Thesis Semester Begins

So I've been slacking on my blogger duties. I've been in Murray for five days now. It is officially the beginning of my thesis semester. As proof, I have the Murray Poetry Muse. He's got to be the creepiest doll ever, but I am thrilled to have him, because of what he stands for. Thesis semester. And the idea that there are scarier things than revision. Meaning: him. And I think I'm really going to need that reminder as I thrust myself into creating my thesis manuscript, where I have to have so many poems, and those poems have to be really great, and I have to arrange them in a certain order that I must discover and that makes sense as a book so that they all work together, and I must give that book a title, and then I must defend that book. And that's really only explaining half of what I have to do.

But I'm trying to stay calm, because panic would be too easy to slip into and nothing would get done.

Today's workshop really helped me out with that. Last night, Blas assigned me a poem to write, and he gave me a list of things I could and could not do in that poem. Basically, it had to be a fifteen line poem, short lines, all lines enjambed, it had to make jumps every three lines, it couldn't be funny, angry, or romantic, and it had to be an address to someone. In short, he gave me restrictions so that I wouldn't fall back on my old tricks and rely on them, because I typically write long, free verse poems with long lines. So I wrote a draft, took it to my friends, and they were like, no, this isn't it, trash this, and look at this poem, and write better jumps. So I did. Looking at the poem just on the page, without reading it, it looks radically different than anything I've ever written.

So I took it to workshop today, turned it in, and something magical happened: Blas told me that he didn't have any critiques, that it was done, and that, if he still worked on his magazine, he'd want it right then. Not only that, but the other people in my workshop also only had praise. Which was just amazing. I could feel myself grinning ridiculously most of the day. I was on Cloud 9.

After that, I met with Blas to discuss my goals and target dates for my thesis packet, and he told me to consider my thesis as a chapbook, that he wants me to send it out as soon as my thesis is complete as a chapbook, to a contest, get it published, and let my first published work be a chapbook. I hadn't really considered that route before, as I, like most people, have longed for a book with a spine, but I think I am okay with this idea. I think it's going to work for me and my work, particularly considering that it's a bit on the small side right now, and I can always try to go for a book later.

Anyway, the week has already been great, I'm thrilled to be with friends and mentors again, and I am looking forward to the rest of the week immensely. Well, except for the poem that I have to write tonight, which is basically in the same set of rules, except that it now has to be in sequence form. My brain is just like, I gave you something great last night, and now you're asking more of me?

But I have the Muse propped up on my little table in my room, right next to my computer, and I take glances at him as I feel myself trying to crawl away for a nap. I'm going to write this poem, and it's going to be good too.

I hope.