30 Things I Love Right Now: Midwinter

(1) The music of the 1970s, the many varied carols I hear. Which is to say: (2) CSN (3) CSNY (4) Harry Chapin (5) Gordon Lightfoot (et al) but also (6) the Stooges (7) Television (et al) (8) Which is to say: yin and also (9) yang (10) Also: Jung, which is to say: (11) the power of the subconscious mind (12) and dreams, thoroughly experienced and well-remembered (13) how 11 + 12 work to restore and reclaim, how they are portals to the soul and what also might be called the Oversoul (et al) (14) teaching poetry (15) interrogating the provenance of my poetics (so to speak) (16) poems, by… (17) Ada Limon (18) Terrance Hayes (19) William Wordsworth (20) John Keats but also looking into poems by… (21) Alexander Pope and (22) Elizabeth Barrett Browning and ALSO (23) stepping back and acknowledging / examining / interrogating and then ultimately moving toward transcending the very narrow prism through which I’ve learned to see poetry (also music etc/et al) (24) Which is to say: yin + yang sometimes seems like everything, the sum total (“We like both kinds of music, Country and Western!”), but it almost never is. It’s just two points on a continuum — two points that often aren’t all that far apart, in the grand scheme of things. (25) A little bit of steamed/frothed oat milk in my morning coffee (26) my hair (27) my guitar (28) The koto J– got for S– at an estate sale (29) Estate sales! (Who knew?) (30) The library.