Watering My Words

A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning. ~ James Dickey

Everything needs a certain amount of rain, including my writing. This week it finally started to rain, and although all life in the Sierra Nevada foothills needed it, I especially did. Perhaps it was the change in the weather, or that deep human need for winter, or the dark, cozy nesting reaction I get when it is stormy, but whatever the reason, the rain unlocked the dry, infertile ground that kept the creative process inside.

Drop upon drop, the ground relented; words flowed out like hungry earthworms. Birds swooped down, adding color and song. Flowers bloomed, trees budded, and in the dark winter storm, I held the finest bouquet of prose. I gathered all I could, collecting words for future days, when the weather is sunny, and I am too impatient to sit inside.

Where Would I Be Without Poetry

Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry. ~ Charles Baudelaire

I need poetry, and I try to read at least one poem a day. My current favorite sources of poetry are Poetry 180 and More 180, edited by former U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins.  Some of the poems from the books are included along with some that are not, on the Poetry 180 website. Click on “How To Read A Poem Out Loud.” Then pick a poem, perhaps #144, “Smell and Envy” by Douglas Goetsch or #180 “Break” by Dorianne Laux. Read it aloud. Read it again. Then ask yourself if you can go without poetry for two days.

Link to Poetry 180

On the Wings of Molly Fisk

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment. ~Hart Crane

I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself. My life is a bit too full of hepatitis C writing, with too little poetry. This week Molly Fisk spoke at Sierra Writers and I felt revived. A poet extraordinaire, even her voice is pure prose. Listening to her was like coming out of a coma and discovering I was in heaven all along. Inspired, I have been writing poetry—pseudo-poems, actually. (Kind of sounds like the bacteria, pseudomonas—oh my, does medical jargon stick to me?)

Regardless, writing prose and reading her poetry bring sweet respite.

Travel Writing and Resolutions

Keep a diary and one day it'll keep you. ~ Mae West

I spent the holidays exploring Australia and New Zealand. When I travel, I entertain fantasies about travel writing. I see myself writing while I am exploring, in restaurants, at bedtime, sending off articles, and then planning my next trip. The reality is that I am so in the moment that I don’t want to break the travel experience by writing or even taking a photo. When I get a chance to write it is an insanely plain diary entry that barely captures the highlights. The truth is that I am no travel writer. At best, I am a travel reader. So, if you want to read a really good book about Australia, I recommend Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country.

The other thing that dogs me when I travel is the aching desire to write more. I make all these unrealistic resolutions about my writing, resolutions that fall away like dangling prepositions. So here is my new resolution—no more resolutions!