Ah...the last workshop...at least until fall. I was seriously under the impression we wouldn't be workshopping this week since she suggested we bring a poem of our own we like and a poem by another poet. I thought we might perhaps just share them with each other rather than anysort of vivisection, but we somehow wound up workshopping as per usual, which would have worked fine had I not brought along an older poem of mine that I rather like instead of something new...something already published, already included in Bloody Mary, and already graced with a Pushcart nomination. (One of my strongest pieces from about three years ago). Oddly they mostly had good things to say...that some of them had a more coherent sense of what was going on, more of a sense of place than usual. Someone suggested that I should not end my stanzas with the end of sentences--make them more enjambed, which I do try to do in new work. They seemed to like this more, while I myself, liked it less, because it's so clear and ordely, and polite, hands resting in its lap. At the time, of course, this is what my style was like then. Simple and clear, and in my opinion, sort of boring.
On the mail front, yesterday brought two rejections, but also my copies of Cranky--a gorgeously designed pblication that features two poems by yours truly--newer poems that I like very much, at least for now....
