Another fragmented morning and jumbling thoughts, many of them schoolwork related, many of them remnant emotions from tumultuous dreams. As I sat at the desk, cleared of any papers save poems and journal, I had to keep reminding myself to be calm. I took a lot of deep breaths when spastic thoughts intruded. I fought the "monkey mind." After trying several starts at lines that didn't go anywhere, I went to my Inspiration Card folder. For more info on inspiration cards, go here and here and here.
I was surprised by cards I'd forgotten I'd made. This I think is a key. To love the cards while I'm making them and then put them aside for some weeks/months until they become new again. In fact, the first card I saw suggested lines almost immediately. Here's a rather poor quality picture of it, as a mirror image. The words from the cut-ups say "backdrop for an archetypal" and "Bloodline."
As always, I started with my pen and journal and filled two pages there (not hard since my handwriting is fairly large and sloppy). The lines eventually coalesced and I was off to the computer to draft the full-fledged poem. For such a rough start, I'm surprised by the length of the poem and how cohesive it feels already. Sometimes these cards offer only surface-level lines without a real emotional backing, which is something I need in poetry. Today, however, I was able to draft "The Old Ancestral Homestead" (a title most likely to be revised) and bring in emotional depth based on my life without having the poem slip into autobiography. Not that I'm opposed to autobiography in poems; I'm just working on some distance for myself these days.
Happily, I have a bit of that euphoric feeling when the drafting has gone well. Go Poetry!
4 comments:
I love your note "I'm working on some distance from myself these days" yes, I can relate to that :)
Here's to a little distance! :)
i like these little cards. :) I framed the one I received from you.
Aw, thanks so much Allie. That's quite a compliment!
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