The Saga Continues into Fall

Since last post I have been studying. I aced summer school yippee!) and cannonballed into fall semester with five classes. It took about three weeks (and a 66 on an ethics quiz) to determine that five classes and full-time employment are like olive oil and water, they just don't mix. I dropped my linguistics class and all is well again.

Next semester I will take the linguistics class, literature, an introduction to fiction writing advanced poetry writing with Dorianne Laux. Since August I've been fortunate enough to study with Dorianne. if you don't know her, I would suggest a Google search. What I have learned from Dorianne is that you can throw a brick and hit a poet (seems everyone is looking to connect with their inner self), to write fearlessly, you can use the "f" word and get away with it, that writers simply must write and rewrite. I've learned that the poetry of Matthew Dickman rocks and that it is within my reach.

Adult Education 101

I managed to get through summer school with flying colors. I took two poetry classes. One was poetry as literature and the other was a beginning poetry writing workshop. Both classes were taught by Christopher Salerno. I pretty much enjoy all types of poetry but I spent a good part of my summer studying the romantics and came to the understanding that I need to be reading more modern poets. My favorite new poet is Matthew Dickman and his first book "All American Poem" arrived yesterday from Barnes & Noble.

This summer I also took a Shakespeare class during the second summer session. We studied seven of the tragedies and comedies in five weeks. You should be impressed as Hamlet has four thousand lines. I thought I might go insane by the end of it all. Tomorrow my family and I are going to see my Shakespeare instructor in "The Merchant of Venice."