Happy 4th! And Apocalypses, Prose Poems, and the Power of The Company of Others

It’s another fourth of July, and G. and I are celebrating by watching the fireworks tonight in Kirkland, making a gluten-free holiday feast-type thing, appropriately-colored red-white-and-blue potato salad, dairy-free corn chowder with fennel and potatoes, grilled watermelon and cherry salsa, fresh picked blueberries and peas from our backyard garden, and yes, maybe some traditional American grilled steak. Hmm, it sounds like a lot of food! Maybe we’ll take some extra over to a friend!

(PS – Best melancholy 4th of July song ever? Aimee Mann’s “Fourth of July” – Click here if you haven’t heard it…)

I’ve been writing an “apocalyptic” book manuscript for the last couple of years, and so I thought I’d put together a little class on prose poetry and apocalypses, thinking these are the perfect match. I’m reading through old anthologies (not enough apocalypse, but plenty of prose poems, or, plenty of apocalypses, not in prose-poetry form) and am trying to decide what kind of poems to use as examples – postcard poems, dream poems, surreal narratives. It’s sort of funny to be doing this reading on July 4, which makes you think about wars, patriotism, the future…you know, sort of depressing stuff. But Matthea Harvey, for one, can make this subject matter pretty charming! I’m looking into some other poets as well, thanks for suggestions on Facebook (and if you have favorite apocalyptic prose poems, please post them in the comments! Or e-mail me!)

I’m thinking that my discouragement earlier in the week, and the ways that the discouragement has been lifted.  I chatted with my regular manicurist and she said something that helped me with a problem I was having with UW genetics, sorting through my B12 deficiency problems. (You never know who is going to point you in the direction you should go if you’re open to it!) Going to a Seattle writer networking event this week not only encouraged me that there are a ton of energetic and positive young women writers out there, making a living with jobs like “SEO consultant” and “social media manager” and “coffee critic.” And the people themselves were so interesting and intelligent. Just talking to them for a mere hour gave me a jolt of energy towards my own writing and job search. This is why I need to force myself to go out and socialize more often! Even for me, a half introverted/half extroverted writer, it takes a lot of energy and often involves a 45 minute commute downtown. I’ve been making more of an effort to connect with my writer friends, and every encounter reminds me why I continue to do this crazy stuff, despite the years of low pay, rejected grants and submissions, dozens of versions of each book edited and re-edited…In the end, maybe it’s worth it. When you read a poem that inspires you to write your own, when you hear about an opportunity that might be perfect for you, when you can help someone else solve a problem or be more encouraged about her own work…when you realize the world, generically, from a distance, may seem to be dark and violent and antagonistic, but when you examine it up close, your own circles and coincidences, maybe it isn’t as hopeless as it seems. Maybe it’s designed to help you survive and thrive, after all. Maybe this stuff you’re writing isn’t as ignored and forgotten as you fear.