Yes, I did draft today. Not very happy with it. The whole process felt forced, the lines falling in thuds rather than running smoothly. I swear my word brain is all gunked up with something sticky and foul-smelling.
I am not sure I want to continue to post about my process for each and every draft. I'm not sure I have anything new to add as I'm not exploring any new prompts or techniques. The habit of writing these notes developed and coalesced in the months leading up to my work on the fever series and the two melded into one project. Now, I'm not sure that commenting on each draft matters as much to me. I'm waffling, reader, in case you couldn't tell.
The long and the short of it: some days drafting is hard; some days all is doubt & uncertainty. Perhaps I will feel differently if & when a draft arrives in some more graceful fashion.
~~~~~
In other news, I just submitted my first course description for the new low-residency MFA program at the University of Arkansas Monticello. The courses will all be conducted on Blackboard (an online learning system), and I think this one, in particular, will be offered to grad students and upper-division undergrads. Regardless, I'm stoked! If you know of anyone contemplating a low-res MFA, please pass along the link. Deadline to apply is March 16.
Contemporary American
Poetry: 1960 - Present
This course surveys the diverse range of American poets
publishing from 1960 to the present.
Poets covered may include Ai, Ashbery, Clifton, Dove, Ginsberg, Glück,
Hahn, Hass, Komunyakaa, Kumin, Li-Young Lee, Levertov, Levine, Lowell, Merwin,
Nye, O’Hara, Olds, Plath, Rich, Roethke, Sexton, Snyder, Soto, Strand,
Valentine, C.D. Wright, Charles Wright, and James Wright. We will read broadly rather than
deeply, with each student choosing several poets for in-depth research that
will be shared with their peers in the class.
~~~~~Also, I'll be reading on Friday night in Conway at the launch for the latest issue of Toad Suck Review. Looking forward to hearing the editorial staff read, as I wasn't able to make it to a reading in December where some of them read. (That cover is in 3D and the issue comes with a pair of 3D glasses tucked into a library pocket inside the back cover. Cool.)
.jpg)
~~~~~
AWP is less than a month away. ACK! Once again, I'd like to be in three and four places at exactly the same time.
5 comments:
I was surprised to find some translated poems of Jacques Prevert in a recent issue of Toad Suck. Quite an interesting journal. Makes me want to check out some more of their issues. Are you in their latest?
Neato on all of this!!
Shawnte, every issue holds a surprise! I'm in issue 3, otherwise known as 3D because of the cover.
Kathleen, thanks!
Sounds like a great course. If I were taking it, I'd gravitate toward these folks: Komunyakaa, Merwin, Olds, Rich, Snyder, and Strand.
Great choices, Q.!
Post a Comment