As I said at the time, so long ago now …
No changes on the love-life front. Maybe I really don’t have the time or energy these days to invest there. Just too much going on with the writing and publishing – plus the Quaker responsibilities as clerk of Quarterly Meeting (which is something like being bishop of New Hampshire congregations would be in some other denominations).
Besides, am trying to be careful this time not to connect with my previous patterns – a radar that seems to pick up on emotionally troubled romantic partners or seems to draw them to me. Important thing is to keep myself nourished and centered. There are, however some encouraging new friendships, including those arising from a local poetry group (the “Prozac Poets” meeting at Barnes and Noble) and a weekly open reading in Concord. Will be the “featured poet” at another, which raises its own set of concerns: do I basically read from one extended series or period, or do I instead select a sampler from the past thirty years? Any suggestions?
Am leaning, at this point, toward opening with a Hindu chant that’s supposed to be efficacious at warding off tigers and poisonous snakes and closing with a wonderful quote by William Penn, a piece that wasn’t written as a poem but certainly works as one and points toward both Walt Whitman and Greenleaf Whittier. After the opening chant, I would say a few words about poetry arising in the sacred, which includes sexuality and even the more successful sacrilegious efforts, then go into a long piece, “Flight With Sun and Moon,” from the early 1970s. After that, I anticipate a grouping of five micropoems to change the pace, then maybe three sections from a longpoem, Recovering Olympus, followed by five more micropoems, leading into three to five pieces from one of my more recent “Police Blotter Love Poems” series. I would then end my own work with a five-page piece from Maine, addressed to my favorite poet and the influence he’s exerted throughout my own moves during the past three decades. Guess I’m just thinking aloud here. Sound reasonable? Like all good plans, it’s subject to a slew of revisions!
Yipes, it’s time to run already. Another Tuesday, the last day of my “weekend,” and the sun’s just set (well, it is late afternoon) – need to get something to eat before running off to a poetry reading. Some good stuff being done around here, as well as the usual dross.
Am looking forward to all of those pictures you’re promising in your always scintillating ‘zine. And no, no way are you what they accuse. You’re a poet, remember? But you already know that.
Oh boy indeed!
Aquarius Tracker
Jnana's Red Barn 
So I don’t follow this blog as closely as your other – I’m not sure if this is true musings or a another “voice,” but I have to know…why would Tuesday be the end of the weekend?
Oh, yes, great question. At the time I wrote this, I was on a schedule where I worked double-shift on Saturdays. So what would have been a Saturday off for others became my Monday-Tuesday instead.
My apologies on that one.
So much of the Red Barn has been a matter of unpacking bits from here and there and letting them go wherever they will — that, in addition to obviously current pieces. This particular one, from a letter to another poet and editor, raises questions about just what to include in a public reading — an issue many of us who write and read discuss when we get together.
And now that I’m “retired,” the Tuesday-as-the-end-of-the-weekend might prompt a whole new set of observations. Rather than being a time of leisure or letting go, the weekends are often the busier part of my week.
And then there’s the blog post for all of those who work anything but the “9 to 5” weekday. You know, nights and weekends. It’s a whole different approach.
Thanks for piping up!
I really liked the post – and now I’m glad I did question you – I walked away and thought – church responsibilities, of course. And of course I was wrong.
The “shop talk,” of writers makes a good blog piece – perhaps you will share the actual reading experience with us some day (if you have and I missed it my apologies). Thanks for your reply – Sandy
I so appreciate your thoughts in this letter about how to structure a reading. I especially like the idea of beginning with a chant to ward off tigers and snakes — why take chances? 😉
It was actually an enchanting way to begin. That night, I had the audience right from the get-go.