Beginning

I teach creative writing, and after the fall semester was over, I realized what I should have told my students--the white space inside the poem is what's important. This was a reaction to centered text and uninspired line breaks. But it also seems evocative in exactly the right way for someone (me) who wants to puzzle over her writing decisions.

Right now I'm working on a manuscript of poems, and I spent the morning thinking about order and beginning the read for final revisions. I questioned "peter pan collars" in a poem. Should it be capitalized? A few lines later I'm capitalizing Butterick. (Just an insert to assure you very few of my poems have to do with sewing.) Dictionary.com says Peter Pan, but then I rejected accuracy for the sake of sense. Butterick is a brand name and peter pan merely a style. No caps.

So stuff like that. And maybe remarks about the weather and what I'm reading.

Tabula rasa. Space for something to happen. The landscape of poetry which often seems as if its forming in my head.