What Gets You Thinking?
For a short month, February sure felt long. Am I right?
For this post of Cake & Poetry, I chose this picture of the curtain at the Fisher Theater in Detroit because this is the energy I’d like to channel: good anticipation, not dread, which I’ve been feeling a lot these days. Know what I mean?
This curtain, powerfully lit, also reminds me of my recent go-to question: what got you thinking? Whenever my students do some reading, that’s what I’ve been asking them: what got you thinking?
One of the best parts of teaching is responding to their responses. The beauty and vibrancy of the curtain is how those exchanges often feel to me: something is about to be revealed.
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But other moments these days feel far from beautiful or vibrant or revealing in a good way. And some of my go-to strategies for steadying and nurturing myself have felt unavailable.
Much as I love walking, even in winter, and pretty as the snow has been, frigid temps and icy sidewalks just aren’t conducive to long walks. There’s nothing to do about it, and feeling out of sorts about feeling out of sorts doesn’t help. Lots of February was like that.
I’ve also decided to take an extended hiatus from reading Dr. Zhivago. It’s good, but I don’t love the sentences, and if I didn’t have the movie in mind (and Omar Sharif!), I don’t think I’d like the novel as much. In any case, there’s enough bleakness in the country right now; I can’t also read this bleak book (at least at around the halfway point).
It’s a little disappointing but also feels pretty good to step away from things and not add more onto what already feels like too much.
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So, that’s some of what I’m saying no to, but what about the yeses? What’s getting me thinking and feeling and being interested these days?
Well, baking, of course. Work has been overwhelming this semester, but Valentine’s Day was a good reason to say that baking comes first!
I made mini cannolis, chocolate cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, and a big ol’ heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie. And I feel that I’ve somewhat perfected my buttercream. The secret: very soft butter whipped like crazy, a small amount of cream cheese (about half a block) also whipped like crazy, and then the powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. The cream cheese helps cut the sweetness.
As you can tell if you click through the links on this post and on many of my cake recipes, I really like Recipe Tin Eats. Her recipes are the best. And I just got her cookbook and will report back about that once I’ve had a chance to make a few things (and not only desserts!).
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Reading, too, though it mostly has been for teaching, has also buoyed my spirits.
My grad students and I have been reading selections Charles Wright’s Halflife and Quarter Notes. I first read Halflife when I was in my MA at Ohio University, and it changed how I wrote and how I thought about poetry. Later I had studied with Charles during my MFA at UVA, and he was the perfect kind of teacher for me: imparting knowledge almost by osmosis. I also just love Charles’ old-time elegance. He’s funny too. Workshop with him always felt special. If you’re a reader or writer of poetry (or would like to be), Charles Wright’s work (his many books of poems and these two books of prose) should be on your reading list.
Here are some moments of Halflife, both familiar and new-again, that got me thinking this time:
“Poetry is always transcribing from the invisible. It’s also a craft.”
“The best narrative is that which is least in evidence to the eye.”
“Poems are made up of details; good poems are made up of good details; great poems are made up of ‘luminous’ details.”
“What you see, wherever and however you see it——this is the proper subject matter.”
“The River of Light is not a tributary.”
I’ve always thought that the best teaching is time-release. Course evaluations really should happen a year later, or two years, or 10, or a lifetime. I’m still learning from Charles, and I haven’t had class with him since 1996!
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My YA lit students and I just read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. If you’ve not read this extraordinary novel, I highly recommend it, no matter your age. It’s an important, very well written, beautifully structured novel, and narrator Starr Carter is someone I think you can’t help but root for.
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My Capstone students and I recently visited the WVU art museum, and I was blown away by the exhibit of work by Karin Broker and Patricia Bellan-Gillen. Beautiful and thought-provoking, but not more one than the other. That’s important to me. Even as a little girl, I resisted all lessons that were not also somehow pleasing to the eye.
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I’ve also really been enjoying my Detroit Pistons! My sister Ellen and I went to a game a few weeks ago, and I’ve been listening to other games when I can (that is, when the NBA allows me to...). But lest you think I am only a fan now that the Pistons are getting good again, oh no! That is not the case! I listened to loss after loss, year after year, so the current success is all the sweeter. The sounds of the game (not just basketball but also Red Wings hockey, Lions football, Tigers baseball, too) are what appeal to me. The best kind of background noise. My students like to tease me because I “consume no media” (their words, not mine). Or, very little media, compared to most people. And it’s true: I have a few tv shows and lots of old movies I like, but in general I am not a TV/movie person. I get bored. I’d rather take a walk. I start to weave and stopping watching and pretty soon I have no idea what’s going on and don’t care. But listening to games lets me take a walk too, or work in the garden, or weave, or clean, or just not be so tied down. My dad used to listen to baseball games while doing yard work; in her later years, my mom liked to watch (but mostly just listen, eyes closed) to baseball and basketball games. There’s something companionable about it: familiar names and voices. And there’s hometown pride. And, also, as my dad used to say: none of it really matters. The outcome isn’t that serious, though, sure, it can be fun to feel that way. I have so many thoughts about sports, but right now, I just appreciate the distraction from the too-many things that do matter.
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But I think that what I’m really needing right now is a little boredom. I’m very lucky that my life usually does have pockets of “not much” and that I get to spend a lot of time with myself. Some people likely don’t want that, but I wish it for them anyway! It’s a luxury. For real. And there seems precious little of boring downtime right now for any of us.
But Spring is on the way, and that’ll be a help.
And I have quite a few spring, summer, and fall workshops to tell you about. All of these will take place in Glen Arbor, Michigan.
Friday, May 16, 2-4 pm: Ekphrastic Poetry: Writing Under the Influence of Art! —— “Walking Exhibition”
Friday, June 13, 2-4 pm: Ekphrastic Poetry: Writing Under the Influence of Art! —— “Members Create Exhibition”
Thursday, July 24, 10 am- 12 pm: Plein Air Poetry: Nature as a Companion
3 September Saturdays: 13, 20, 27, 1-3 pm: Creativity Bootcamp: Re-energizing Your Creative Practice
For more info about these workshops, please visit the Glen Arbor Art Center website or reach out to me.
As always, thank you for reading. I hope you have things (maybe even from this post) that get you thinking in a good way, and that you’re taking good care, finding beauty, and resting when you need to.
Here’s my cat, Myrna, doing just that. She’s an expert napper, of course, and my constant teacher.
And here are two recent sunrises that made me glad to see them. These daily revelations do help, don’t they? More beauty to come.
