In 1980, after my divorce, I decided to study creative writing for the first time, and I took an excellent course through UCLA Extension. I enjoyed the class, but I was nervous about one of its main requirements: that you submit a 5000+ word story to the rest of the class for their critique. I vividly recall how brutal the comments of my fellow students seemed, and how surprised I was when the teacher took me aside and said: "I think they liked it."
Recently, in preparation for this blog, I have been doing a different kind of studying with my friend Cathy Wild, who is a writer, an artist, a counselor and a creativity expert, among other things. When Cathy critiques a poem of mine, she won't let me settle for "good enough." She forces me to continue to look at how to make whatever I'm working on better, until I can't make it better any more. The following poem, which began as a simple note about a fun fact*, went through several drafts. You will have to decide for yourself whether or not I can continue to make it better.
PUCE
Puce.
I know I'm no good with colors,
Couldn't describe a one of them,
So a blind man could understand.
Only
The deep purple-brown of your lips
Comes alive for me
Shimmering in the dark.
When
I kiss you, my lips become puce.
It is as though I've fed
Upon your blood.
And
It comes to me:
Puce is the color fleas leave.
Why couldn't I think of that before?
*Puce is the French word for flea; ma puce is a term of endearment. I guess you have to be French...
A blog about all the arts, including politics
"for 'twere absurd to think that nature in the earth bred gold, perfect in the instant;
there must be remote matter." - Ben Jonson
"I don't know what the question is, but art is the answer." - Guy Conner
