On Creating Art

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...