Kortney Garrison

“I want to consider what William Stafford’s daily writing pages contained and how they worked for him–
how something like his approach might work for any of us who choose to give such daily writing practice a try.”

There will sometimes be an “aphorism” –a freestanding sentence, an idea, a question, a note about a pattern he perceived, a puzzle.

William Stafford would write a sentence that “lifted off” from daily experience.

This provisional understanding from daily life begins to raise the writer’s attention out of the mundane into the gently miraculous realm of poetry.

–Kim Stafford

Four Elements of a Daily Writing Page in William Stafford’s Practice

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Just in case yesterday’s post got you excited about taking a class, here are a few more that I’ve taken and loved.

And a couple that are on my list for the new year!

Top of the list is Lori’s Journaling Boot +Reboot. This is a gem of a class that I return to again and again. Start small. Honor your efforts. Remind yourself of the work you want to be doing. These themes run throughout my Homeschool MFA and they are all from Lori!

Julianna Baggott’s Efficient/Creativity has me thinking more about my writing process. It’s less something that is mysterious and more something I can pay attention to and use well. I like this class so much I bought it for two of my friends.

Holly Wren Spaulding’s name comes up quite a lot around here. When I found her work, something opened. A sense of possibility. A contemporary of mine who was writing poems that I loved, poems that were related formally to the work that I was beginning. Holly is an ally and an artist.

AP got a Masterclass subscription for his birthday and I’ve dipped into the Billy Collins class. But really it’s the David Mamet class that has been most interesting. True story–AP wooed me with Mamet short stories read aloud at the Coffee People in the Park Blocks.

A few years ago my friend, Nicki, told me about a class with David Whyte that she was taking. It’s been on list since then. And I so much love the work of both David Steindl-Rast and David Whyte.

I recently found the work of a local poet named Sage Cohen. She’s smart and funny and lives in town! I can’t wait to take a class with her! She does offer one online for those farther afield called Write a Poem a Day. Sounds like you should take it, huh?

To see all the posts in the series Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry, click here.

Reading + writing every day. Going out + about every month. Gathering with other creatives every season. And finally, taking a class twice a year.

This is a doable plan, right? Of course, your milage may vary, but this has been a life-giving plan for me.

ModPo is the class that started it all way back in 2013 when Joseph was but 9 months old. This was the first time that I had turned my attention to the making of poems. This is when I discovered the poetry of Lorine Niedecker and Bernadette Mayer! I dipped in and out this fall–such a community of learners have gathered around these poems.

Last Spring I took Intro to Poetry with Sally Thomas. Such richness! She is a working poet, and she approaches poems as such. She’s looking to understand how the poems do their work on you. This class convinced me to give up children’s poems and concentrate our memory work on Yeats, Donne, and Hughes. We are working on “The Road Not Taken” right now. And have Auden waiting for us after the turn of the year.

I also found this Yale class that I may listen in on…how are you deepening your practice through continued learning?

To see all the posts in the series Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry, click here.

During the only year I ever participated in NaNoWriMo, I lived in Santa Barbara. My mom was also competing, and one weekend we took trains north and south to Capistrano for a writing retreat. The train follows the 101, and the view of the water opens up just north of Ventura. Every time I see that sweep of water, my breath catches and I can’t quite believe this great world we live on.

We got a hotel room and wrote and took walks down to the mission and ate at the Denny’s across the street. We got caught up on our word count, and then got back on our trains.

To see all the posts in the series Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry, click here.