Category: Writing

Writing about writing, autobiography, cross posting selected work from other places.

The first two weeks of the year were spent organizing for writing. The process is to locate and engage with source material, then methodically go through it. Once sorted, I decide whether it serves my current writing. If it is for the autobiography, it goes into the outline for placement and the writing. I spent the last couple of days with my postcard collection.

Time with the collection was enjoyable. My spouse is visiting her sister for a few days, so I could spread out and work in spells. I savor the remembrances evoked by these mass-produced works of art. I stuck a postcard Father sent me in 1962 on my bulletin board.

Easily half of the cards can be given away or shredded for garden compost. I put those in a separate box. Many were purchased at auctions and thrift stores. I bought some in a fit of collection fever. Not many of them have any intrinsic value beyond my interest.

A stack was postcards sent to me. Those have a place in my working binders where they will be sorted by date. I picked a couple out to pin on bulletin boards. Some went into related books, and most of what remains will get tucked away until the next round of use. When there are hundreds, it is hard to pick a couple for varied uses.

I favor sending friends note cards in envelopes these days. I have a roll of forever postcard stamps, yet I’d rather keep most messages private. It is a sign of the times that I no longer send or receive many postcards. The ones I set aside from the collection should yield some decent daily drafts.

I read the entire double-spaced, 336-page manuscript. While this took a while, it was essential to understanding where I am in the narrative. I’m ready to proceed with a daily writing goal and get started. There are still a couple of months of winter remaining.

Tags #amwriting, autobiography, Writing

Writing

Maple Tree

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 13, 2023

I bud with the maple tree
     in Spring.

For as insignificant as we seem,
     come summer,
     we shall grow, and develop...
     make manifest our promise

Come first frost
     our colors will change
     and beauteous become our pigmentation,
     as experience will become this adult body
     into which I've settled.

So as our days are spent,
     whether as bud or as autumn leaf,
     we bring our ideas to fruition.

And despite the promise of this Spring,
     I regret
     that all I have now
     is this bud
     on a maple tree that needs pruning,
     in a yard someone else landscaped.

~ In the 1980s

Tags #amwriting, Poetry, Writing

Writing

Improvisation for Jacque

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 12, 2023

Basement blues
Typewriter table
Steamer trunk
William Carlos Williams

From driftwood
and childhood

   I made a lamp

From German wood
and found wood

   I made a table

Basement blues
Typewriter table
Steamer trunk
William Carlos Williams

Pack up those basement blues
in the steamer trunk
and sit with
William Carlos Williams and me
at the typewriter table and we'll light

   Our whole world.

~ May 28, 1983

Tags #amwriting, Poetry, Writing

Writing

A Mouse Chased its Tail

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 11, 2023

As a mouse chased its tail around in circles.

A game of Monopoly unfolds:
Mediterranean, Baltic, Ventner, Marvin Gardens.

A buffoon in scholarly robes
says
Life is one big Monopoly game.

Simon, 
in abstinence from intoxicants,
says
No, it's not.
Life is what you perceive it to be.

As a mouse chases its tail around in circles.

~ Walling Court, 1974

Tags #amwriting, Poetry, Writing

Writing

First Dinner Guests

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 10, 2023

Music was in the air
on Taylor Drive.

Songs of California in Iowa, 
west meeting center
on Taylor Drive,
a development
risen from corn fields.

We played music,
mixed wild and brown rice
with Esther's asparagus.

Talk about dawn and beginnings
hand-pushed versus power mowers
and wedding photographs
blending into the night.

First guests,
with wine from France
a rosé for our gustation.

~ Spring 1983

Tags #amwriting, Poetry, Writing

Writing

Moving Iris

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 8, 2023

Purple tips of Iris emerge
     from among green swords
     oscillating
               in wind too strong for blooms.

We'll move the root stock
     to a sheltering place
     past the Lilac hedge
               where grackles browse...

Mix soil with bone meal
     and decaying manure
     a bed for bulbs
               beneath mulch and wind.

We should get this done
     when the blossoms fade
     before distraction comes
               with summer's calm.

~ Spring 1996

Tags #amwriting, Poetry, Writing

Writing

Fragment

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 5, 2023

A Greyhound Bus leaves the Chicago Terminal several times a day and routinely rolls across the Mississippi River, the Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountains to its destination in the Golden State.

Just as frequently, a bus leaves Los Angeles and in silent recognition the drivers pass and wave. Partners conveying anonymous individuals.

In Iowa we see these buses and occasionally ride them laden with food and gifts, but mostly we dream a little about the places they are going and then return to more immediate business.

After business comes a drink and the sleep that is so sweet in Iowa, while buses move on to the blackness of Chicago and the setting sun of the Golden State.

~ Summer 1974

Tags #amwriting, Prose, Writing

Writing

Improvisation

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 4, 2023

We must be free
to follow our
search for knowledge
wherever it may lead us.

Without regard for
what people say,
without regard for
what already exists.

Though it be
a long, lonely road,
we must go
alone,
yet in
communion with
the many who have set out
like us.

Though we will be alone,
we will also be in
the best company.

~ Summer 1983

Tags #amwriting, Poetry, Writing

Writing

Retooling for the Future

Post author By Paul Deaton
Post date January 1, 2023

As the new year begins, I’m retooling how I write here. The main goal is improved content related to society beyond the geographical confines of Big Grove Township.

While I need a place to journal, this isn’t it. There are too many concerns about what I say in public to make it as useful a venue as I need. I’m using a Moleskine plain notebook for journaling.

There has been clear interest in my experiences in aging. More people are living longer and how septuagenarians will live going forward is an unwritten book. I can write part of it.

My attitude about local food and food preparation is changing. There will be posts about that.

Even though Iowa’s politics has gotten increasingly conservative, there will be new things to say about it. Not all of them will be positive. I expect to evolve from being an advocate for a candidate or particular idea to something else. My destination is presently unknown.

Local politics has been one of the most popular topics for this blog. Specifically, no one is adequately covering the school board or its elections and we have another coming up this year. Because it has been one of the most popular topics, I plan to do more during the coming election.

My posting may be a bit irregular for a while. As I work through the retooling, I hope you’ll stay with me. I believe the writing will get better in 2023.

Tags #amwriting, Writing