Hi Everyone,
Let’s keep going, writing and revising, for days 65-71 of this pandemic! We need fresh air; we need fresh ideas. We need to stay focused and at the same time get out of our own heads. I have a solution, at least for your week in writing. I’ll start with a poem by Paisley Rekdal, a poet who often amuses and surprises me. Then I’ll explain why I chose it in the prompt that follows: Head of a Dog, Body of an Elephant.
POEM: Dear Lacuna, Dear Lard by Paisley Rekdal
CRAFT & PROMPT: Head of a Dog, Body of an Elephant by Rebecca Black
Our early work as poets involves finding our own material, figuring out what exactly our obsessive subjects will be.
In my experience, this material has not changed a great deal (ideas about art and aesthetics, geography, place, the self in the family and in culture) but my approach to this material certainly has broadened. I'm more confident; I can let more into my poems now than I could 15 years ago.
I'm sure by now you have some idea about what your material is, what you are really interested in exploring as a writer. Now might be a good time to force yourself to experiment by adding some disparate subject matter into your poems!
We've all got recipes we return to in our poems--the work of becoming a good self-editor involves realizing what we are usually cooking. "My god, I'm making another chicken pie in this poem." Or, "By gum, if I haven't mixed up another soup of self-loathing with a side salad of nature imagery."
So, here's your assignment. Go buy or get a friend to give you some material that you don't think of as "poetic," some material that you would NEVER let into your poems. Found text from a newspaper, scientific language, dialogue, political rhetoric—what would you never permit to muss up your beautiful poem?
Couple this new material with a snippet of your best, most beloved language. Practice feeling unsure. Tell yourself this is part of artistic growth. Remember the feeling of growing pains as a kid, when you could actually sense your bones groaning as they lengthened and thickened?
Your poem might feel like those children's flip books where one makes weird hybrid animals: a lower body of a hamster or cat with the head of a giraffe or a parrot.
This exercise has worked if you feel very uncomfortable and don't want to show the poem to anyone. Just kidding, but truly, try and surprise your own [bored, worried, tired, and/or sad] self!
JOURNAL: Newsflash: The Northwest Review is coming back! New editor Mike McGriff will relaunch this historic magazine in the fall.
RECIPE: From Serious Eats, Easy Kale Quiche Recipe
If you’re like me, pie crust eludes you. I have to cook quickly; I’m certainly not taking the time for a homemade crust for a quiche that only 2 people in my household are going to eat. This quiche recipe solves the lunch/breakfast/brunch problem for the adults in our house as well as the too-much kale or chard and too many onions this time of year from the CSA problem. I like the pre-made crusts they sell at Colusa Market in Kensington.
I use the filling instructions from this recipe and simply pour into a pre-made, par-baked crust. And why not make two at a time. Freezers are our friends. Like poems in a series (stay tuned for more of that this week) multiples of quiche are timesavers!
