I had a cup of yogurt for brunch this morning, while I was editing poems and working on my new Kibbutz project: a bencher, with all the songs we want and all the (good) transliteration we need. Within ten minutes of eating the yogurt, it attacked my digestive system with a vengeance, and knocked me out for several hours. When the cramps subsided, I called up all my lactose-intolerant friends and described what happened.
"Yup," they said. "Sounds like you're a bit of a lactard."
Last week at the monthly Kibbutz open mic, I read a slew of pieces that I've written in the last six-eight weeks. This summer has been a very prolific one, and I'm grateful for all the poems that have sprung from it. But the feedback session at the open mic (it's a unique feature of the Kibbutz, that all the performers get feedback, if they want it), many people say,
"It makes sense that a lot of these pieces sound alike because you wrote them so close together..."
Or, as Joel put it, "My music teacher says you write infinite variations on a theme, until you're finished with that theme. It's not a bad place to be, you're just in the middle."
I haven't written a new draft of anything since that open mic, in part because I feel stuck. I should be rehearsing for Wednesday's finals competition (winner gets to represent Seattle at the Individual World Poetry Slam next month), but after getting sick, I'm having trouble salvaging the rest of the day.
And with that, I think I'll go see if I can find a nice piece of toast.
2 comments:
Hey Dana it's Justin from Grandpa Bob's side of the family. Lucille directed me here. I agree with the musical theme. Sometimes I get stuck on a particular chording and style on the guitar, but it still remains a path for exploration. Listen to Tommy Emannuel, you'll see a guitarist who's found a connection between many styles of playing and I believe it's taken him decades to do so. Delving and such.
You're poem Creator is one of my favorites. I may commit it to memory in the near future. I've shared that and the belly dancer poem with a friend of mine. I believe all poetry is merely a hen sitting atop the Egg of Truth. So similar themes are only expectable. Have you read Archibald Machleish's Ars Poetica? I love that poem too.
Perhaps I can locate you to my musical webbing at myspace.com/mylastfarewellgoodbye
All right, touch down,
Justin
what's wrong with variations on a theme? the classic composers did it all the time. photographers, writers of poems and short stories compile multiple works on one theme and publish the collections that way. keep going with your theme. some of the poems will be worth compiling, and others will be the stepping stones you needed to lay down to get to the better ones. don't be discouraged!
loyally, yvvlm!
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