advise the poor poet

'poor' being relative, as too often the case!

I miss Jon's ETIAP and hope for other grist to fill that gap...

Teaching poetry this season includes homage to William Carlos Williams (who always gets my vote for being a complement to one of my favorite Cubs, Billy Williams), I tend to

• have students draw out 'A Red Wheel Barrow' before a professional philologist weighs in
• look to other ways the minimalism works, as Kirsten has endorsed in 'This Is Just To Say'
• encourage a pastiche, as I now present in 'garden eels'

I'm struggling with my final line, especially the verb between "each" and "one". I could have fit an adjective there, like "toward", but the syntax then suffers.

I wouldn't have known these gentle critters before visiting the Desert Museum west of Tuscan. It's fascinating to revisit, layer after layer.

Ben is 14 today--we're celebrating in part by going to Kolowrat Theatre (several of you have been there) to take in a play about Bedrich Smetana, our national composer who, like Beethoven, was going deaf in the apex of his career. Art comes out of small and subtle places.