My #onelittleword for 2023 is perspective. I found the word on the 12th day of my Winter Solstice writing challenge when I encountered the poem Winter Twilight by Anne Porter. The delicious imagery of this jewel of a poem shouted that word into my brain and immediately that was all I could write about in my journal that day and another and another. Clearly when one word inspired multiple journal posts then that must be your guiding word, but still I kept looking. I had never had a word delivered to me so easily before in all my years of choosing a #OLW and, let’s be honest, perspective contained none of the crackle and sizzle of my 2022 word: spark. I adore that word.
While I did not spend much of 2022 consciously thinking about my #OLW spark or the poems that inspired its selection (Spark of the Sky Stag’s Great Heart by Sarah Messer and Fireflies by Fred Chappell), I did live up to the word far more than I have in past years. I wrote last year that I hoped to spark more joy in my life and my work and the fact that I am entering 2023 with excitement and anticipation and can look back at 2022 knowing I sparked joy in myself, in my students, and in my fellow travelers tells me that I chose the right word for 2022.
I was still struggling with the idea of perspective when I read the NYT headline: Poetry Died 100 Years Ago This Month and realized that was a sign, an important message from the universe, that I needed to embrace perspective for 2023 because this word’s importance is underscored over and over by poetry and the very real role that poetry has played in my life in 2022. In last year’s #OLW post I wrote:
“There will be more poetry in 2022 in my composition classes and in my National Writing project work to spark both inspiration and joy.”
Spark: My #OLW for 2022
And my composition classes were filled with poetry. Poetry I shared, poetry I wrote, and poetry written by students. The Morehead Writing Project hosted two virtual writing marathons celebrating Kentucky’s rich poetic traditions and offered a slow writing marathon: Small Poems, Great Writers in Spring 2022 and will soon kick off its 2023 iteration. The JustWrite Virtual Writing Group is inspired by poetry every week as we write together, participated in the Small Poems, Great Writers marathon and published our own anthology as a result, and then leapt into the 2022 Lexington Poetry Month with a passion. I created my third poetic advent calendar this year with Winter Solstice writing challenge which brought me still more poetry. All of which brings me full circle to Anne Porter’s Winter Twilight. This delightful 2006 poem challenged me to think about my life and my purpose even as I contemplated the vivid image evoked by her carefully crafted poem.
Considering the definitions of perspective makes it a wonderful fit for both my life and for 2023:
Perspective: the ability to understand which things are truly important and which things are not
Britannica
In last year’s #OLW post I determined to choose a poem as well as a word to guide my year and in the end selected a pair of poems. For 2023 I will again choose a pair: Winter Twilight of course but also Tell all the truth but tell it slant — (1263) by Emily Dickinson because that poem guided so much of the work for my Fall 2022 composition classes and continues to live on as an important guide. I am striving to live my truth and tell my truth but recognize that I must also adopt the proper perspective to prevent my head (and that of others) from exploding. As Porter tells us that we must both attend to our nest and aim for the moon, Dickinson directs us to dazzle gradually for fear of blinding ourselves and others. I am as prepared for 2023 as anyone can be with my #OLW and mentor poems. No, poetry is not dead nor dying, poetry is alive and well and guiding so many of us to be better humans, writers, and critical thinkers. Of all the human institutions I worry about, poetry is not among them and poetry is one force I know I can trust to make 2023 better no matter what else the universe delivers to us. Have you chosen your #OLW and mentor poem for 2023?
Note: This is the latest in a long line of #OLW chosen to guide my year: see 2022: Spark, 2021: Resist, 2020: Heal, 2019: Connect, 2018: Question, 2017: Light, 2016: Cool, and 2015: Simplicity
Image by Bingo Naranjo from Pixabay
Have you heard or seen anything about the AI use of artists and writers work without their permission? What do you think about this approach for use computers by students or want-to-be creative people?
I have heard about it but can’t work up a lot of energy to worry about it. I wrote a bit about it just this morning in an update to a previous blog post (Did you ever think it might be the assignment?).