Category: Writing

Birds at the Feeders

~ plainswriter ~ 1 Comment

I’ve always liked birds, an admiration that I inherited from my mom. I’ve further cultivated that admiration from my time in South Dakota, Ohio, and now Texas.

Our house has a drainage area behind the back fence, and there are no houses for a good 500 feet (at least). There are tall weeds, grasses, and flowers, and as you would suspect, many different birds.

We hung up a feeder in the backyard, and we attracted a lot of cardinals, but also mockingbirds, white-tailed doves, sparrows, blue jays, and the occasional purple finches. The fence itself attracts birds, too, and we’ve even spotted some hawks. This winter we saw a western meadowlark. In the spring we had a few redwing blackbirds.

The Live Oak tree in our front yard has always had various birds in it, so in May I hung up a feeder from one of its lowest limbs. Our office windows face the tree, and so as I work at my desk, or work at the futon, I watch the various birds. I find it so relaxing, so hypnotizing.

Watching birds has become something of pastime, a way of daydreaming, a way of thinking through drafts and writing problems. I’ll sometimes watch for ten or fifteen minutes, absorbed in movements of their crafted bodies, regardless of the species.

Of course, I have my favorites: cardinals, purple finches, mockingbirds. Even as I sit on my back porch in the shade, a male cardinal perches on the side fence, and sings so loudly that it sounds amplified. And with the wind keeping me comfortable and blowing around the scent of ashing charcoal, I could sit here all afternoon.

The Rhythms of Reading and Writing

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I’ve commented here before about how I tend to write in the genres I am currently teaching. Although I’ve written for a long time, I’m still discovering things about my writing process, as well as about my writing and reading rhythms. Over the last weeks, I’ve been thinking and analyzing. What trends and tendencies are there? How might I make better use of my time, to write smarter, to read smarter?

One conclusion, after doing some close study, is that when I’m tired, fatigued, or experiencing difficulty concentrating, it’s much easier to write prose. Trying to write poetry, whether drafting or revising, is near impossible and most often futile at these times. I believe part of this is because I’m thinking less precisely on each word, as I tend to do in poetry. (Of course at the later stages of a prose piece, I am scrutinizing each word, but not so much in earlier drafts.)

For instance, a few autumn’s ago, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. each weekday morning to write, more specifically to write short fiction. With the music of Hammock in my ears, with the large mug of hot black coffee, I was ready to enter those fictional worlds. I could pick up where I left off the day before as I gradually awoke to the real and the made-up worlds.

With reading prose–whether novels, short stories, or creative nonfiction–I am also able to enter into the worlds without much difficulty. There’s no warm-up necessary. I resume the novel, the memoir, or start the next short story with relative ease.  Again, this characteristic is a likely result of the way I read poetry, with such close attention.

I suppose it sounds as though I am a “sloppy” prose reader, and when I’m tired, perhaps that’s true. With prose, however, I do focus on the individual sentence, reading just as much for how the writer uses language.

These conclusions are already helping me as both a reader and writer. Poetry is best when I most alert, most awake, which generally means the mornings. I want and need to interact with the poem in as coherent a state as possible. Prose is for any time.

When I have the desire to write but the flesh is weak, I know I can stumble my way through the sentences, wandering through the rooms of paragraphs, not concerned about the hallways, knowing that I can (and will) return when I am alert to renovate the house of prose into a coherent design.

What I’ve Been Listening To–5.30.16

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I’ve written a few times here about music, seeing as it is a major (pun intended) part of my life. In the last three weeks since my spring semester has finished, I’ve been writing a lot, and when I write prose (not poetry—there’s a post for some future time) I often listen to music. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been listening to in my earbuds, through my Bluetooth speaker, my living room stereo, the car stereo. 

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers—Moanin’

My favorite cut on this album is the title track. I can’t listen to this track without snapping my fingers, tapping my toes, or moving in my chair. The solos are extensive (as I prefer), and the piano solo is my favorite. It’s a song my daughter (age three) and I like to dance to. I definitely plan to delve more into Blakey’s catalog.

Coldplay—A Head Full of Dreams

This is one of the few musical artists (including Hammock) that the entire family agrees on, and with Ghost Stories not impressing me much, I was apprehensive about this album’s quality. But the family and I agree that this is a great album. My favorite tracks are “Everglow” and “Up & Up.” Lots of good piano on the album, which makes me happy.

Hammock—Everything and Nothing

While there’s rarely a day when I don’t listen to this wonderful duo, I have been listening to this newest album a lot. It’s equal to Departure Songs, my favorite album. There are more vocals, more guitars, more drums. It’s just beautiful. When I run outside in the early mornings (instead of at the gym), I let the beauty of this album play softly from my iPhone speakers.

Antonio Carlos Jobim—Wave

Perhaps the month of May, coming as it does after the end of the academic year, puts me in the mood for some laid-back music. (I’ve been a Jobim fan since high school when I discovered him via Stan Getz.) Wave has been in constant rotation. I put on the album for my six-year-old son the other day while we were playing a board game, and he couldn’t sit still—he liked the rhythms and instrumentation. Jobim’s music has a seemingly simple surface, but the jazz fan in me loves all the chord progressions and movement.

Mastodon—Once More ’Round the Sun

When I’m on the treadmill or lifting weights at the gym, this is some of my go-to music to energize myself. “Tread Lightly” and “High Road” are my two favorite tracks, with the catchy rhythms and awesome guitar work. That said, it’s still a great album from start to finish—it’s my pick from their catalog in which I enjoy every song on the album.

“Morning Classics” on South Dakota Public Broadcasting

Even though I haven’t lived in South Dakota for six years, I’m still a fan of this weekday classic program that runs from nine to noon. I listen to it whenever I can because it’s great background music to accompany whatever I’m working on. It’s especially fun to hear the weather reports in the winter, and I forget that I’m in Texas, not in the Badlands state.

Opeth—Watershed & Pale Communion

Besides Mastodon, Opeth has been another band in heavy rotation during my workouts. My affection for this group dates way back to my marathon training runs (before kids, before full-time jobs). The often-lengthy songs are perfect, and their complexity and nuance reward multiple listens. Although their catalog is extensive, these two albums are what I’ve been listening to the most, and they’re probably my favorites. Their songwriting, their vocal work (more harmonies, more selective “growls”), their inclusion of more keyboards all contribute to my appreciation.

George Winston—Summer

This solo piano album ushers me into the right state of mind to draft, revise, or edit. I find it relaxing, yet motivating. Winston has a knack for crafting memorable melodies, and even after I’m done listening to the album, I find the notes running through my brain. I’m also a big fan of his albums Winter Into Spring and Autumn, which I tend to listen to during their respective seasons.