I'm caught in a rut where I have a lot of ideas to write and not a lot of energy or ability to articulate anything. I've been doing research, though: I finished the Warner book, will probably finish Said's Culture and Imperialism in a day or two, and am steadily working on Forster's A Passage to India. I also bought a collection of Forster's short stories, The Life to Come, and read the introduction to Eve Kosofsky-Sedgwick's Epistemology of the Closet.
I've been thinking a lot about really big concepts, like space, geography, love, and the body. If I were a poet, I would articulate this in a nicer way. These themes represent a significant chunk of my research. I will probably write something about them in other areas, too. I wanted to post a poem that I thought related to these areas in the same ways I am thinking of them, but the best example I could think of was Ondaatje's "The Cinnamon Peeler" and I didn't want to repeat it. Rather than posting all of J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, or any number of other novels I consider "favorites," I decided to upload Shawn Colvin's cover of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go." Listen and weep.
What a great song! I am sure you will work your way right out of this rut!! I oddly enough seem to enjoy when I get caught in a rut, it forces me to reevaluate the way I am approachign that issue and I always seem to come out learning another strength I posses.( I do not believe that people have weakness..that is to easy to accept....so I believe that we all have an infinite amount of strengths we simply have a lifetime to tap into them.)
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, that was pretty inspirational. Thanks for the positive perspective!
DeleteI had never heard this version of this song! Thanks for sharing. Also, it's interesting that you brought up poetry when you're in a rut. When I'm stuck or uninspired, I always read poetry. Right now, "Lighthead" by Terrance Hayes is sitting by my bed. I always want to right after I read poetry.
ReplyDeleteYou folks make me want to learn how to love poetry. I was one of those unfortunate types who had English teachers who killed poetry for me!
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