There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. - Carl Jung
I’ve always been almost as interested in biographical information and interviews of poets as their work itself. My own twitter bio says, “The Poem Is My Bio.” This evening I read an interesting interview with Rachel Zucker by Publisher’s Weekly.
Zucker speaks of an awkward situation concerning her book The Bad Wife Handbook when her oldest son said to her sheepishly, “I couldn’t sleep last night and I went into the living room and I read your book.” Then he asked, “What does it mean to be a bad wife?” It had never occurred to her that her audience for the book would include her son.
Zucker makes an interesting point concerning writing so frankly about her family. “I have the choice about whether to publish these poems, but I don’t think I had the choice about whether to write them.”
Our office participated in diversity training this morning. So I thought I’d share this thought on the subject of diversity….
“For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.” ~ Donald Williams
Yes, sadly my San Francisco Snow Globe on my office desk crashed to the floor one day last week. I moved my monarch planner and it pushed a stack of files forward toppling the the city in a bubble to the floor where it exploded with a loud pop; water and sparkles rained all over my carpet.
The globe as a gift a from my son number of years ago. He knows besides being an avid San Francisco Giants fan, I love the city itself. I realized how naked that corner of my desk appeared this afternoon.
The day had a number of other disasters – all survivable but still, it ranks low on my list of great days.
On a brighter note, I have completed a rough draft of a Mission Statement. I just need to refine it a tad bit, but I am close to finished. I’m mostly trying to reduce it (the language) to tighten it up a bit.
I’ve been working in my imaginary gardens tonight, pulling some weeds, planting new words. Watching as it struggles to grow into a place the real toads would inhabit.
If I can take a page from the the Beatles song book and modify it a bit, today was the kick-off of 6 weeks of poetry reading and writing focus for me. As you can see, I wrote with a little help from my friend.
I'm reading from The Philosopher's Club by Kim Addonizio this week and while I've read Kim's poetry before as well as attended a reading by her, this book gives me a different perspective on her voice. It's her very first book and notably a bit different in tone from What is This Thing Called Love?, a newer title that I have of hers.
Evie pictured above, was not as intrusive into my space as it might appear. Actually for much of the time she perched herself on the arm of the couch next to me and I found the gentle purr and occasional nudging with her head against my arm to be comforting.
As for the men in power, they are so anxious to establish the myth of infallibility that they do their utmost to ignore truth. ~ Boris Pasternak
