Draft Process: Day 6 of 7

94º ~ three more trip-digit days in the forecast and then a 'cool down' to the upper 90s, some small breezes in the upper branches, closer to the ground all is listless

Today's draft was much a repeat of yesterday's process, and a writer loathes nothing more than ineffective repetition.  I'll just nod my head in thanks once more to Lucie Brock-Broido.  Again, I used a line from one of her poems for the title of the draft.  "Seized with a Small Fever" comes from "To a Strange Fashion of Forsaking."  Again, I used some of her words, but today more of my own.  I even had some inspiration cards splashed around for image jolting. 

Yes, both yesterday and today, the lines I chose for titles contain the word 'fever.'  No, I'm not sick, but perhaps this unrelenting heat influences me more than I notice.  Also, I like the fact that fevers can bring an altered state of mind, which lets me find more magic in my speakers. 

Today's poem begins:

The linen here is burgundy, well-laundered.

This vessel rests beneath a gold-leafed
chandelier dimmed to sweetness.

The poem alternates between single-line stanzas and couplets.  Also, I use the word 'antipyretics.'  Not one of the words I found in Brock-Broido's poems, although she reminds me that I can use Latinate words if they fit the tone of the rest of the poem.  As a composition instructor, I'm constantly warning my students against using the "ten dollar words" to try and sound "smart."  We are working in those classes for logical communication, straight-forward arguments.  A poem is something all together different, and while I love a poem grounded in everyday speech, it's also fun to stretch my wings and see what I can do with a more academic diction.  Brock-Broido certainly brings it out in her poems, and it doesn't hurt her 'accessibility,' at least not for me. 

And here is Lou-Lou (gaining health every day), adoring The Master Letters as I try to work.

One more day of my mini-poem-a-day self challenge.  I can't believe I have six possible poems waiting in my 'In Progress' folder.  Tomorrow, that could be seven!  Can't wait to dive in and revise.