A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-One-Hundred-And-Eighty-Two

It is really nice to have a chance to spend time thinking about poetry and talking with other poets and hearing their work and ideas. I mean, that sounds simple and, perhaps, just a bit silly, or overly obvious, but I don't have those chances all that often, and I can't help but remark on it. I know I would be far better off if I were able to exist in a community of poets, to be honest, but, at the moment, I get one week a year for that, and I am grateful. It doesn't make anything better, in a practical sense, but it provides a sense of connection and opportunity; not feeling alone makes things easier. I am still frustrated in many ways, and I still feel that it is necessary for me to find a way to change things that aren't work, and, simultaneously, that those are things I have no power to improve in any meaningful sense, but I feel more access to new possibilities when I am at the festival than at any other time of the year.

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