Taking the Orchid with Me

The graceful purple orchid on the small table in the Artist in Resident's Office that I've called mine for the past nine weeks has no idea that it's about to change environments. It has become accustomed to the diffuse northern light bouncing off the ocean, the glittering sand, and the floor-to-ceiling windows of the handsome condos next door. The orchid doesn't know that its situation has been only temporary—but I do, which has allowed me to appreciate my precious time here all the more.

I leave this beautiful place with tremendous gratitude, a sense of accomplishment—not to mention love and wonder—and an even deeper commitment to poetry. Part of my agreement in accepting this residency was "to complete or make significant progress" on a chapbook of poems, tentatively titled "Fugue for a New Life," a project that I had only just begun in the spring of 2016. I wasn't sure I could actually compile an entire manuscript of 20 poems during my tenure as writer in residence, but I was confident that within this bright and solitary office with the ocean in constant eye shot, I could at least make significant progress toward it.

Once I arrived at the Beach House I began drafting new poems immediately, yet the thought that I could actually compile enough work to constitute a chapbook (typically 20–32 pages) seemed daunting, since I tend to work fairly slowly, revising quite a bit before being able to say a poem is finished. Then, when I began to organize my solo reading to be held at the Beach House February 21, my perspective began to shift. "Fugue for a New Life" is a collection of love poems as seen through the various lenses of art, music, science, and "the art of listening." Recognizing these interwoven themes allowed me to look at how some of my earlier, published poems related to others. It also gave me new ideas for substantially revising some unpublished work. Becoming aware of the various resonances within and between poems allowed me to organize the reading, as well as the manuscript itself, in a more organic way, irrespective of when each poem was written.


I still thought I might fall short of my goal of completing the chapbook, but I just kept going anyway, without being concerned about how many poems I had, since I was clearly making "significant progress." Then, in the last two weeks, as the poems began to come more easily and I was able to see how they fit with the whole, I decided to count them, and Voila!, I had the requisite twenty.

So it is with great delight and gratitude that I can hold up my manuscript, "Fugue to a New Life," as the product of one of the most fruitful periods of writing I have ever experienced. Thank you, Annenberg Community Beach House, and thank you deep blue sea of poetry, for giving me this extraordinary opportunity! And yes, I'm taking the orchid with me.