Love Letter to A. Van Jordan

Dear Van,
Akron loves you.
Signed,
a fan
Photo courtesy of The Word Cage.

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Seriously, though. The reading on Tuesday was great, but talking with Van in workshop yesterday was awesome. I said I wasn't the question asking type, but after finally reading M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, I had to ask him about sequencing. When I was ordering my thesis, I didn't want to put things in chronological order, but I couldn't see any other way. M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A is in reverse order--sort of; the sections are in reverse order, but within the sections, the poems don't necessarily move chronologically. Yet it all made perfect sense. Van said he had to ask what the central question of the book was and then he ordered the poems so they would move toward the moment of MacNolia's greatest potential. I've thought about the "central question" a lot with non-fiction thanks to Varley, but I didn't think of it that way with my thesis. Now I'm thinking about it...and I'm not even sure what the central question is. I have to go back.

It's crazy to say, but I think I was waiting for this conversation to finish my manuscript. I got so many ideas about new poems and a new order for In the Weeds that I can't wait to have the time to sit down with it and tear it apart. It's going to be so much fun!

I was just telling my students yesterday that revision is my favorite part of writing. Something to look forward to when the grading is finished. 2 weeks left in the semester (I don't have much going on during exam week) and then I can get back into poetry mode. Thank God!

By the way...the weather is freaking fantastic. Finally, it's spring! I'm totally wearing a skirt without tights today.