Solstice

It's the solstice, and after fatigue grabbed me hard yesterday and I napped late in the afternoon, I feel refreshed this morning.

Two nights ago there was some action I slept through.  I remember vaguely hearing a siren, but it was midnight, and I was nearly asleep.  MFA students on the fourth floor and facing the street saw it all and told me there were seven police cars in the street right in front of the dorm, with sirens and lights flashing.  They had guns drawn and one of them said "Drop that purse!"  But it wasn't a purse that was stolen, it was a car, and the police arrested the perp.  And I missed it all.  More important that I should have a good night's sleep.

The workshop has finished critiquing poems, but we have two days to go as yet.  Kwame had us draw postcards from a stack he had and buy a new book of poems to bring to Thursday's workshop session.  Dorianne didn't say what she's going to have us do today.  At the student reading last night, I read two poems.  Everybody gets applause for everything at the student reading, except finding the rest room,  so they were well received.  But really, several of the students I know complimented me, and that felt especially good.  It's odd never to know quite where I stand with the poems I write, especially when the workshop leader sees possibilities I haven't thought of and flaws I've missed.  Since poems use so few words, compared with prose, it's really important to be "one on whom nothing is lost," I think that's something Henry James said once, or maybe more than once.

Today the faculty has a big meeting about student-advisor pairings, and tomorrow we all find out the advisor we'll work with between the end of the residency and the end of the semester.  Big anticipation.

I must begin my day.