Starting on Sunday, I have a three-day
Beloit Poetry Journal meeting, and already I am tired of donating my brain to other people. The problem is too much copyediting, which is making me feel like a doormat. Copyeditors are the certified nursing assistants of the publishing world. We empty the bedpans. So today I will browse through a couple of poetry collections by friends of mine. I will read more of John Berryman's Bradstreet poem. I will read Henry Green's
Party Going. I will work on my Shakespearean sonnet project, and I will plant lettuce and knead bread and drink coffee. Unfortunately I will also take the dogs to the vet, but no day can be perfect.
Here is a random quotation from The Golden Bough. Let's see if it is inspiring.
Unable to discriminate clearly between words and things, the savage commonly fancies that the link between a name and the person or thing denominated by it is not a mere arbitrary and ideal association, but a real and substantial bond which unites the two in such a way that magic may be wrought.
I don't see what's so crazy about that. Of course, I might feel otherwise if my name were Mabel.
2 comments:
Dawn, I love your phrase, " Donating your brain". that's what I feel when I go to curriculum meetings. I'm in the process of reading "Tracing Paradise" for the second time. This is something I rarely do right after I've just finished a book for the first time. I am especially loving the chapter about gardening and the helpmates. When the snakes slither out in the spring we are assured of warmer weather.
Interestingly, I have not yet seen a snake in my garden this summer . . . a clue as to how cold paradise is this year.
"Donating your brain" at curriculum meetings. Much worse than copyediting, I'm sure.
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