Today was definitely overload day. After another energetic and fulfilling morning of workshopping, I ended lunch by having a long conversation with the workshop leader, Marilyn Nelson. In the afternoon, I imbibed the bracing words of Barry Moser who, among other things, challenged us to give up the label “artist” and refer to ourselves by what it is that we do: painter, potter, writer, etc. Then it was a fascinating supper conversation with two Wheton faculty in which we talked about self-censorship and the work needed to address issues of “propriety” on a campus such as theirs. The evening was spent being stunned and delighted by a lecture by memoirist Lauren Winner. I can’t hope to adquately summarize a lecture that incorporated Paul, Hamlet, and Mr. Putter to examine Writing and Prayer. What I can do is repeat the idea that when Paul was praying in the jail cell, he wasn’t praying for a jail break; he wasn’t asking God to enter his story. Paul was praying to enter God’s story.

Amidst all this, my package of ales arrived. When I picked it up, I thought I smelt a whiff of something I shouldn’t. The package looked a bit worn. When I got it to my room, my fears escalated when upon opening the carton and the trash bag inside, I saw that the interior carton was soggy. Fortunately, there was only one fatality out of 12, and my careful packing meant that the damage was contained.

Tomorrow is the free day, and I have various ideas of what I am going to do, but no solid plans. We shall see.

Good night, lightning. Good night, thunder. Good night, window blinds that bang against the pane.

Into the groove. More workshopping. (this is a clapping group. rather odd.) More reading. Heard Valerie Sayers read a fantastic story about baseball. Ate more food. Pondered the reasons why God sends people to talk to me whom He knows annoy me. Continued work on combover poem. It’s very late, and my brain is now empty; the result of using it all day.

“Poets make the best killers.”

At least, that’s what Marilyn Nelson reported Tom Clancy saying in a workshop she had with him. Not sure what he meant by that, but it was an interesting comment on the first day of work on poems. We spent some good time on William Meredith’s “Jain Bird Hospital in Delhi” in which Meredith opens up the sestina form with some fascinating modifications of the repeated end words. One interesting string: prey / victims / pray / quarry. Another thought provoking thought was the transposition of the words “ahisma” and “nonviolence”, a move which highlights not only the inherent violence of any language translation but also the paradox of our English language to require the inclusion of “violence” to name the absence of it.

Of the many comments made through the discussion of the work of two poets, I was struck most by the idea that an event–in the case of our discussion, especially a painful or negative event–is an opportunity or a doorway through which to explore our experience. Rather than fixating on the wrong, the wrong is redeemed. Wondering how to make that real in my work.

After an afternoon of reading, commenting, and conversing, the evening session began with Greg Wolfe presenting his opening remarks which were meant to be given last night. The theme of this year’s workshop is “Fully Human.” Wolfe focused on the insidious Gnosticism that pervades our conception of God, beginning with this response to gnosticism by 2nd century theologian Irenaeus: The Glory of God is the human fully alive. Wolfe also raised the idea that we Christians often see the Incarnation as God DESCENDING to our level but the early church fathers saw the Incarnation rather as humanity being rasied/taken up into the Godhead. Now assume the ponder position.

The keynote address was delivered by Andy Crouch, author of a book with an interesting premise but which I have not read called Culture Making. He asked the squirming like an ant under a magnifying glass question, “Why are we not the creators we are meant to be?” Crouch offered 5 possibilities:

1. Distraction
2. Creativity is hard
3. A misguided egalitarian ethos in the church. (NOTE: He was not referring to egalitarianism as it refers to gender. Rather, an unwillingness to acknowledge excellence, to acknowledge that some people are simply better at some things than other people.
4. Fear of failure
5. The costliness of love

Obviously there were explanations and examples to flesh out this outline. I was struck, however, by Crouch’s reference to Paul in relation to the costliness of love. In 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Paul writes “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” The loving presentation of the Gospel is not just a sharing of the gospel but also the sharing of the humanity of the sharer. Again, you may now assume the ponder position.

And I, I am going to begin a poem about a combover.

Year 7 of Todd’s Glen experience. Had an uneventful travel day. The relationships built up over the past six years means that the first day is not the terrifying wandering about amidst strangers but rather it is a delightful discovery of which friends have been able to make it back.

At the opening remarks, it seemed that there were a very large number of new people, which bodes well for the program and for keeping things fresh. For the first time that I remember, there were some somber moments during the opening session as three Glen alum passed away this year, and we remembered them.

As of the evening session, the instructor for my poetry track had not yet arrived. Hopefully the weather in Dallas will clear in time for her to make it here and get some rest before the hard work starts tomorrow morning.