Found Poems Found Once Again

Poetry can be found anywhere.  I truly believe that.

This year I am committed once again to attending the Sanibel Island Writer's Conference in November.  I've even cleared it with my principal to have the necessary days off, since they attach to a long weekend. 

I attended the conference in 2012 because of two presenters: Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried and Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief.  These are among my favorite books and they both rank high on my favorite author lists.  They did not disappoint.  (Cheryl Strayed of Wild fame was supposed to be there as well, but had to cancel.  Her book is also a favorite of mine.)

In between workshops at Sanibel Island Writer's Conference -- cold wind blowing

At the conference I discovered others -- namely, Steve Almond and Beth Ann Fennelly.  Both of them will be present at this year's conference.  Steve taught us about radical disclosure --writing what you are most uncomfortable about.  And Beth Ann, the director of the poetry masters program at Ole Miss -- opened my mind more fully to sound in poetry.  I have never been seen language the same!

While on my computer this morning, I found a couple of poems that I had written last year based on notes I had from the conference. The mentor text (model) is "Wordsworth's Skates" by Seamus Heaney.  Seeing these poems again makes me want to mine through some of my older conference notebooks (I have many!) to see what treasures I can find.

Tim O’Brien’s Stories

An Exacto knife to the soul

                        Straightforward and slippery

                                                Memory or morality tale?

Not a real war story

With heroes and medals and enemies

And clear victory

But what Picasso called “art as the lie that helps us see the truth”

The human heart under stress

Ambiguous until the bitter end.

Steve Almond’s Advice (Radical Disclosure)

Anxiety on display

                        Humor and humility           

                                                Truth telling or revenge?

Not a self-conscious

Safe and congratulatory exercise

To prop ourselves up

But casting a light in the old darkness in our souls

Hurting ourselves beautifully

And forgiving slowly.