02/10/2010
Dear Valentines:
Many thanks to all who wrote back with encouraging words last December. The first draft of the novella was finished on schedule and this month, I await news on a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant application. The funding would be important to move my work ahead, but as I field increasing criticism for my IRRESPONSIBLE LIFE WITHOUT GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT (!) I realize the support of friends has meant much more.
With gratitude, I am sharing some verse that placed in the Winter 2010 issue of The Melancholy Dane Literary Review. It's the closest thing I have to a love poem right now:
Esteem
I don’t need to look at you
in order to see.
A piercing gaze and intent focus
are an overbearing mother;
a friend too fierce in love.
Truth and beauty disappear
in direct observation:
La Gioconda’s smile
or distant star perceived
with gentle sideways glances
of the heart.
Much happiness,
Tina
