Making stock

Timer on.

Checked on the Quotations website if anyone knew about My expertise has always been my ignorance whether there is anyone who said it, and, No, it seems to be just Petri. Still don't know if it is a he or a she. Am also hesitating and wondering whether I should offer to edit some of the English for him, I'd probably get more out of it than they do, reading about authors I don't know. Once every two months or so? It would not take me long to do. I'll email him/her and see what happens.

Almost finished reading the Larkin biography -Philip Larkin, The Marvell Press and Me, by Jean Hartley (Carcanet Press, 1989). Have not yet looked him up on Petri's site, that will be helpful. He was a sad man, wistful, and kind. Jean Hartley was a friend of his. Every now and then some of her thoughts about life are allowed and the book is immediately much more interesting than say her romances or the lack of a romance in Larkin's case. I wonder if other readers would think so too?

I checked that Janet Frame was on Petri's Authors' Calendar, and Katherine Manfeld. Found a raft of Israeli writers - Amos Oz, Yehuda Amichai, AB Yehoshua, Shai Agnon, David Grossman.

Reading poetry is paying off. Unless it was a fluke: the new exercise for the Online course was done quickly and easily, at least the first draft. Not feeling overwhelmed by the task as with the prose poem. Have worked on that one too, amazed at what can be dispensed with, how many words are unnecessary, I love reducing and reducing. It makes me think of when one prepares stock, simmering the broth away, till what remains has a strong taste
.
Timer went a couple of minutes ago. Took too long editing.

Billy Collins' Hunger poem

Reading Larkin is not so easy; many of his poems are about death thoughts at 4:00 am, the dark thoughts of the night. The Chinese had something to say about those, how we should protect ourselves against them, I can't remember where I read that.

Reading Billy Collins: an interesting short poem called Hunger, which I don't understand, is lodged in my mind this morning. I've reread it several times:

The fox you lug over your shoulder
in a dark sack
has cut a hole with a knife
and escaped.

The sudden lightness makes you think
you are stronger
as you walk back to your small cottage
through a forest that covers the world.


From Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes, Selected poems, (2000) Picador.

Utter loneliness, how we delude ourselves and the foxy (destructive? malicious? untrustworthy?) ones who get away.
Some of the bitternesses of life.

Reading poetry is making me think in verse. At least while I'm in bed.

No writing yesterday, though did re-read my prose poem. R, a trustworthy critic, said it was hilarious and not to change a word, though he added that it was not a poem, in any way.
Any praise from him is good, so I should be glad. Never mind.

Today is Sunday, the children will be here this afternoon to say goodbye to our guest, whom I will miss.
Writing tonight, I hope. I've cancelled one of the social things planned for this afternoon. From tomorrow I should be back to normal, whatever that is.

To the Library

Yesterday was a Whitireia day, stressful. The presentation of the review went OK, the next one is in two weeks, I might try Philip Larkin. During workshopping - which is what we call the sessions when we give each other feedback on our work - I thought of how Szymborska has a lot to say and says it well.

Immediately afterwards went to the library to return Szymborska's book which I think is the only one in the Wellington region. Two other people want to read it.

I took out a biography of Larkin as well as a collection of his poetry (Collected Poetry, 1988, the Marvell Press, an imprint of Faber and Faber), so that I'd have a bit of background. I always like to know more about the setting in which a poem is written.
I have difficulty with poems that do not make sense clearly. I should try to give the writer the benefit of the doubt.
Besides taking out Larkin, I also got a book of Billy Collins' poems, Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes (2000, Picador). Susi said that he was very accessible. I'd like that! Also Glenn Colquhoun, An Explanation of Poetry to My Father, (2001, Steele Roberts) and a collection of poems by Allen Curnow, entitled Selected Poems, 1940-1989, without a clear publication date, published by Viking.
I dipped into things last night, Glenn Colquhoun pleased me immediately. Talk about accessible.

The bell has rung some time ago. A lot of editing.