Someone is having a very long week

and it isn't me.

Depth of field

While walking to the bus this morning, I was looking for possible camera shots. Please keep in mind that I am no photographer—but just looking reminded me of a current problem in my photographs: What I see in three dimensions doesn't necessarily translate to the two dimensions of a photograph. I have deleted a lot of pictures.

This is a good metaphor for the way I often feel about poems in progress—or even poems that seem as done as I can get them. I've called them "bagatelles," but I think that I may feel that they are superficial—two dimensional instead of three dimensional or more. The trick is how to get down to—how to expose—that extra depth.

How do you get down to the depth? How do you know?

How do you reveal the whole picture?

Winter's poem this morning

Feast

Yesterday, we had a big family dinner to celebrate my Mom's birthday on her birthday and mine a few days early. (It's hard to get everyone together two times in less than a week.)

It was a day of cooking and an evening of revelry:

Champagne

Lemon-thyme-goat cheese on crackers, marinated mushrooms, marinated fresh mozzarella

Salad with goat cheese, artichoke hearts, and migas, provided by my lovely sister

Butternut squash raviolis with browned butter, sage and toasted hazlenuts

Rack of pork with tart cherry dressing, wilted greens with garlic and oregano

Orange and rosemary olive oil cake, thyme-infused orange and honey ice cream

Now it is Monday.

Free the free write?

I haven't been free writing. Not regularly.

For years, I've worked under the assumption that I must write every day—like exercise—and that I should start by free writing. (Then again, it's not as though I exercise every day.)

But now, even with the new year and resolutions and all that inspiration, I haven't been free writing every day. And I feel like I haven't been writing. It's kind of a visceral panic reaction.

If I can step back for a moment or two, I notice that I have been writing a little. I just haven't been blah-blah-blah-ing pages of words that might come to nothing. It's different, and I'm not even sure that it's a good thing—but I do feel much more connected to what little I am writing, much more focused, and the writing is much more likely to grow into a real poem (as opposed to getting lost in a notebook, digital or paper).

What about you? Do you try to write every day? Do you try to free write every day? Do you try to free write, whenever you do, for a set number of minutes? What happens to that writing after you're done?

Many questions. Maybe some answers?

Twitter away!

I've been telling myself that I don't want to work on a series. I just want to write. And yet, I feel like I haven't been writing. Not much. I've been revising, and I've been doing a tiny bit of free writing that tends to bore me almost immediately. But it hasn't felt like writing.

At the same time, I've been thinking about the paintings and drawings of Paul Klee. While I've been telling myself that I don't want to work on a series, I've been thinking, "Wow, wouldn't it be fun to write a series on the work of Paul Klee."

Hmmm...

One-click ordering on Amazon.com can be a beautiful thing, and now I have two books (one is a kids' book and it is really cool). I can spend as much time as I want getting to know this art, and in color.

Previous attempts at ekphrastic poetry, poems based on art, have centered on work by Van Gogh. And based on something I read somewhere (not too specific), the Brueghel painting "The Hunters in the Snow."

But I'm looking forward to inspiration from Klee's "The Twittering Machine" and "Where Eggs Come From…and the Juicy Joint."

How's that for a title?

What about you? Have you written poems based on paintings or photographs or pieces of music? Which ones? How did it go?

Poetry on the road

I've been trying to figure out how to combine poetry and travel. Wouldn't it be great to stop in at a reading or two while on vacation? Experience some of the local poetry scene?

Few of my journeys have a literary theme. It's either pure vacation or it's a furniture junket (my attempt to help my husband sell his work). But, because these are pretty much the only times I get out of town, I'd like to mix in a little poetry.

Sounds easy, right?

I tried searching online for local readings, but I came up empty. This leads me to think that either other places don't have nearly the poetry activity that I find in the greater Seattle area, or I'm not approaching it the right way.

I thought about checking the local papers online ahead of time. And now that seems like a totally obvious tactic.

Any other ideas? How do you connect with poetry in other places?