March 3rd 2021
Spring seems to be coming in at the moment. A little less rain and some sunshine, although I don’t mind either the precipitation or the gray skies. I’m actually not a sun worshiper. I have my first vaccine in my arm from about 3 weeks ago, and I have another week to go before I get number two of the Pfizer version. Expecting and dreading a little bit any effects from the second vaccine which they say are worse, but still no one regrets getting them. President Biden continues to be like night and day…steady competence, compassion, all business to try to get the country back to where it needs to be after 4 plus years in the hands of a lunatic. I have a new Dell 27-in all-in-one desktop computer for Isabel that I’m getting ready after her iMac of 11 years is on its last legs and could go at any minute. It keeps shutting off etc. so I’m doing everything getting her new computer ready. I talked her into leaving the Apple world and going to Windows 10 so that if there are things that I need to deal with/ fix I’m more familiar with it. It’s typically less frustrating dealing with what’s familiar. This new computer is very fast… it’s got a solid state drive as well as a large internal hard drive for extra storage. It really flies for just about anything you do on it. I am toying with the idea after a suggestion from a former colleague that I should self-publish my book with Amazon publishing and have taken some steps to look into the process. I still need to finish revision, selection, etc I want to see what number of poems are in your average book of poetry. Also I read a lot of work by other poets to get ideas, but also to get a feeling of where mine stand in comparison. Billy Collins says poets need to read 10,000 poems from others and I do read poetry every day, so tricks of the trade do sink in. Also watching a Master Class set of lectures from writers like Collins and Margaret Atwood, as well as reading how-to poetry books by masters of the art/ craft. It seems to be a fertile time, a time when there’s a lot percolating in my brain in terms of lines and words and rhythms… ideas that are pushing to get out. For example, yesterday I sat down just to work on a revision of a previous poem and before I could do that… another one was born in the instant. It’s a good problem to have for someone who wants to write, that is to say, not to be blocked and/or growing fearful and bitter by that process. The birth of a poem is what I’ve described as joyful and fulfilling. When I have a poem that won’t quite finish, that just doesn’t feel that certain things are clicking or flowing or working or transitioning, a frequent issue that keeps me on edge and unsatisfied. Still shut up a fair amount in the apartment, a place we still love, due to the pandemic we really don’t mind being homebound neither of us and we largely get along with each other and help each other concentrating each of us on our own interests. We are able to take walks on the apartment complex property which is nice with or without the dog, and it’s getting to the point now where I can sit on the porch and ruminate and create. Note –I also need to get back to what I’m doing with regard to organizing photos and scans of old important documents. I did all that to be able to throw out tons of paper things that accumulated. Plus I read magazines, newspapers, and books. I do some binge watching of some shows. At any rate I’m only one who drives and I make short runs here and there. We’d like to do some road trips, just those that would take a day or two, for example, to the coast of Washington or down to Portland or up north to just across the border into Canada… Vancouver area, but that’ll come fairly soon I feel as soon as we’re able to get the signal that the pandemic is a thing of the past. Listening to Coldplay on my drive down to Auburn Walmart.