and awards that she can claim. Aside from all that, as impressive as it may be, her work resonates with me. She is one a number of poets that are inspiring to me as a writer.

In addition to this, I have begun this past week to be a better organized poet practitioner.  Planning is something  that I often wish I as better at and I am trying now to make that a reality. So I am busy plotting out plans, deadlines, goals today. All this in an effort to be better at my writing. To produce poetry that I am significantly more satisfied with.

And it is Sunday...  So today, I have drawn another Poet Tarot Card from the deck and as it is, I will be answering to the Two of Quills this week.  So, it is my task this week to look for ways to challenge my established routines. Try writing in other locations. Write at different times. Disrupt the usual. Establish new niches. Write at a coffee shop. Write at different times in the day. Stretch my writing mussels by exercising/executing my creativity differently.

This week I will trace some of those things I approach differently and reflect upon changes and what impact they have on my poetry, positively or negatively as the case may be.

On thing I know I will be paying more attention to is revising work.

How We View The World...

"I was made at right angles to the world and I see it so. I can only see it so." - Elizabeth Bishop

Every Artist

Every artist was first an amateur. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Letting Wonder Come to You

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. ~ Jacques Cousteau

Everyone  would do well to find the poet deep withing themselves that allows wonder to come, take hold of their life and change it. 

Shadow

 

 

 

 

"I thought the most beautiful thing in the world

must be shadow."- Sylvia Plath

The Worst Enemy to Creativity

"And By the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." - Sylvia Plath

Nonsense~

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. - Dr. Seuss

The Risk To Write

We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. ~ Voltare

Love this description of what a word does...

Utility is the dream of every poem, large or small. Does each word carry, embryonically, the intent of the entire poem? Dave Smith, Local Assays, 1995

Picturing a word embryonically carrying intent... how awesome is that!

Sunday Reflection

It's only June and the a/c struggles - what is July and August going to be like?  I'm just saying...

Did some office work I carted home today.  Also some writing as well as other tasks I had on my calendar for today.  Read a little of the poet Marilyn Kallett. The poet Joy Harjo calls Kallet a romantic sensualist.  I've heard Kallett reading live at Rochkurst University a few years ago.  Returning to her work was an experience as she is a bit of a break from much of what I've been reading lately.  Bring some variety into your reading experience can be a good thing. By the way, I'm reading How To Get Heat Without Fire.




Thought for the day:   In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes. - John Kenneth Galbraith

Living in the Moment

We steal if we touch tomorrow. It is God's.

 ~ Henry Ward Beecher