Five children, ages four through nine, are spazzing out in my house at the moment. My two oldest sons reciprocated sleepover invitations last night, so we added two kids to the usual Friday night mix. The event went pretty well. Videogames, sports cards, and dart guns go a long way towards entertaining these guys. They also caught part of the Bucks game, but no one seemed to want to hang out and watch television with so much stimuli available, so M and I watched “The Office” while the kids owned the second floor. I thought about driving into work (forgot to water the plants, dammit), but I decided against the ride and hung out at home instead. I read the first thirty pages of Harrison’s “Nova Swing” (excellent so far), slept a little, then snagged a blanket and my mp3 player and hit the corner rocking chair. I listened to some Vic Chesnutt and Stars of the Lid while looking through some poetry books. I like Kooser’s poetry repair manual. I like the fact that he makes it clear right off the bat that you’re not going to make any money from poetry, that you’re not going to get famous, and that critics’ perceptions don’t matter much. I work with English professors, thank you, and I can support that assertion. In turn, I felt validated in my desire to work through poetry on a different level than twenty years ago. My vision, if you will, would including writing thirty to fifty solid poems or so by next spring or summer, print up maybe 100 copies into a small book, and send them out to my friends, free or charge. That’s it. Life is short. I don’t care about getting published. Anyway, I took a slew of notes that could turn out into poems later then fell asleep on the couch without drinking. Not a bad night. I’m really fascinated by the question, “What do I want to say?” before I sit down and work through poetry. I used to sort of wait for the words to pour out. I like the idea of controlling the flow, of tailoring it towards what I want to get across.

Anyway, I also framed four Italy photos (LaVerna, the Assisi piazza, a shot of Assisi from the edge of town, and the Colosseum). I'd post a couple pics here, but blogger's running slow. I'll add them in a couple hours. I also framed a huge new Redon poster I snagged from the MOMA site for two bucks, plus four bucks postage! Can't lose. I rearranged some posters on the dining room wall, and I think they look pretty good.

Shadow and I walked through downtown this morning. I’ll write more later, when the space is quiet.