Directions to the Palace: Seek out Giacometti’s “The Palace at 4 a.m.” Go back precisely two hours. See towers and curtain walls of matchsticks, marble, marbles, light, cloud at stasis. Walk in. The beggar queen is dreaming on her throne of words… Welcome. You have arrived at the web home of Marly Youmans, maker of novels, poetry collections, and stories, as well as the occasional fantasy for younger readers.
Once a colleague said, “What does the world need with another poem?” It stopped me cold for a year. But I had a burning need for beautiful uselessness.
Tonight I start the "first pass" read of The Throne of Psyche.
Nevertheless, he was a beloved colleague and taught poetry--he was also rather sassy and funny! Somehow that didn't make any difference, though.
The good side was that I discovered that I really can't (or don't?) exist without writing, and so I started writing stories in that year. And that has led to many adventures.
Well, W. C. Williams was a doctor who knew the value of an aspirin or a dose of penicillin, and he still claimed that men were dying every day for lack of what is found in poems.
4 comments:
Certainly, it must not have been a poet colleague. Any writer worth her salt knows the world can never have its fill of poetry.
Hi there, Elsa Louise--
Nevertheless, he was a beloved colleague and taught poetry--he was also rather sassy and funny! Somehow that didn't make any difference, though.
The good side was that I discovered that I really can't (or don't?) exist without writing, and so I started writing stories in that year. And that has led to many adventures.
Yes. Beautiful uselessness. But aside from a wrench or a blender, all those supposedly useful things are worth no more and probably less than a poem.
Well, W. C. Williams was a doctor who knew the value of an aspirin or a dose of penicillin, and he still claimed that men were dying every day for lack of what is found in poems.
So it's a funny thing, isn't it?
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