Today is the birthday of one of my favourite American poets – Louise Glück. Happy 77th birthday, Louise! But it’s also the anniversary of the death of another of my favourite American poets, Jane Kenyon. So a day for curling up and rereading, methinks.
Your writing exercise today is based on the title poem from Louise Glück’s 1999 collection, Vita Nova. It’s full of glorious lines, but for today I want you to concentrate on the last line:
it is still spring, it is still meant tenderly.
I know, the weather here is anything but spring-like. (But it will return, I’m almost certain!) However. Your task today is to write a new poem which uses all of the words of that line, with at least two words from that line occurring in every line of yours.
As with any exercise, the point is simply to give you somewhere to start, and something to lean against. So walk around, saying the line to yourself. Feel the words on your tongue. Think about them, and what they might mean, and how they might redirect you. So be open and curious. See where they take you.
A Dark Feathered Art 