The Doctor Is In...

There are two things a poet can do that will change the work for the positive and permanently: 1) teach poetry, and 2) serve on a literary journal.

Teach what you want to learn has so much merit yet is often diminished. There are those who ascribe to the myth, Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. In reality, the opposite is true. We teach and are constantly forced to affirm and confirm every bit of our belief system and knowledge of the craft. The greater the age range of our students, the better we have to be at articulating our skill and fielding the full spectrum of challenges and questions our students will present. As we share our personal perspective on poetry and how to achieve success within the poem, much less the field, we are teaching ourselves, reminding ourselves. As we see our theories unfold in our students' growth, we are relearning what we already try to achieve ourselves and it is strength we may find. We may even change. If we are true to ourselves, we will never settle for complacency or believe we hold the golden ticket to the gates of Poetry.

As an editor of a journal, one is faced with the reality of how many poets are out there. We live by and share a mythic belief that this is a solitary experience. I disagree and I started formulating my opinion in the days of early Slam. Then I joined the editorial family of Comstock Review and I came to witness the vast population of poets yearning for the page and audience. I also witnessed season after season of themes: travel, sepia-toned photos, critically ill family member, the seasons, gardens, the sea, deer, cats, divorce, first babies, ars poetica, and of course, death. There is an odd synchronicity that draws a particular concentration of a theme or form in a reading period, almost as if the poets were responding to a particular call for submission.

What an editor sees is the small number of themes available to any writer, any generation, regarding the human condition and our place within it. Much has already been said, probably someone has said it better than me, and the experimentation has probably run its course. I search for a poem that has an individual stamp on a universal concept in tone, voice, structure, music, approach. I search for that in my own poetry as well. I can never expect of others what I will not attempt myself.

In the 20 years I have since I fully, verbally reclaimed my identity as poet in the Blasland, Bouck, & Lee Division 10 break room in August 1994, I have taught a great deal and I have read a lot of poems. I have also offered valuable critique throughout that time and I now have confidence that I am a strong reader capable of offering a view of the work that mirrors its greatest strengths to the poet.

In these two decades, I have also put four books together as well as a number of issues of our journal. There is a whole other level of connection with the cycle, series, chapbook, and then full collection that is a different skill than needed to examine and grow any given poem. What is the flow of the work for the reader? How does one create an entertaining read (in the most positive sense of the word), a meaningful experience that keeps the reader engaged and wanting to turn the page? How do you best serve the poem, the page, the ear, the collection, and the audience? What are you willing to change, cut, eliminate to achieve it? I am always immersed in this query as I start to place poems in proximity and sequence.

A poem is a living document, even if it is in print. It will always illustrate its ability to grow if there is the opportunity. It will let us know it can take care of itself, it has reached an acceptable maturity.

I am an editing geek. Revision is my favorite part of being a poet. Well, let me qualify that. I really love seeing my poems in print. They are on their own in the world then and hopefully they represent well.

Now that I am writing prose in various forms and teaching creative nonfiction, I am applying my same principles to essay, memoir, and blog. I am also supporting other writers in the editorial process. I have articulated a concise system to accomplish a book project from first thoughts through searching for publishers.

I have been an editorial consultant on a limited basis for years. Now I am eager to advance my practice. I am eager to work with writers who need a coach in a coach in: 1) getting started; 2) identifying the course of the book project; 3) consultation and critique on individual or groups of poems or essays; 4) assessing the body of a work for publishing opportunity; 5) line edits and other commentary in finalizing a book project; and/or 6) proofreading galleys with a clean eye. 

I am also going to continue to offer on-line small-group classes and critique workshops for those who want a workshop environment and support with a critical eye from a trusted group of peers.

I have been working with a number of writers recently and I know there are folks who can use the help. I intend to keep my fee structure reasonable and fair for both the client and myself. I am eager to support writers to meet their own goals, under the branding of Poet's Happy Dance. Perhaps I can help you?

As one friend who has engaged my support for her project declared just last week, "Georgia, you're the Book Doctor." Well, friends, the Doctor is in ... your long-term prognosis is the Poet's Happy Dance ...

Considering Connection on Wednesday...

So I am still waiting for Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson to see that I hope to chat about life, the universe, and everything but he is a busy guy.

In the meantime, there are so many things to do. My world is a web woven daily of multiple part-time efforts. Last year, I started to resign from volunteer positions in favor of furthering opportunities for billable work. At this point in my life, anything I am asked to lend my skills and talents to is of value so saying no is a challenge. But I also need time for things like marketing myself, fulfilling the obligations and duties I am involved in well, walking the dog, reading, knitting, a meal here and there, friends and family, and my own creative output. Notice sleep is not on the list.

All of the things I do now are linked to the primary identity of poet that I uphold and that is a blessing. And many of the organizations, projects, programs, initiatives, are connected in some way, or could be when I view through my lens.

I have a particular skill in connecting people to their mutual advantage and I am fully steeped in the premise of collaboration. We are all connected in ways that have value and purpose. Even the fact that I am participating in the 10-Day Journey of the Heart was born of my connective tissue and is strengthening my reach to new people at an astounding pace.

I feel connected to the entourage of seekers that is on the journey to Turkey, in the same way when any of my friends go on spiritual retreat, I feel I receive some of the vibration to benefit me as well. I link to their force and my own is bolstered through empathy and the mystery of the universe. We are all capable of this level of compassion, empathy, and vibration. We just need to be aware. It is another aspect of accepting that Grace that is everywhere; in the recognition of it we are soothed and supported. 

So a small team of curious humans climbed into a tin can and were propelled through the atmosphere halfway around the world and I can almost smell the food they are eating when I look at the photos. And by sharing my responses to their reports, I am connected to people I have never met face-to-face but who are watching over me from India, Ireland, Malaysia, Turkey, the UK, throughout the US, and from across town.

Simply through a small class at the Downtown Writers Center, I am now connected to a group of new residents to Syracuse, recently here from Cuba. I share my connections with the community at large and they are now not so isolated and I am resuming use of the Spanish I buried through no practical application for 40 years. And I have a new circle of friends in the massive Venn Diagram that is my life, as well as all of our lives. All this before I even begin to consider the interconnectedness of the universe and its elements. I read Dr. Tyson and Commander Chris Hadfield to try to integrate the huge ramifications.

A friend in Australia can take an on-line class with me we are poets together, in spite of 14 hours' difference in the human contraption of time and miles of geography between us. I can connect with a dear college friend and resume the relationship after many years of living rather separately. I compose poems with a crew of poets from every crevice of the US on Facebook. And I had conversations just this week with dear ones in Orlando, FL, Oakland and Chico, CA, maintaining the love between us through the wires. I had better renew my passport. I think opportunities will abound.

Thank you, Alexander Graham Bell, Mark Zuckerberg (happy 30th birthday), Jill Ouikahilo, and all of you who have chosen to read these words. I know you are there. I check my stat counter regularly. And you are a rainbow, a beautiful arc over this world of ours.