THE HAWK PORTICO 3:37pm
by Joanna Gilman Hyde
I stepped out on The Deck
into The Early Morning Sun
— with My Clipboard, Pencil
Cup of Coffee — I looked out at The Atlantic
& decided to be A Writer.
–
I determined to fix A Poem:
The Greatest Date — written A Decade Ago —
–
I would fix The Ending mostly —
isn’t it The End
which usually needs attention?
–
& worked away
in That Dazzling Sun, in old sunglasses,
listening to The Breaking Waves, Birds
& My Husband stirring in The Kitchen
feeding The Cats
Joanna Gilman Hyde 
love it! a poem about fixing a poem! I like how enamored you are of your process, right down to what you are wearing. It makes me respect and exalt my own.
I was having coffee with another artist friend a couple of weeks ago and he said he was mapping the artistic process to the Eightfold Buddhist path and had come to the conclusion that to be in the studio is a spiritual necessity for an artist (same would apply for a writer I imagine). And so I’m thinking that being in the studio/creating is actually raised to the level of ritual which is equivalent to exalting a series of activities. It places my activities in the studio, or yours as writer, squarely in the territory of divine ritual.
…
Jill, I think the sense of “place” for an artist is essential, though for a writer — who has to cling to a thought — a grocery store parking lot quote on a receipt may do just as well. However, I feel such tranquillity where we live now that I know my home has greatly influenced me and my writing.