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Tending to my Poe garden ... or not ...

2/23/2018

2 Comments

 
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​I used to advise people against giving me houseplants and, as evidence, would show them my Poe garden of dead little things with bare, shriveled claws for branches and overly withered roots.

Mitch Hedberg, one of my very favorite comedians, had a bit in his standup routine that went like this:  "My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.”  

I do love plants.  I love their their beauty, their fragrance and the healthy ambiance they exude, but plants in my home have to be extra, extra hardy, or come with a full-time long-term gardener in tow.

And so it is with my approach to writing poetry.  If an idea is steadfast and substantial enough, I will eventually work it into a piece.  If not, if it is but a wisp of a thought I will, regrettably, forget about it.

The care and feeding of my poetry requires that I read poetry, and only the very best poems available to me.  Shakespeare, Blake, Coleridge, Millay, Wordsworth, Browning, and Riley are but a few.

Admittedly, absorbing and feeding on the works of these, my mentors, is a luxury that I don’t afford myself often enough, but when I do indulge in truly great poetry my muse responds ravenously.

Now, well past in their initial tutoring, I am able to compose without merely mimicking them, yet, their mark is indelibly upon me. This was true of Rembrandt, Raphael, or any schooled apprentice.

My work lies in a lesser strata than that of my mentors, and it is unlikely that I will ever achieve to their level, but their poems continue to encourage me to to attain to the very best that I am capable of.

As to our houseplants, my husband is very good with living things.  His tender care of them yields beautiful, bounteous results.  So, I leave them to him, for the most part, and simply enjoy them.    

   






Image: commons.wikimedia.org
2 Comments
https://shareit.onl/ link
1/19/2023 07:20:27 am

Thanks for sharing the article, and more importantly, your personal experience of mindfully using our emotions as data about our inner state and knowing when it’s better to de-escalate by taking a time out are great tools. Appreciate you reading and sharing your story since I can certainly relate and I think others can to

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1/19/2023 07:27:08 am

anks for sharing the article, and more importantly, your personal experience of mindfully using our emotions as data about our inner state and knowing when it’s better to de-escalate by taking a time out are great tools. Appreciate you reading and sharing your story since I can certainly relate and I think others can to

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    About the author:

    I've written many poems over the years.  This blog is a preview of my books: Echoes, Neo-Victorian Poetry (April 2013), Echoes ll, More Neo-Victorian Poetry (May 2014), Echoes lll, Even More Neo-Victorian Poetry, (August 2016), A Compilation of Echoes. (September 2016), and When None Command (April 13, 2019)

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