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Following the River

29 June 2019 by Kortney

The river has been singing to me of late. Come with me as I follow her traces…

I read this interview with John Ashbery recently, it was one in an old Paris Review. He says whenever he wants to write poetry,

it’s like a little river that’s always flowing, and you can just dip into it and write. I think that’s a great analogy.

—Bernadette Mayer

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way,

just as the Scripture says.”

–John 7

If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come.

You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.

—Louis L’Amour

Ask Me

Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.

I will listen to what you say.
You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.

–William Stafford

The Deep River

24 June 2019 by Kortney

Holly Wren Spaulding suggests that reading poetry is a way to keep our poetic work vital even when we can’t get to the page.

Reading poetry, we stand on the shore of the deep river of words and push our little boat out into the current. Reading poetry keeps us circled close to the fire of our work, kindling near to hand.

Here are three kinds of books in my stacks just now.

Collections by Individual Poets

Winter Morning Walks by Ted Kooser

Dead Man’s Float by Jim Harrison

The Grace of Necessity by Samuel Green

Anthologies

Joy collected by Christian Wiman

The Maverick Poets edited by Steve Kowit

Poetry 180 collected by Billy Collins

Deep Dives Before Bed

Now and Then by Robert Hass

A Long High Whistle by David Biespiel

The Poet’s Glossary by Edward Hirsch

What books are keeping your practice lively?

:: Women Together ::

31 May 2019 by Kortney

:: Women together ::

Blessed feast day to you–one of the sweetest of the year!

I wanted to share a few newsletters that have been making my inbox happier than normal.

Michelle GD is going to be sharing prompts each Friday throughout the Summer. Her work is gentle and thoughtful and a once a week check-in with your creative self sounds like a sustainable schedule for the Summer.

Laurie Blackwell is including a fun Summer printable in her newsletter that goes out on June 1st. Sign up right here and she’ll send you journaling prompts as well!! I plan on printing two lists–one for my reading pile and one for our family fun!

In her newsletter, Tresta Payne shares her Homeschool MFA progress. She has set an ambitious goal of submitting her essays to 2 journals each month! So proud of this work!! Each month she also shares a handful of links for people who “want to read, think, and listen better.” Raising my hand!

Finally, you can read Tonia Peckover’s beautiful words each moth all about cultivating a quiet life. This woman is knee deep writing her second novel, caring for her family and her land, listening deeply to the call of her life.

💙

Work in Progress

29 March 2019 by Kortney

This week Holly Wren Spaulding posted a picture of a draft from T.S. Eliot. She asked, Have you ever received feedback like this? Well, yes I have–from Holly. Last Spring I took a long anticipated class with Holly, and she critiqued four or five pieces that I wrote during the workshop. I don’t write long poems, and Holly’s comments were often longer than the originals! I have to admit, it was very hard to see all that was wrong with these zero drafts, fragments, and beginnings. I knew that for the most part, Holly was right. Her suggestions would make these poems stronger. Still, I wasn’t ready to move on the suggested changes. I put her notes in the pile of loose leaf poem drafts.

I’ve been going through papers all week–recycling, gathering like with like. I hope all this shuffling is a prelude to actually doing the taxes. I found Holly’s notes again last night. Her changes still made a lot of sense to me. And there was one piece that had some promise, one piece that seemed somehow connected to lines I had written earlier this week at the coast. I am working on a few poems to submit to Hummingbird Poetry, and I think this poem belongs with them.

Holly says that “most writers spend the majority of their time in a process of revision. This is where you attempt to re-see your own words, your raw efforts, with fresh eyes.” Like I said I’ve got a ream of yellow paper that’s a few years of drafts. Drafts that have been cooling off, words to return to. Learning revision is a crucial next step in my Homeschool MFA. I am pleased to have such fine teachers and companions along the way.

Following the River