a small update
May. 12th, 2003 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheLet's see.
I've registered with two temp agencies, but no placements as of yet. One did call me this morning at 8:30, hoping I could be an emergency replacement for someone who was unable to make their assignment, but I had no transportation today, so I had to decline.
I'm reading a lot about the mechanics of poetry, to supplement my regimen of writing. This is helping a lot. I find I'm writing more in meter, which is strange, but it's such a departure from my normal style that I feel compelled to keep doing it, just to see how it might contribute to my work.
There was a very cool want ad in yesterday's paper. Apparently a local library is looking for a circulation clerk, which I used to be about a decade ago. It's a salaried, full-time position, so all I need to do is fill out one of their applications before the deadline next week. (I'd hoped to fill it out online, but found out that their apps only exist at their branches.) Just thinking about applying to this job excites me.
Two nights ago, I had what I can only describe as an astral projection experience. It occurred at the tail end of a dream sequence. Near the end of the dream, I found myself going through a scene I'd already "lived" through, which triggered some sort of self-recognition (though I didn't thoroughly realize that I was dreaming). I exited the building where this scene took place and found that I needed to cross a road. Unfortunately, this road was populated with scores of blond women wearing royal blue outfits; they had to have been clones. This was very frightening, or at least daunting. Then I realized that I didn't need to wade through them: I could simply rise above them--that is, fly. And I started to rise. Part of me was focused on my breath, and at one point I noticed that I'd taken a stuttered breath, and I worried that this would somehow change what was going on. So, I started following my chain of breath, and once I reached the exhalation of that weird breath, I had the distinct sensation of materializing in my bed. I was staring at the wall of my bedroom, awake. My immediate thought/sensation was, "This is wrong." My heartrate was very fast and very pronounced. And I knew, upon waking, that my breathing in my "dream" was how I was really breathing. So, I have to believe that my unconscious self was doing something that I consciously would not have been able to achieve.
In other news, I haven't smoked any illegal substances in nearly a month. I'm hoping to clear out my system, in case I apply for a good job and would be required to take a drug test. And my DXM intake is now once every 10-14 days, which is quite an accomplishment, considering how often I was taking it not even six months ago.
I've registered with two temp agencies, but no placements as of yet. One did call me this morning at 8:30, hoping I could be an emergency replacement for someone who was unable to make their assignment, but I had no transportation today, so I had to decline.
I'm reading a lot about the mechanics of poetry, to supplement my regimen of writing. This is helping a lot. I find I'm writing more in meter, which is strange, but it's such a departure from my normal style that I feel compelled to keep doing it, just to see how it might contribute to my work.
There was a very cool want ad in yesterday's paper. Apparently a local library is looking for a circulation clerk, which I used to be about a decade ago. It's a salaried, full-time position, so all I need to do is fill out one of their applications before the deadline next week. (I'd hoped to fill it out online, but found out that their apps only exist at their branches.) Just thinking about applying to this job excites me.
Two nights ago, I had what I can only describe as an astral projection experience. It occurred at the tail end of a dream sequence. Near the end of the dream, I found myself going through a scene I'd already "lived" through, which triggered some sort of self-recognition (though I didn't thoroughly realize that I was dreaming). I exited the building where this scene took place and found that I needed to cross a road. Unfortunately, this road was populated with scores of blond women wearing royal blue outfits; they had to have been clones. This was very frightening, or at least daunting. Then I realized that I didn't need to wade through them: I could simply rise above them--that is, fly. And I started to rise. Part of me was focused on my breath, and at one point I noticed that I'd taken a stuttered breath, and I worried that this would somehow change what was going on. So, I started following my chain of breath, and once I reached the exhalation of that weird breath, I had the distinct sensation of materializing in my bed. I was staring at the wall of my bedroom, awake. My immediate thought/sensation was, "This is wrong." My heartrate was very fast and very pronounced. And I knew, upon waking, that my breathing in my "dream" was how I was really breathing. So, I have to believe that my unconscious self was doing something that I consciously would not have been able to achieve.
In other news, I haven't smoked any illegal substances in nearly a month. I'm hoping to clear out my system, in case I apply for a good job and would be required to take a drug test. And my DXM intake is now once every 10-14 days, which is quite an accomplishment, considering how often I was taking it not even six months ago.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-12 10:10 pm (UTC)...I've been thinking of picking some things up, but it's hard to tell what's good by a name.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-15 04:55 pm (UTC)The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux is very good. It's a down-to-earth manual for poets by two poets. (I've read their poetry; I really appreciate their style.)
The two mechanics books I have out now are A Poet's Guide to Poetry by Mary Kinzie and Sound and Form in Modern Poetry (a deceptive title, as the book was published in the late '50s) by Harvey Gross. The Kinzie is a bit beyond me at the moment: the book is loaded with very technical terms. But at least it is comprehensive and includes an extensive anthology. The Gross may be a bit dry, but it's been illuminating as to the intrinsic role sound and rhythm play in poetry. I've learned quite a bit perusing that volume.
Other books I've come across are Making Your Own Days: The Pleasures of Reading and Writing Poetry by Kenneth Koch, On the Poet and His Craft: Selected Prose of Theodore Roethke (edited by Ralph J. Mills, Jr.), and A Poetry of Two Minds by Sherod Santos. The Koch is fairly good, as it talks about the intimate process of all that is entailed when writing a poem, the difficulties and so forth. The essays by Roethke were very interesting; I read the entire book in about a day. The Santos seems like a book I would have come across in a college course, which is not to say that it is dry or uninteresting; quite the contrary. It's very theoretical about the psychological processes involved when poetry is produced.
So, yeah, there you have it. :) If none else, definitely pick up the Addonizio/Laux book. It will almost certainly help you, give you encouragement, bolster your spirits and your verse.
Re:
Date: 2003-05-15 05:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-13 07:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-15 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-13 08:35 am (UTC)Who needs to smoke when your dreams can be this good? What is DXM please?
Good luck with the job hunt - hope it doesn't impair your poetry production too much.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-15 05:00 pm (UTC)DXM is my favorite drug. It's an anaesthetic dissociative, in the same family of drugs as nitrous oxide and ketamine. It's looked down upon by many other drug users because it's generally found in cough suppressants. From what I understand, it's harder to find in England than it is in the States. I've been using DXM for almost two years now. Sometimes I use low doses of it to suppress the logic centers in my brain temporarily, so that the more associative, imaginative side can come out and pour something onto the page.
You can find out more about DXM at <a href="http://www.erowid.org>erowid.org</a>. There's <b>lots</b> of information there.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-14 10:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-15 05:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-15 05:13 pm (UTC)