A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Hundred-And-Seventy-Four
I had a rather busy day, with a lot of varied and interesting activities. First, I went to an orchid show with my mother and a family friend. My father used to be very into growing orchids, and the group that does the show is one that he and my mother were once quite involved with, so it is more about that then the actual flowers. I did buy a pitcher plant, though, as they seem to do well here, in general, and are interesting and odd. Carnivorous plants have always kind of fascinated me, I suppose. Probably before I ever saw Little Shop of Horrors.
Next, I went to the Morikami Japanese Gardens and Museum to attend a lecture and demonstration on traditional Japanese bamboo crafts, particularly fence building, by a traditional artisan from Kyoto. It was a very interesting event, and the artisan had a huge amount of character, despite his not speaking English. There is something amazing about the complexity of something so simple, and watching this fellow work was really amazing.
After all of that, I also attended a play at Theatre Lab entitled We Will Not Be Silent. It was a rather heavy piece, set during WWII in Germany, and is based on a true story. The story is that of a young woman, a student, who was arrested for distributing anti-Nazi literature, and refused to give up any information, or even to just denounce her actions and make a public declaration of loyalty, in order to save her life. The girl and her interrogator are the major characters, and I admired a lot of the work, though I think it still has a lot of work to be done. The thing that must struck me was that the author was deft enough to not make the play too dark, without looking away from or shirking his responsibility to that material. While I felt there were some things in the play that could have been more effective, I have to admire the craft that goes into threading a needle that narrow.
I also wrote a new poem. I'm not certain about it, and I am sure that it needs certain work, but I think it may be better than I am imagining in some ways. It is a bit of a strange piece, and a bit didactic, in some ways. It has a certain metaphysical argumentative stance, though it is clearly a modern piece in most senses. I think that influence comes from Billy Collins, to be honest, who is, in his deepest essence as a poet, writing in the vein of the metaphysical tradition. He was, of course, a scholar of Donne and Marvel, and knowing this makes his works perspective quite clear. Anyhow, I think that influence is in the poem, a bit, though it is not so funny. It does have that kind of turning quality that Billy uses, which is more specific than the general concept of a turn, at least in my mind. In this case, I mean that the poem is using a sort of tactic of widening the frame of the argument, and pacing the revelation of what is being spoken about as it goes along. I should not do an analysis like this, honestly; it can serve no use for me as a writer to do this for my own work, at least not when it is so fresh.
I didn't get any work done on the querying process, but I think it is better to send those out during the week, in any case. It is not that I believe that will actually do any harm, but I can imagine that their is a log of work built up over the weekend, and I know agents get a huge number of queries each day. It is easy to imagine that sending in during the week, while still part of a huge slog, is likely to exist in a different context. As well, if, for some reason, an agent does dislike weekend queries, as silly and unlikely as that may be, it is still easy enough to avoid without costing myself anything.
As well, I do need to start getting to work sending stuff out. I've got a number of poems, though they still need revision, and in at least one case, some more content. I feel quite good about the work I am doing, though, and think that a few of the pieces are very close to where they need to be for me to feel ready to put them down. I have some of the specific changes in mind, but haven't yet gotten to work. By focusing a bit of energy on getting work out there, I think I can push myself into action on that. Of course, it is also just important in and of itself, and something that will help me to build the career I am hoping to have.
Next, I went to the Morikami Japanese Gardens and Museum to attend a lecture and demonstration on traditional Japanese bamboo crafts, particularly fence building, by a traditional artisan from Kyoto. It was a very interesting event, and the artisan had a huge amount of character, despite his not speaking English. There is something amazing about the complexity of something so simple, and watching this fellow work was really amazing.
After all of that, I also attended a play at Theatre Lab entitled We Will Not Be Silent. It was a rather heavy piece, set during WWII in Germany, and is based on a true story. The story is that of a young woman, a student, who was arrested for distributing anti-Nazi literature, and refused to give up any information, or even to just denounce her actions and make a public declaration of loyalty, in order to save her life. The girl and her interrogator are the major characters, and I admired a lot of the work, though I think it still has a lot of work to be done. The thing that must struck me was that the author was deft enough to not make the play too dark, without looking away from or shirking his responsibility to that material. While I felt there were some things in the play that could have been more effective, I have to admire the craft that goes into threading a needle that narrow.
I also wrote a new poem. I'm not certain about it, and I am sure that it needs certain work, but I think it may be better than I am imagining in some ways. It is a bit of a strange piece, and a bit didactic, in some ways. It has a certain metaphysical argumentative stance, though it is clearly a modern piece in most senses. I think that influence comes from Billy Collins, to be honest, who is, in his deepest essence as a poet, writing in the vein of the metaphysical tradition. He was, of course, a scholar of Donne and Marvel, and knowing this makes his works perspective quite clear. Anyhow, I think that influence is in the poem, a bit, though it is not so funny. It does have that kind of turning quality that Billy uses, which is more specific than the general concept of a turn, at least in my mind. In this case, I mean that the poem is using a sort of tactic of widening the frame of the argument, and pacing the revelation of what is being spoken about as it goes along. I should not do an analysis like this, honestly; it can serve no use for me as a writer to do this for my own work, at least not when it is so fresh.
I didn't get any work done on the querying process, but I think it is better to send those out during the week, in any case. It is not that I believe that will actually do any harm, but I can imagine that their is a log of work built up over the weekend, and I know agents get a huge number of queries each day. It is easy to imagine that sending in during the week, while still part of a huge slog, is likely to exist in a different context. As well, if, for some reason, an agent does dislike weekend queries, as silly and unlikely as that may be, it is still easy enough to avoid without costing myself anything.
As well, I do need to start getting to work sending stuff out. I've got a number of poems, though they still need revision, and in at least one case, some more content. I feel quite good about the work I am doing, though, and think that a few of the pieces are very close to where they need to be for me to feel ready to put them down. I have some of the specific changes in mind, but haven't yet gotten to work. By focusing a bit of energy on getting work out there, I think I can push myself into action on that. Of course, it is also just important in and of itself, and something that will help me to build the career I am hoping to have.
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