Happy Wednesday!
I’m back after a one-week hiatus. In the two weeks since my last update,
- I spent a long weekend in Providence, RI where I got to see WaterFire Providence. There were bonfires lit in braziers over the Woonasquatucket River, forming a fire-sculpture installation. Before sunset, we spent the day touring the RISD Museum and had dinner at Mokban Korean Bistro.
- I had an extended meeting of my poetry group so we could review a chapbook written by one of our group members. Another member of the group made a special trip from Florida to be at this meeting, and it was an engaging process to find the best sequence for a group of beautiful poems.
- I finished reading The Light of the World, a surprisingly uplifting memoir by the poet Elizabeth Alexander dealing with the sudden death of her husband and a celebration of his life.
- I started reading Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, a fascinating novel dealing with migrants and refugees.
- I finally got to the top of the waiting list at the Atlantic County Library to get my copy of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. My mother highly recommends this book. She was born and raised in the area of North Carolina in which it takes place.
- I was honored to be asked to lead a session of SCOSA Tour of Poetry at the Otto Bruyns Library in Northfield. I read and discussed poems on the theme of Point of View in the Experience of Illness. The framework of point of view is useful not only for developing the craft of poetry but also for the enhancement of empathy. Here and here are some examples of the types of poems we read.
- I went to my prose-writing accountability group and shared an excerpt from my memoir.
- I turned in 6 pages of my memoir to my writing coach.
Yes, I was busier than usual, and in the past, I might have tried to power through and get a blog out anyway. I chose not to do that; I decided to let it go. Sometimes there are obstacles in the stream of life that require a course correction. It doesn’t mean I have lost sight of the destination.