Karen and Jack’s house in Provence may be a little corner of paradise, but I wasn’t just going to laze around in a night-gown and listen to harp music all day. I had tremendous plans going there: I was going to finish my novel and send it to my mentor for structural edits. But that was based on the flawed assumption I made back in early June that I would have spent a total of 5 weeks on the novel by now. Needless to say, that did not happen between July and October. I wrote precisely zero words since mid-June.
Having all the time in the world and inspiring landscape galore was not immediately productive, however. I wrote about 1500 words and rewrote a full outline of the novel, filling up any plot holes, but no more than that. Now, I could choose to focus on what I did not achieve, but for once I will focus on the positive.
Lulled to sleep in the evening and woken up in the morning by poetry (Karen has a whole room full of poetry books – 4 bookcases full!), it’s to be expected that I succumbed to my old passion. I read 13 books of poetry during those five days, so it was like bathing in sunlight. Of course, you know what it’s like with poetry collections, you don’t read them cover to cover, you find the poems that really resonate with you.
Here are some which I would love to share with you, all by women poets (although I also read William Stafford and Peter Meinke, I spontaneously picked up women this time):
Let’s start a conversation. Ask me where I’m from.
Where is home, really home. Where my parents were born.
What to do if I sound more like you than you do.
Every word an exhalation, a driving out. (Vahni Capildeo)
I keep finding you in ways I didn’t know I noticed, or knew.
Every road, every sea,
every beach by every sea,
keeps lining up with what you loved.
Here’s a line of silent palm trees.
It’s as if you answered the phone.
(Naomi Shihab Nye)
I caution you as I was never cautioned:
you will never let go, you will never be satiated.
You will be damaged and scarred, you will continue to hunger.
Your body will age, you will continue to need.
You will want the earth, then more of the earth –
Sublime, indifferent, it is present, it will not respond.
It is encompassing, it will not minister.
Meaning, it will feed you, it will ravish you,
it will not keep you alive. (Louise Gluck)
I, like a river,
Have been turned aside by this harsh age.
I am a substitute. My life has flowed
Into another channel
And I do not recognise my shores.
O, how many fine sights I have missed,
How many curtains have risen without me
And fallen too…
And how many poems I have not written
Whose secret chorus swirls around my head
And possibly one day
Will stifle me… (Anna Akhmatova)
This poem is dangerous; it should not be left
Within the reach of children, or even of adults
Who might swallow it whole, with possibly
Undesirable side-effects. If you come across
An unattended, unidentified poem
In a public place, do not attempt to tackle it
Yourself. Send it (preferably in a sealed container)
To the nearest centre of learning, where it will be rendered
Harmless by experts. Even the simplest poem
May destroy your immunity to human emotions.
All poems must carry a Government warning. Words
Can seriously affect your heart. (Elma Mitchell)
The result of this electrolyte bath of poetry? I wrote 25 new poems of my own. All requiring a lot of work still, but more than I’ve written in the 6 months January-June 2016. I will make sure I always have at least one book of poetry on the go at any moment in time.
Sounds idyllic! Thanks for sharing the sights and sounds of your trip with us and well done for all that writing!
It was a lot of resting as well as writing. Luckily, with internet connection being rather patchy, I was less active on Twitter and blogs, so that helped.
Oh, what a lovely visit you must have had, Marina Sofia! I can completely understand how you’d have been seduced by the setting and that wonderful poetry. And you made progress on your work, too, which is great! Even some progress matters. Thanks for sharing.
It was worth every bit of effort in getting there and back – and has given me impetus for the tough two months ahead.
Oh so envious of you getting the chance to look at that glorious Provence landscape
It was lovely (although I have to admit that I prefer the higher mountains of Rhone-Alpes and the view over Lake Geneva).
What a wonderful setting for a working break. Glad to see you focusing on the positives too – sounds like you had a very productive and relaxing time!
I was surprised at the flow of poetry, and rather dismayed by the lack of prose. But I hope to make up for it and work on the novel this month (I’m aiming a vague sort of NaNoWriMo).
God, I love Louise Gluck. I must read more of her.
She is pretty fantastic. I also read Sharon Olds and Maxine Kumin – all those feisty American women poets, great fun! I will probably do a more in-depth review of some of the poetry books I read.
Sharon Olds is another of my absolute faves (Anne Carson completes the trifecta); I don’t know Maxine Kumin as well as I’d like, but what I do know, I do like! In-depth poetry reviews would be *awesome*; I always find poetry incredibly hard to write about.
God, yes, I love Anne Carson!
Sounds like a lovely, restorative break – working or otherwise!
I had plenty of nice food and rest as well, just what I needed.
Really enjoyed the Akhmatova – look forward to seeing the poems when they emerge.
Isn’t she great? And what a tragic life, I read her in tears very nearly. One of the poems I wrote was posted yesterday, but the others are still very raw indeed.
I read a biography of her last year (managed to get to the end of that one!) – the poems get even better with a bit of background context don’t they?
I love your selection of poems, particularly the Louise Gluck. I often think I should make more time for poetry in my life. How brilliant that you got so much inspiration from Karen’s enormous poetry collection and you are right to focus on the positives, you may not have done what you planned but from the sound of things you’ve achieved something different that resonated with you at that time.
It sounds a bit airy-fairy, but I think poetry was what my soul needed at this moment in time.
Not airy-fairy at all 🙂
It sounds perfect! If you haven’t read it hem, I highly recommend Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds and Misery Islands by January Gill O’Neil.
I need to work my way through a lot more of Sharon Olds’ poetry collections, probably starting with Stag’s Leap and Odes.