The To-Do List...Where to Start?

Having been on the road for most of the past 6 weeks, there is a pile of mail on the dining room table to deal with, I have laundry, emails that have been on hold, vacuuming the hefty dust bunnies, and then there is the shoveling that is pressing since it has snowed at least 6 inches since I pulled into the driveway Friday evening and pulled the key from the ignition.

There is always a list! Book promotion events to orchestrate, Comstock Review deadlines that have passed and I need to catch up with, writing projects, thank-you notes for a myriad of reasons, plants to repot, finances to address and bills to pay, calls to return, course proposals to draft and submit, and this is just some of it all. I took the weekend as a retreat and got a lot of sleep, much needed and welcomed quiet time. Now to get busy with all that I need to accomplish before I head out on the highway once again.

Not the least, I want to work on some poems. The book is done, now to return to verse. There are at least four cycles of poems that have been very patient with me while I accomplish other goals but now to return. I feel a bit cranky about poetry actually...like I am not taking enough risk, not striving beyond my comfort zone. I want to say something of import, of value, so how to do that?! Oh gee...I am not really sure. I know that some of the first attempts at some work are long! Much longer than I have ever tended to write and this is intriguing. I have concern about the publishing aspect of the long poem, particularly since I have always gauged my poems to accommodate the needs of the typical poetry journal. For instance, Comstock Review asks for an average of 38 lines to give a poem a page. But I know poets who write long poems, where do they publish? I guess the real point is to just write. To be more concerned with the poem than the outcome. If I take that stance, who knows what I will discover? I have found that I am rather bored with my poetic voice as I flip through the binder of work that is on hold. I know that Joy the Agnostic wants to be a bad-ass and is tired of sitting idly while the world is going crazy. The Twins are wondering about their fate and all the letter poems are asking to be honed like carbon steel to a fine edge.

I also know that I find a great deal of creativity in crafting a lesson plan and there are several that need to be transcribed as well. I will get to some of this list but first...finish the cappuccino and start the laundry!