In Conclusion of this Project
At various times over the course of this project, while working on all of the different pieces, I have had vast quantities of brilliant thoughts I wanted to share - on spirituality Christian, Anglican, and Episcopal; on creative process; and on how perfect the world would be if only everyone would listen to me - and I have thought to myself, "When I finish this project, I'm going to create a kind of farewell page in which I will share these thoughts and finally be recognized for the genius I am."
Luckily I have been reading Julian of Norwich and Dorothy Sayers simultaneously, which can only result in the most abject humbling of the ego and the most foolish prodding into what could be considered reasonable creative endeavor. I have nothing brilliant to say.
I commenced this project in July, with the intention of finishing when the renovation at my parish was completed, and at All Souls, which I thought would be coincident. The renovation will probably continue until December and I am, frankly, exhausted by the pace of trying to create a brand new piece every week. I have suspected for a long time that it was somewhat unnatural to my temperament to write quickly, and I have proved myself right.
Pensées Préliminaires, for the Next
I also have another project which I am currently working towards. My attempts, albeit very poor, to work with the French language point in that direction.
While in India I wrote several pieces, both poetry and prose, which I had thought might work well together in a small chapbook of their own. However, it would have been a very small chapbook of their own, and also floating around in my head was the idea to begin working with translation. Around this time I happened to come across a nineteenth-century French travelogue of a man's travels in India called simply En l'inde, or In India.
I had written a longish poem called by the same name while traveling and the book is simply drowning in gorgeous imagery, as well as a heavily exoticizing perspective (which of course won't do in our pretended world of equality). Politically correct or no, it is lovely, and so I am planning to translate excerpts of it into English and use that to make the chapbook of its own not only a mite more reasonably plump, but also, I hope, more intriguing.
I am immensely grateful to everyone who has read and/or responded to this blog over the course of its existence. I am even grateful to those who had what might be viewed as negative reactions. I undertook this for a variety of reasons, some of which were well-served - such as getting over my terror of this sort of publishing format - and others of which were dealt with in unexpected ways. I can't honestly say that I anticipate ever sharing poetry and prose of this sort on a blog again, but it also made me realize that if I am sure of my vocation as a writer, then I need to be sure I will have to endure failure in the public eye.
As always, feel free to post comments here, or to accost me in the real world and tell me what you think.
Pax et caritas.
O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art, music, and poetry to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
At various times over the course of this project, while working on all of the different pieces, I have had vast quantities of brilliant thoughts I wanted to share - on spirituality Christian, Anglican, and Episcopal; on creative process; and on how perfect the world would be if only everyone would listen to me - and I have thought to myself, "When I finish this project, I'm going to create a kind of farewell page in which I will share these thoughts and finally be recognized for the genius I am."
Luckily I have been reading Julian of Norwich and Dorothy Sayers simultaneously, which can only result in the most abject humbling of the ego and the most foolish prodding into what could be considered reasonable creative endeavor. I have nothing brilliant to say.
I commenced this project in July, with the intention of finishing when the renovation at my parish was completed, and at All Souls, which I thought would be coincident. The renovation will probably continue until December and I am, frankly, exhausted by the pace of trying to create a brand new piece every week. I have suspected for a long time that it was somewhat unnatural to my temperament to write quickly, and I have proved myself right.
Pensées Préliminaires, for the Next
I also have another project which I am currently working towards. My attempts, albeit very poor, to work with the French language point in that direction.
While in India I wrote several pieces, both poetry and prose, which I had thought might work well together in a small chapbook of their own. However, it would have been a very small chapbook of their own, and also floating around in my head was the idea to begin working with translation. Around this time I happened to come across a nineteenth-century French travelogue of a man's travels in India called simply En l'inde, or In India.
I had written a longish poem called by the same name while traveling and the book is simply drowning in gorgeous imagery, as well as a heavily exoticizing perspective (which of course won't do in our pretended world of equality). Politically correct or no, it is lovely, and so I am planning to translate excerpts of it into English and use that to make the chapbook of its own not only a mite more reasonably plump, but also, I hope, more intriguing.
I am immensely grateful to everyone who has read and/or responded to this blog over the course of its existence. I am even grateful to those who had what might be viewed as negative reactions. I undertook this for a variety of reasons, some of which were well-served - such as getting over my terror of this sort of publishing format - and others of which were dealt with in unexpected ways. I can't honestly say that I anticipate ever sharing poetry and prose of this sort on a blog again, but it also made me realize that if I am sure of my vocation as a writer, then I need to be sure I will have to endure failure in the public eye.
As always, feel free to post comments here, or to accost me in the real world and tell me what you think.
Pax et caritas.
O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art, music, and poetry to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
