It's been an interesting journey so far. I was trying to describe the feeling of collecting all of my work over the years, organizing it, and putting it in a "safe place" to my son, Matt. To tell the truth, words failed me, but the whole exercise is and has been very cathartic. It's like spring cleaning, times ten...or maybe a hundred. (I have a lot of poems, LOL.) Perhaps it's similar to an artist having a piece of his art mounted, framed, and hung...but I'm not sure that's quite it either, as I've never felt like this about having my individual poems and books published.
I don't know; there's something about the cumulative nature of this collection and its completeness that appeals to me––and the artistic license too, in a way. Having things completely your way is never really possible in a book because you're always constrained to a degree, either by the publisher or the bottom line. There is no "bottom line" on the internet! Of course, I am constrained by the availability of free clipart! So you can't win, right?
One thing I do have total control of, though (and I LOVE total control), is what will go on the site and what will not. I'm getting to create, piece by piece, a home for my body of work, my creations. Hey, that's what it is...I am getting to make a home for my poetic progeny. Seriously! I just figured it out. (Blog=free therapy session.) Didn't I say in my last post that keeping the people (and I'm now adding, poems) I love "safe" is one of my three greatest obsessions? And now they're all going to be under one roof...the published with the unpublished! What could be better?
Nothing, of course, but equally interesting has been reading over poems I haven't seen for years and savoring all the memories that go with them. I guess you could say I've been getting in touch with the various incarnations of myself...from young wife, to new mother, to harried soccer (basketball) mom, to the oft dreaded role as mother of teens, to the even more frequently dreaded (unfairly so, I've come to believe) "empty nest" mom, to the veritable plum of the mom experience: grandmothering. All I can say is, it's been quite a trip.
I've also been able to get in touch with life experiences that have nothing at all to do with mothering. (Yes, these really do exist!) Spiritual experiences, health challenges, emotional growing pains, psychological struggles, evolving relationships...all are implicit in these poems, some of which I am not even putting on the site because they are too personal, but most of which I am happy to share.
Anway, thanks for the free "session." You can check the site out at susannoyesandersonpoems.com. (I have my own domain now, so you don't need to put the "homestead" in anymore.) There are over 100 poems on there already. All under one roof. =)
1 comment:
It sounds like a cool experience for you and I can somewhat relate I feel like that when I get all my photos put into a book and I can flip through them once they are organized and recall different times in my life and my kids life that is why I like pictures and having them organized into an album is that much better. Anyways...I love that we (your family) can also have access to all you talent. Thanks!
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