#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Charles River Morning

Thus it is for all of us who read poems, who become the secret addressees of literary texts. I am at home in the middle of the night and suddenly hear myself being called, as if by name. I go over and take down the book—the message in the bottle—because tonight I am its recipient, its posterity, its heartland.

~ Edward Hirsch, How To Read A Poem and Fall In Love With Poetry

It’s whiplash weather, another day of thaw, but not rain, and still, very drippy and moist everywhere. Mostly, I found this pleasant, on foot in my already wet boots and wetter they became. River ice is melting, leaving strange figures to contemplate in dark matter. I am thinking about the poem Tom urged me to read and read again and study as I work on my Montreal poem; I read it before my walk a few times. And I am happy to have this inspiration to consider. I’ve loved the quote by Edward Hirsch about the message in the bottle for many years. Today, I share it, because I received an out-of-the-blue e-mail Sunday from another poet who had stumbled across my group of poems published in Palooka (http://palookamag.com/issue10) last spring and she just had to tell me how much she appreciated them. And how they had inspired her to get writing poems again. And this was very touching, very satisfying to me, to feel that she had received my “message in a bottle.” I looked up some of her poems in journals and learned about her, wrote her, and today heard back from her. She lives in Florida and I hope to meet her in person when I go this winter. Her message was one I needed to hear when she sent it. I have a short, lyrical narrative piece being published in Memoryhouse soon. They sent it to me today suggesting a few edits.I accepted them. I wrote it over a year ago; I’m glad it has found this home. My message in a bottle.