So. The time has come for us to disband this Fellowship of the Booking. No, I did not accomplish my goal of getting a chapbook published within a year. Although there are definitely other things I want in this life, and for now they’re taking priority, the hope still remains to publish a chapbook or a full-length collection of poems. I don’t view this as a failure. Just a longer road.

Crossroads

But like Frodo and his company, I must decide which road to take from here. Do I take my poems to Minas Tirith and have them spiral bound and call it self-published? Do I abandon the road and become a Nihilist chain smoker in a basement in Prague? Or do I steal away with one of the elven boats, and continue to send manuscripts out to publishers? Or is there yet another way, unforeseen by this humble servant of words?

Changes

From time to time I think of the final words of Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Archaic Torso of Apollo:” “You must change your life.”  The poem, which is mostly an awe-struck description of an ancient piece of art, suggests that there may be experiences and occasions that require one to change their life. Similarly, in Joseph Campbell’s theory of the Monomyth, even though a hero has returned home from his quest, he’s not really the same, nor is his home.

After this project, how should my life change? How should my poetry change?

Mostly after all this, I think the point was hammered home, again and again, that if I want to do something I need to give time to it. So I hope that will be the change: that I will set aside all the wastes of time and create time to create.

To Be Continued

As long as there is strength left, will you join me?