Quote for the day

"Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward." ~Soren Kierkegaard

Life & Writing

As time goes on, it seems more difficult to separate writing from life. In fact the demarcations are so finite that I don’t often attempt to split them apart. I have drawn the line recently for example when my wife and I went out to eat for our anniversary. If there is a point of separation, it would tend to come at times when we are doing something together. Still, her presence in the same room alone will not stop the clock.

Besides the physical act of writing, there are many periods of time that my mind is divided and sharing space with what is happening around me. I have found it beneficial to allow myself to receive events and conversations each day within the context that some event(s) or conversation could be the springboard for some future creation.

I’m not sure about most writers, but I am aware of others who have or do utilize such an approach to glean experiences or insights to augment their creative processes in writing. It is clear both from reading the journals and biographical information on Sylvia Plath that she was ever vigilant in this manner. I certainly don’t pretend to have mastered the process to her degree success, but I believe that to ignore this avenue altogether would invite so many lost opportunities.

The fact that I have been able to do much initial work within my journal as opposed to the computer has certain portability advantages. It clearly enhances the ability to be able catch things that might otherwise be lost with other fleeting thoughts. I am not underestimating the value of the PC to writers and would never want to return to pre-computer days.

In spite of this integration of day-to-day life with writing, I believe it is necessary to find the way to step back from time to time. It is just like leaving your work at the office. It is healthy to have that break from time to time. Writing is no different. It’s just that I realize the value in the connectivity of life to writing and want to make sure to allow some of it in.

Dream, Dream Go Away....

Thanks Jilly for the link to the gem If only Bush would have read a little poetry first ... ~0~

Worked on rewrites of two drafts this morning. One was a pretty rough draft. The other was in much better form. They both progressed well in my rewrites this morning.

I hate it when I am writing and I am drawn to a word I am particularly fond of, but know in this instance, a better would for the purpose at hand exists.

A few words I am particularly fond of:

• embellish
• portal
• poignant
• endowment
• precipitous
• supercilious
• conciliatory
• bane

*Note: none of these had anything to do with poems I was rewriting. They are just a few works that I am especially fond of.

~0~

Dream: Okay, I had this dream the other night ( I won't go into all the details) and I was in a parking lot at an apartment complex. My wife and I were carrying things in (I think we just moved in) and I was gathering up all these clothes in the back seat... the clean and the dirty together, like I was trying to get them all, or at least as many as I could at once. They kept falling and flopping around as I tried to gather or swoop them up in my arms and I realized there were all these sharp (kitchen type) knives among them.... but I kept right on going.

I'm sure some wise dream interpreter out there is going to tell me what this all means. What I think it means is that sometime in the near future this will find a way into a poem I write.

Stir Up Trouble... Who Me?

And so here it is, June 30th. I put together my contest mailing and made a b-line to the post office and watched the postman dutifully hand cancel the postage with the June 30 postmark and once again, just ahead of the buzzer my work is off to the judges. ::heavy sigh::

If you want to see a yet another mouthpiece in the thickening gravy that has been served up to cover the great debate over Poetry Magazine, I would encourage you to read the John Casteen peace in the Virginia Quarterly Review that can be found here.

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Oh Fuck!!! I only got a PG-13

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

suck (3x) drugs (2x) gun (1x)

Found the like from Kelli (who got an R Rating) Damn!

Friday...

The week has been peeled back and exposed-- The nakedness is what it is, and is for you to make what you will of it.

Well deserved acknowledgement of talent

I suppose one could call it poetic justice.... Maxwell Corydon Wheat is installed as people's poet laureate after all.