My draft is done, and it’s not even 11 p.m.. It is a bit of a stretch for me — I’m not very comfortable with love poems, don’t feel that I write especially good ones, that I skirt sentimentality on a razor thin edge, and maybe go over that edge. All the more reason, then, to try one after a long drought.
{poof!}
Late again. I had just finished when the baby woke up, but it turned out to be a necessary break — while I nursed him I was able to rethink & rework a few lines in my head. But I’m not sure if he’s down for the night at last or just a few minutes, so without further ado:
{poof!}
It’s half past midnight, but it couldn’t be helped — all the boys seem to be having a particularly trying night. Even as I type, Lance is walking & rocking Aidan, who continues to be troubled by eczema — new patches on his back & head are bothering him something awful. Anyway, I got it done, & tomorrow’s another day even if technically that’s today.
{poof!}
Lance brought home this old VHS tape of Jean Cocteau’s “Testament of Orpheus” that he bought at a Goodwill, and in one of the beginning scenes, a mother holding her baby is startled by an apparition and stands up suddenly, forgetting in her panic that she’s holding a baby, and thus dropping the baby on his head. I didn’t watch much further (I had a poem to work on!), but what a ridiculous idea! A panicked mother would hold her baby closer. I’m strenuously restraining myself from making a comment about how only a male director could pose that particular plot point. Well, as strenuously as this exhausted body can…
{poof!}
Today is the official half-way mark. Fifteen poems written, fifteen more to come. And after tabulating the amount of non-poem items I completed today, and then managing to do my NaPoWriMo duty at the end of it all, I’m feeling pretty confident that I’m going to see this month through. And what I’m finding especially joyful about this adventure is how much I’m liking the poems I’m writing. Some need more work than others, but they all seem worth keeping — now that’s a happy surprise!
{poof!}
These late drafts riddle me with doubt. I hope tomorrow to get back to my earlier writing schedule. Still, a draft’s a draft, and no one is more surprised than I am that I’m 14 for 14, almost halfway there.
Did I mention that I’m all about sleep?
{poof!}
With today’s poem #13, I have officially beaten my totals from last year. And I’ve taken my form today from Dash30Dash: The Minute Poem. I am too tired to properly evaluate its readiness as a draft, but I’ve reached the end of what I can accomplish without more sleep. Vincent is now ill as well, though he seemed tonight to have bounced back well; however, he went to bed most willingly. On the upside, little Aidan’s horrid eczema issue is clearing up beautifully — and he’s sleeping much better, halleluiah. I’m all about sleep.
{poof!}
Due to the holiday, my drafts’s arriving after midnight, but before I’ve gotten any sleep, so as far as I’m concerned it’s not late. And yes, a nonet.
{poof!}
Back to the nonet. Today’s draft almost didn’t happen — I’ve been fighting some sickness all day, back & forth fever, body aches, etc. I thought to maybe write about that, but then, well, Sylvia Plath pretty much owns the fever-as-poem, why ask for trouble? I imagine tomorrow, being Easter, which means we’ll be traveling to my mum’s, fever or no fever, my draft will be equally late. Still, it’s before midnight, which is all that counts. That, and I’m writing a lot of poems!
{poof!}
I’m feeling encouraged that today’s poem was less of a struggle, even though I had less time to work on it than I’ve had thus far. Vincent had his first morning of preschool, which went like a dream, but instead of using the quiet time to write as I’d anticipated, I had to take my poor leprosy/eczema-afflicted Aidan to the doctor to get checked out. But here’s my draft, and it’s earlier then yesterday’s, hooray!
{poof!}
Marie Gauthier 