Poetry and its relationship with fiction.

Just like listening to live music or observing paintings, poetry fuels my writing in a potent but indirect way.

I like poetry that explores an emotion or situation with very little meandering. Fiction lets you ramble a little bit, get in-depth thinking.

Poetry helps me keep on track and not be afraid of uncomfortable topics.

Some of my favorite poetry books are:

Beautiful Signor by Cyrus Cassells (a lush and gorgeous romance between two men in Italy)

100 Love Sonnets
and
Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon by Pablo Neruda(anything by Neruda, really. I think I'd read the man's grocery list)

Hafiz and Rumi, naturally.

And the best book about poetry is

How to read a poem and fall in love with poetry by Edward Hirsch. Chapter Eight, Poetry and History: Polish Poetry after the End of the World, is some of the greatest writing ever done on literature.

Russian poet Anna Akhmatova wrote this snippet before her epic poem "Requiem".

In the terrible years of the Yezhov terror I spent seventeen months waiting in line outside the prison in Leningrad. One day, somebody in the crowd identified me. Standing behind me was a woman, with lips blue from the cold, who had, of course, never heard me called by name before. Now she started out of the torpor common to us all and asked me in a whisper (everyone whispered there):
"Can you describe this?"
And I said: "I can."
Then something like a smile passed fleetingly over what has once been her face.

This is what poetry does for us.

The joys of slacking.

I'm not really slacking, actually. My family of birth continues to have health problems and all sorts of scary excitement.

Some writers can ignore the stress and keep to their regular schedules. Much to my shame, I'm not one of them.

Instead, I'm working as it fits my energy level. I'm doing lots of brainstorming, reworking of my plots, and synopsis revisions. I manage actual composition by hand now, instead of on my computer. For some reason, that feels more playful, less serious. I get to make a big mess with my horrid handwriting and scratch outs and marginalia. :)

I've bought poetry from the Spanish Renaissance to feed my head. Reading poetry, especially from your non-native culture, keeps a writer juicy and creative. If you don't read poetry, why not?

Next week, I'll post some of my favorite poets and poetry books. :)