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| Not actually Brigit OR Mary, but St Lucy wearing a harrow crown |
Audience Of One
I belong to a weekly writers workshop that meets through the
cooler months, making of a little more than half the year a time that has been for
me, for a few years now, focussed on writing poetry to, about, and in honour of
Brigit, both as goddess and as saint, in her (their) many, often conflicting, aspects
and time periods. This season has just recommenced and much as I’ve enjoyed the
summer writing—a longish research paper, some short essays, and portions of an
online course—I’m comforted and delighted to be back with the poetic source
that I can’t seem to stem.
By which I mean, the number of poems continues to grow. Each
fall I say, Yes! Now I will finish
editing these Brigit poems and get on to the next project. But the more I
edit, the more I am inspired to write. The more I write, the more I refer to
materials to be sure I’ve got things straight. And the more I refer to these
materials, the more wonders I encounter, flushing up the desire to write (oh,
guilty pleasure) yet another poem... Maybe what I am learning from this is that
I shouldn’t worry about “finishing”, that though a collection may yet come of
it, for me the practice of writing these poems is the most important thing.
Last week, after our first meeting, a new member of the
group asked if he could pose a few questions about the process I go through
when writing the poems. He offered to pay me for my time by buying me a cup of
coffee. (He is much cheaper than you may imagine. Our coffee goes for fifty
cents per class.) I agreed, and this is the result. (He may have bitten off
more than he can chew. Sorry, Bob.)
