Sunday, April 17, 2005

Why can't every day be like today?

Today was a good day. The weather was perfect beyond perfection; I drank just a smidgen too much coffee (which nearly always propels me into productivity one way or another); I spent the entire afternoon reading and writing & plan to do more of the same this evening. I finished reading Mark Doty's newest volume, which is wonderful and something I'll be returning to. I drafted a couple of new poems (one perhaps a bit overmuch inspired by Doty, but revision should make that a bit less obvious at least) and revised another. WFHB (our volunteer-run community radio station) aired a particularly interesting installment of their weekly series "A Cycle of Poets" this evening, featuring Jenny Kander interviewing poet Roger Mitchell and his wife, fiction writer Dorian Gossy -- there was a bit of cross-genre discussion of language, and Dorian said some nice things about how poetry has influenced her fiction, particularly (though I don't think you'd necessarily guess it just from reading her) LANGUAGE poetry. That's made me think about how good it is to admit influences that stem from impulses very different from your own natural ones & to read work that's very different from your own.

Which reminds me, I'm also reading the new issue of Bloom. I love that journal, the range of work they publish. Really need to send them something.

**********

Bumper sticker of the week:

I love my country ...
... but I think we should start seeing other people.

2 comments:

Relief Map said...

Anne: Sounds like a delightful day. Doty and Poetry from 1933, sweet. And the sun doesn't hurt either. Thanks for the compliment on my poem and my smile. And for the 'Lesbian Academic Love Poem'. Made me smile. Tell me more about Doty's new book, your [poetic] work . . .

Unknown said...

Awesome. Good day, yes.

I think I need to start seeing Paris. Only problem is I hate planes. Just the idea of a 12-hour flight puts me into panic mode.

sigh. There's always valium.