I'm still not formally back to work, but yesterday was as much of a work day as I've had lately. After getting the laundry and groceries under control, I hashed out writing prompts for an upcoming class, messed around with some revisions, read Donne's Holy Sonnets, and transcribed a poem into one of the handmade blank books I'd made in Monson before the holiday. This was really my first chance to get acquainted with the new desk and to figure out how it will function in my work setup. I use my standing desk for the computer, and I read and run zoom classes from the blue easy chair, so the sit-down desk won't be my primary workspace, unless I'm handwriting. But given how tiny the room is, the desk needs to serve usefully as a staging area, even if I'm not sitting at it. Yesterday, as I worked on prompts at the computer, I spread out all of my possible source materials on the desk behind me, where I could go back and forth among the splayed books as I cogitated. Then, when I was transcribing the poem and gluing up decorations on the pages, I sat at the new desk and worked efficiently and spaciously.

I know this seems like a silly topic for a post, but for my entire career my writing space has been half-assed. In Harmony I worked on one side of our bedroom, in a room without a door, on a table and in a space that weren't usefully designed for my body or habits. Gradually things improved, most notably when T made the standing desk. Then, during our year in the apartment, I was wedged into another bedroom corner and had to use the bed (a mattress on the floor) as a work annex. Finally, when we bought this house, I had a room of my own, ready to be made useful . . . and then the pandemic interrupted, and my son moved into my study, and I was back in a corner of the bedroom.

So maybe you'll forgive me for the disquisition on writing space. It's been such a long time coming. To possess a standing desk, a sit-down desk, a reading chair, and a good laptop; to arrange all of this in a small room of my own, surrounded by poetry books: this is a strange and thrilling luxury.