Envisioning - with Anne Sexton

To Love...

Anne Sexton - Week #8

I drew for week eight from the Poet Tarot deck and Anne Sexton arose as the poet to turn to this week.  I feel Sexton and I are old friends because some time back I sort of adopted her as my Dead Poet Mentor.  It has not been uncommon for me to  turn to her work when I am looking for inspirations and answers.  Sexton and Plath are two poets with whom I've spend a lot of time with their work as well and biographical material. Still, I'm sure there is much more I can learn from Anne.

Couple of things to consider this week...

• birthing new projects
• find balance between assisting others and being open to the assistance from others
• value honesty in your art

Welcome back Anne... let's talk a lot this week. 

More On Eliot

I've explored Eliot this week and so far what I've found is he is not among my favorite poets.  But I'm willing to keep reading  more of his work, I'm certain there is something to be learned from him.  The Following were poems I read:

• Hysteria 
• Cousin Nancy
• Whispers of Immortality

If anyone has a favorite Eliot  poem they would like to recommend, I'd love to hear.

King of Quills - Elliot - Week #7

The T.S. Eliot card was drawn today...

This week be thinking  about these things:

• Conducting myself with intent
• pushing  language in fresh and innovative directions
• Think about how I want to define myself as a writer
• Consider approachability and generosity 

1. Journal this week on each of these bullet points. One a day Monday through Thursday.
2. Find three of Eliot's poems  that are totally new to me. 
3. Choose an Eliot poem to write a poem in response to. 

Dream the Dream Inside Another Dream.... and Write the Dream

Week # 6 - I Drew An Eight of Muses

• What is the condition of my creative health? 
• Look for ways to be nurturing to my creative self.
• Time for a small break?  Movie? Read a book just for fun.
• Get yourself rejuvenated.
• Get back into the habit of a artist date. 

Take an inventory of what I need to do - make reasonable deadlines. This requires planning  ahead.

• Submission deadlines
• Special projects
• Artist Dates
• Community events - readings, etc.

Contemplating what imprisons me...

The past week I have been haunted (no pun intended) by the following  question,  What is it in life that imprisons me?

It is this question that I believe represents the conversation I was to have with Poe during the week and honestly I've thought about it, but in very  general terms and with a degree of hesitancy and even discomfort that  anyone might have with a dead, Edger Allan Poe. But now it is time to face the issue and figure out what if anything imprisons me.

I don't believe it is my writing  life that imprisons me per say, but the connection it has on the emotional tide that swings like a pendulum between introvert and extrovert. I truly believe that I  exhibit signs of both under various circumstances. This sounds odd, I admit.
I sometimes crave the ability to write without distraction and when afforded this opportunity I may be fine shifting to being with family. But there are other times that I want to be around a lot of people - to be apart of a larger writing community. This all seems confusing to me at present and the more I consider it  the stranger the emotional extremes seem.

I need to think about how I can balance all this and feel better in each mode. Anxiety I do not need.

Boundaries of Life & Death

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? - Edger Allan Poe

Oh Poe, Why Have You Come To Me? - Week #5

A new week, a new Poet Tarot Card. I presumed I would draw a Suits card just because of the odds and I had mostly been getting  Poet cards when numerically the odds are against it. Still, a poet came forward - Poe.

Now I've never particularly been a fan of Poe. I generally associate him with:

•  The Macabre
• Poems I was forced to read in school
• Rhyme  

None of which  made him popular to me.  So, I figure there is something here this week for me to learn from Mr. Poe. I just need to be willing  to listen and learn.

My 2014 National Poetry Month Broadside is out

There are only 100 of these. If you want one email me: Michael Wells  with your snail mail address and I will send one. (until they are all taken)