Day 40 with a look at Day 41

And so the idea of trying to find a Letterpress led me into thinking about how I could successfully get my poems on a nice looking paper. I want even as far as thinking about buying letters from Letterpress and using a mallet to hit them on a piece of paper, then using a pencil to rub over it gently so one could read the words. I'm not sure how that would look, but I've always loved the idea of rubbings and etchings. Getting those fall leaves on a piece of paper and it's very Elementary, very easy that children are asked to do it in school, but aren't they beautiful anyway? One can see the design of a leaf in a different way? Maybe that's why I was thinking of the etchings and terms of what the Gage Park has in all of the different bronze dedications around the park. They are all over the place and each one could be a source of doing some emission poetry and then using the nice piece of paper and some kind of pencil over it might be to be a larger pencil need to look into that. However, a lot of the Poetry making would be done inside using photos I take ahead of time. This will be my project for tomorrow is to take pictures around the park before meeting with Barbara at blackbird. Today, I'm on the road headed for Junction City for a talk over Fried Green Tomatoes. Carrie and I watch the film over the weekend and it is nothing like the book well I can't say that but it's selective. The interesting thing is that they did not want the movie 2 have the lesbian relationship the lesbian love between the two characters. That is enigmatic to me but probably with a success of beaches and all those other times as other films around that time that Hollywood needed their movies to be a certain way. Anyway, I'm thinking of using that film as a catalyst to writing, and I'm also going to look at a lot of the other things I have currently that need to be edited. Vanessa also did me a world of good for giving me feedback on my letter for senior lecturer so I will be looking at those comments too.

I was taking so many notes about how many poets use scenes from movies and there has to be some interesting connection. I am just hitting the jackpot with irony, finding the books I need at the right time like the ekphrastic books I was happening to carry around. Kevin just wrote ekphrastic poetry at Johnson County Community College recently, so I wonder if I should go that way sometime either with the pain project or with my son's project. Right now, I already have a lot to choose from.

One of the books I checked out was about the history of Gage Park so I wonder if I can find online an archaic source about parks—to examine racism, sexism, etc.

I am sending out Strike Out things, hoping to get a catch from the Pentatgon Papers omissions. If I get a few published, it will feel like a better use of time when I get back to it in the spring. 

I am having the joy of writing an Our 1990's Fried Green Tomatoes poem, having an hour to examine Bianca Stone's "Blue Jays" to figure out how she pulls of the mother-based poem. p 54 of The Mobius Strip Club of Grief.

Days 38 and 39

Yesterday, it was one of the down days for me. A lot of the things I wrote we're horrible, not going really anywhere, and just plain awful. Luckily, my friend Kevin visited from Emporia when he was going to see a play here in Topeka put on by Ad Astra theater. And it's something we agreed on that you're just going to have the down days and things aren't coming out well or you're just not doing great. It makes sense, as Friday was also just a challenging day to get some things done for that getting the house and doing things around here looking for linoleum to spread out for our bathroom. Today was a great day though, as I wrote a few poems that are promising. I'm using some books I checked out from the library as a way to keep my chin up, to keep the pen moving.

• Item Title                                                          Due Date

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  * A park in the country : Gage Park's century

  33247023517582                                              11/2/2018 23:59

  * About what was lost : 20 writers on miscarriage, healing, and hope

  33247026833622                                              11/2/2018 23:59

  * Milk

  33247025642461                                              11/2/2018 23:59

  * The Mo¨bius strip club of grief

  33247028573564                                              11/2/2018 23:59

  * The children are reading

  33247028457578                                              11/2/2018 23:59

  * Virgin : poems

  33247028827911                                              11/2/2018 23:59

Day 37

I am finished with my draft of the letter! Relief! I am off to the Alamo Drafthouse! Will write some of the movie poem.

Day 36

Today was a great day!

Barbara and I spent 3 hours and Blackbird productive in our sketching and poetry, and our discussions, and and planning when our show will be. We are planning to have a first Friday in the Noto Art Center on March 1st, 2019. I wrote several wonderful poems for the pond project, as well as a couple 4 my other project. I'm really excited about where my writing is going.

I learned that I can't have so many projects on my plate. This is not the time to juggle and have deadlines, but to concentrate on two things to complete those things. However, I do want to finish my poetic elegy to my other mother called Beyond. I've started some line breaks as I realized it needed to be in poetry form and not as prose.

As far as the other projects, they can wait. Sadly, the Little House essay will wait until next semester. I just have so much to do, like writing the senior lecturer letter to its completion. After the morning with Barbara, I decided I wanted to put that on hold. I wanted to work on typing up the poems, sending them out, thinking about what they will look like in Letterpress form.

So looking for a Letterpress will become a major search because I will want to use it and January before the semester starts.

Day 35

So I'm having another day of adding for my senior lecturer letter where I am brainstorming and recording through the use of voice to text the things I can say in my letter. Tomorrow will be a major day for me to work on the letter. However, I will have some writing time with Barbara to as we will work from blackbird on our writing and sketching. We've had major rain these last two days and it's raining through Wednesday.

Days 33 and 34

So have spent a lot of time working on my letter for senior lecturer, a position a promotion. I'm also doing some editing of those other poems and planning more of the 1990s poems.

I'm trying to find a better way to do Letterpress then to use a lot of time up setting up the Letterpress I'm just not sure how much time it would take to set one up. I've looked into the Etching Press as a mock-up way of doing it.

Day 32

Poets have anxieties, and I have not yet met one who doesn't. This should be something people know--that poetry writing brings on its own worries.

So I am holding on to the books:

Rachel Zucker,  The Pedestrians

Mary Austin Speaker, Ceremony

Dana Ward, The Crisis of Infinite Worlds

 as I make my way through editing the poems, especially of children. Rachel writes so amazingly and authentic!

 

I am continuing on. Tomorrow, I will revise The Predator and His Venom