NOTES FROM THE ROAD

"Before I left this country I became afflicted with so many labels that I became invisible unto myself. I had to go away someplace and get rid of all these labels, to find not what I was but who. It was a very simple matter, important to me at least, to say I am going this way and only death will stop me. I want to live life, the only life I have, in the sight of God."
---- James Baldwin, Writer's Week, NPR

Know that I am here. And I am well. Time moves expediently when there are children and other lives on the vine. New poems are coming. Quickly. And I must dwell in the authentic spaces of my soul to hear and record what is being sent. Amid the flurry of activity there is my book, ready for it's official launch into the world. Here again are the contractions, the womb and the baby saying Yes, now we are ready. Let us move in this together. I shall thrust and you shall push and together we will make a grand entrance. There is the pain of knowing that the time of dwelling together, solely, has passed; the questions about whether this child will find its own way, the right way and how it will be received into the world. There is the angst of knowing that no matter how much effort you've put in, there will still be naysayers to disqualify your efforts. And there is nothing that can be done about that. There is the satisfaction of having had and established one's own voice; having created some body of work to say, Here is what I am. Here is what I believe, Here are the matters closest to my heart. And there is the invigoration that comes in the knowing that one's spirit shall indeed dwell forever by the mere writing of words. Click on the main page for details of the grand entrance.

Summer has served me well. I have given myself and my children and my spouse the rest and relaxation we all needed. We have laid lazily about the shore, played foolish games with twenty five cent tokens, ridden bumper cars and ferris wheels and dripped ice cream along our chins. I have produced more poems (perfect for summer) and another short story is coming. I'm hoping to examine that irrevocable, magnetic attraction that can occur between two people; that tragic attraction that leads absolutely nowhere from the very beginning; that feeling of being "caught up," and "spinning out of control." I hope to examine the forbidden side; the dangers and the powers of love and attraction. The charachters, male and female, are black and white, both married but irrevocably attracted to each other within one brief moment. Having experienced that kind of tragic, almost magnetic attraction, I'm intrigued by it and want to examine it further.

The novel. The baby of the family. She is moving right along. Incredibly patient during the month of August when I had to set her aside. But she and I both know that we are okay; we have been together for quite some time and we know each other well now. I do give her my attention every day, though not in the volume I'd like but once I get past the release party and my signings and a course I'll be teaching next month called Inside Out: Writing and the Creative Process, I think I'll be able to make headway. I'll post all of my events on the Upcoming Events page.
The goal is to finish by the end of the school year. Will I make it? I don't know. Novels are great big things, especially if one wants to get into the "deep structure," about which Toni Morrison says:

"Plots are interesting, charachters are fascinating, scenery can be totally enveloping but the real art is the deep structure; the way that information is revealed and witheld so that the reader gets to find out things appropriately, or in a time frame that makes it an intimate experience."

So, know that I am well. And all is moving forward as it should and shall be.

Namaste.

ANGEL