Main Street Rag Publishing has just brought out a new chapbook of poems, How to Prepare Escargots, by my old friend, Elaine Fowler Palencia. No one is better than Elaine at turning quietly homely images into startling, sometimes explosive, insights. To illustrate the point, here is a poem that brilliantly fits the theme of this blog in ways I would never have come up with myself.
Writing Manual
1. Writing Fiction
Lay out your tools:
a plastic spatula, a dinner fork.
It doesn't matter.
Throw away your watch.
Start building your house
from the roof down.
2. Writing Poetry
Put your ear to the ground
When you hear a train coming
go stand on the track.
3. Writing a Memoir
Set up a ring of mirrors.
Undress. Sit down
in the exact center of the ring.
Tie on a blindfold.
Start singing.
Reprinted with author's permission.
Buy the book and read on!