At the end of the first week, I have to say that the workshop is going exceedingly well.  My fellow workshop attendees are both gifted poets and thoughtful analysts.  I will certainly get an amazing amount of insight and growth from this eight weeks, which is more than I was even hoping for.

Interestingly, the assigment for this week is to write a poem in rhyming couplets.  This is really a push outside my comfort zone.  I did have to write in several forms while taking Craft of Poetry for my MFA, but I found myself writing humorous poetry for every one of those assignments.  I just can’t seem to do forms in a serious way.  I feel like it’s beyond my skill level as a poet.  But I didn’t want to do a joke poem for this workshop.  It’s too valuable, having the feedback of such talented people, to waste a week on something silly.  So I’m attempting to write something serious in rhyming couplets.  Does not compute for me, but slant rhyme is saving my bacon and staggered line lengths are keeping the rhythm from being jump-rope-rhyme-y.  Of course, I’ve only written five lines, but the rest is in my head.  If I can get it on paper (or my laptop screen, rather) the way it is forming in my head, I think it has a chance to be a reasonably decent piece.  Fingers crossed. I will have to write the rest of it tomorrow, on the due date. This is how I work. I can’t really get much done on any assignment until it’s less than 24 hours before the due date.  Weirdly, even as I’m working at the 11th hour, I find it fun rather than stressful.  This is how I roll.  I’ve come to accept it.  Thus, I’ve spent the weekend doing other things. Taking my girl to the park. Having a night out in the city with my husband and our amazing dear friends in Manhattan. Purging our basement of crap. (Anyone want some stuff?  We have a LOT of stuff.  Come and get some stuff!)

Coming up this week, I travel to Seattle to visit my mother who is very ill and who seems to be the subject of 90% of my poetry lately.  Ah, those  fraught mother/daughter relationships…  I’ve had a knot in the pit of my stomach about the visit for at least two or three weeks.  But there is also excitement because I’ll be flying from Seattle to L.A. for a work weekend with Red Hen Press.  I’ll be seeing my beloved homegirls and fellow poetry editors, Kelly Davio and Tanya Chernov, as well the rest of the very talented LA Review editors and Red Hen people.  Plus, I’ll be meeting a few idols and will have to consciously keep my cool.  Does anyone want to take bets on whether I go in for a hug when meeting Rita Dove?  It’s a definite possibility.