peace and blessings
So remember my post about this christmas being a very differnt one? My morning started off with my grandmother being admitted in the Hospital where she still rests, with a dangerously low blood pressure.
but still a smile on her face and her attitude unhurt by said events.
tonight parts of my family got together for a christmas eve dinner, and small gift exchange. Each year the numbers in attendance gets smaller and smaller, and i have to defend myself and my changes, as something is different each time i come, and it's sometimes more taxing than it's worth, but hey, it's my family.
so, living with Raina (new roommate) is already wonderful. She's got her own personal library. So i can literally walk outside of my room and down the hall and pick up any poetry book i could want, by like real, living, alive poets. Ones who are living what I want to be living. And then her living room and dining room are lined with bookshelves of books she's read. And already i have this urge to be a better writer just by being in her presence, you know? like the pressure of wanting to attain to something. and her network connections are amazing. and because of the type of person she is, they are open to me as well. Like CAAWC. or Carolina African American Writer's Collective. she introduced me to them, and I didn't realize the scope of the influence of the people i laugh and share my meager poetry with until just recently. Lenard D. Moore (look him up, amazing, loving brother) founded it, and I will be meeting with him, and another Poet January 3rd for a manuscript workshop. A MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP WITH AN AMAZING POET. just thought i would highlight that. I've sort of moved on from Sage, and won't make any additions (probably subtractions, make it chapbook length?) but i'm going to bring that, and my newest pieces for my latest work. It's sad, i'm working on another collection already and i haven't done anything with the first. but that's okay. i have faith in these works, and my work, and my ambition and one of these days it's going to pay off. even if i have to abuse contacts to make it work. haha. i mean, it's going to work. It's bound to.
so i've been writing poems over the break. I need to explore other realms, so i'm reading up a storm, needing to get more "life experience". I swear, i want to be sooo full of life experience that if someone wants to turn me down, they better use another excuse, not because of "lack of life experience". like Cave Canem. Raina was a fellow, as was Lenard, and he also taught there. So i'm hoping to milk my networks, get some shoe-ins, and then shine on my own from there. besides, isn't "making it" (although, "making it" in the poetic sense means 25 people will own your book and know who you are) about who you know, not who you are?and then once you're "In" you have to use your talents. So i'm going to store them up now, and prepare for when it's time to let them shine.
but still a smile on her face and her attitude unhurt by said events.
tonight parts of my family got together for a christmas eve dinner, and small gift exchange. Each year the numbers in attendance gets smaller and smaller, and i have to defend myself and my changes, as something is different each time i come, and it's sometimes more taxing than it's worth, but hey, it's my family.
so, living with Raina (new roommate) is already wonderful. She's got her own personal library. So i can literally walk outside of my room and down the hall and pick up any poetry book i could want, by like real, living, alive poets. Ones who are living what I want to be living. And then her living room and dining room are lined with bookshelves of books she's read. And already i have this urge to be a better writer just by being in her presence, you know? like the pressure of wanting to attain to something. and her network connections are amazing. and because of the type of person she is, they are open to me as well. Like CAAWC. or Carolina African American Writer's Collective. she introduced me to them, and I didn't realize the scope of the influence of the people i laugh and share my meager poetry with until just recently. Lenard D. Moore (look him up, amazing, loving brother) founded it, and I will be meeting with him, and another Poet January 3rd for a manuscript workshop. A MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP WITH AN AMAZING POET. just thought i would highlight that. I've sort of moved on from Sage, and won't make any additions (probably subtractions, make it chapbook length?) but i'm going to bring that, and my newest pieces for my latest work. It's sad, i'm working on another collection already and i haven't done anything with the first. but that's okay. i have faith in these works, and my work, and my ambition and one of these days it's going to pay off. even if i have to abuse contacts to make it work. haha. i mean, it's going to work. It's bound to.
so i've been writing poems over the break. I need to explore other realms, so i'm reading up a storm, needing to get more "life experience". I swear, i want to be sooo full of life experience that if someone wants to turn me down, they better use another excuse, not because of "lack of life experience". like Cave Canem. Raina was a fellow, as was Lenard, and he also taught there. So i'm hoping to milk my networks, get some shoe-ins, and then shine on my own from there. besides, isn't "making it" (although, "making it" in the poetic sense means 25 people will own your book and know who you are) about who you know, not who you are?and then once you're "In" you have to use your talents. So i'm going to store them up now, and prepare for when it's time to let them shine.