A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-One

I think I am going to keep this short today, but I did get my four poems out.  One was a bit of an experiment in found poetry, and I am not sure it is much more than that, but it felt like a fruitful area to explore, and I think there are certain elements of that work which are quite compelling and interesting.  It may be that I need to take some of the rules I followed are bit too strict right now, as the goal was to use another poem by someone else and transform it by shifting only the punctuation, not changing word order at all, but in a way that is an attempt at something cohesive.  It is a bit too much like plagiarism to some, but the goal is completely different from that, and I am not necessarily thinking this is publishable work, but I do think it is a way to explore subtle aspects of language that must be understood in deep and intuitive ways.

I feel pretty happy with the three other poems that I composed.  The two this morning were interesting.  The first one avoided certain traps by becoming a strange sort of meditation, and the other is a sort of personal poem.  I think that last may not work so well, but it is a version of something I want to get right, and each time I take a stab is probably a little closer.  It can be like that much of the time.  The first poem this evening is one that I also feel quite good about, and it also began as an impulse to write about writing, but avoided that in the end.  It became more about the need to take action, in a way.  I am not certain how effective a piece it is at the moment, but I think it has potential, and even more, I think the way of thinking it represents is quite useful for me as a writer moving forwards in my work.  In all, I am quite happy with the work I did today.  It feels great to be producing work at this pace.  I certainly feel that each day I am doing something important, not just wasting my time, as I often felt in the past, when I really wasn't doing this work, though I really should focus on being more appreciative of that in the rest of my day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem: Neighborhood Inhabitants

Neighborhood Inhabitants There was a fox once, and another time, otters, and now a peacock that we think got lost during one of the storms. She stays down on the other end of the street, though, does not visit us. We have a racoon family that stays in our tree some nights, and there is a baby lizard, a brown basilisk, who we have seen several times. It is not supposed to be here, is invasive and troublesome to the local ecosystem, as are the duck.  I hear there are giant snails now who eat stucco or concrete or something of that sort. I have not seen one, though, I just heard they are here and big as my fist.
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Sixty-Nine

I am going to keep tonight's entry short, as I am rather exhausted and things are quite hectic at the moment.  In all honesty, the most significant thing I can say is that I have been keeping with my writing schedule in spite of many distractions and obligations.  I am quite proud of that, and I would be, even if I were certain the writing itself was sub-par.  The act of maintaining this momentum is itself something I need to remember is worth celebrating at times, and the fact that I am now, also, pressing myself to get the work published is another thing I feel quite happy about.  Even if I do not publish the work I have already sent out, it is significant for me that I am making this effort.  I currently have two chapbook manuscripts out (with a third still to be finalized and submitted), and eight packets of poetry that I've sent to various journals.  This is the most work I have sent out any one time, and I plan to continue pressing forwards on that front.  For the first t
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, One-Thousand-Eight-Hundred-And-Seventy-Three

I am still finding it difficult to get back to a more productive work schedule at the moment.  In part, I am sure it is that I gave myself permission to slack off a bit, and it is difficult to walk that back, especially because I am still writing and being productive, even if not to the same degree. I know it would be good to get back to doing more writing, but I also know that I am still meeting my core obligations, even if at a more minimal level.  Really, I just need to make the choice and force myself to stick to it.  To that end, I am planning to at least get back to work on my longer projects again tomorrow, even if I don't increase the poetry output right away.
Read more