The inaugural post for The Back of the Postcard is a pared down version of an Editor’s Note from the Spring 2022 issue of Quartet, an online poetry journal that features the work of women fifty and over, edited by Jane C. Miller and me. You will find random musings on random subjects from both of us on our new Substack site. Please bear with us as we figure this thing out.
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Writing poems about writing poems / is like rolling bales of hay in Texas. / Nothing but the horizon to stop you.
Those are the first three lines of Ruth Stone’s poem “Always on the Train.” She was a master of observation.
Later in the same poem, Stone wrote: What is so innocent as grazing cattle? / If you think about it, it turns into words. She is telling us not to just glance at something but to deeply study it. Think about it and it will reveal the poem.
In a workshop a few years ago, Gerry LaFemina sent all of us outside with instructions to find something that caught our eye; to study that subject, really look at it and then begin to write down what we saw. He was telling us what Stone was telling us in her poem. Look at something, write what you see and prepare to receive the poem.
Consider the lines from Carol Frost’s poem “To Kill a Deer,” Into the changes of autumn brush / the doe walked, and the hide, head and ears were the tinsel browns. / They made her. The poem begins with a description of a beautiful creature. We are captivated and due to Frost’s observant eye we want to follow the poem to where it leads us, which is to the manner of the animal’s death.
Observe. Write the details of what you see. Receive the poem.
*If you would like to read the complete Editor’s Note in the Spring 2022 issue go to:
https://www.quartetjournal.com/archives
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Addendum: Three months after the Spring 2022 issue of Quartet went live, Jane and I had the opportunity to attend a multi-day workshop in Vermont sponsored by The Ruth Stone House Foundation. We quickly observed that we were the oldest poets in attendance, which was a new situation for us. The initial instinct was to cling together but, fortunately, we decided to delve deeper, to open ourselves to what the younger generation had to offer. And, wow, what an eye-opening, inclusive, and affirming experience those days turned out to be.
photo by Bianca Stone
*Click here for more information about Ruth Stone House .
Good stuff! Looking forward to future posts!