Call me motivation

An outlet while I write my thesis. News for best friends who I rarely get to talk to. Something only people who really love me will read. However this will be defined, tonight, I am hoping to call it "motivation" to write this current paper on how Gioia uses the subjunctive mode to create feelings of uncertainty about the afterlife.

Dana Gioia.

This name will be reoccurring, so for those of you for whom it does not ring a bell, let me get you acquainted. I found this name on a list of contemporary poets in an American Poetry class spring quarter of my junior year. I sifted through a few names until I found a poem that resonated with me. You might enjoy the one I found:

Summer Storm

We stood on the rented patio
While the party went on inside.
You knew the groom from college.
I was a friend of the bride.

We hugged the brownstone wall behind us
To keep our dress clothes dry
And watched the sudden summer storm
Floodlit against the sky.

The rain was like a waterfall
Of brilliant beaded light,
Cool and silent as the stars
The storm hid from the night.

To my surprise, you took my arm–
A gesture you didn't explain–
And we spoke in whispers, as if we two
Might imitate the rain.

Then suddenly the storm receded
As swiftly as it came.
The doors behind us opened up.
The hostess called your name.

I watched you merge into the group,
Aloof and yet polite.
We didn't speak another word
Except to say goodnight.

Why does that evening's memory
Return with this night's storm–
A party twenty years ago,
Its disappointments warm?

There are so many might have beens,
What ifs that won't stay buried,
Other cities, other jobs,
Strangers we might have married.

And memory insists on pining
For places it never went,
As if life would be happier
Just by being different.

This poem was the beginning of a long, passionate journey to writing a thesis on this New Formalist poet. I am aware of how cheesy that sounds, but let me explain. When I started grad school, I would frequently question if this is where I should be because I got tired of the work or lost motivation. Then I got out my copy of Interrogations at Noon, the collection of Gioia's poetry that Dane got me for my twenty-second birthday. I had practically hidden this book from myself because I would neglect everything else when I had it in hand. So once I found it again (by that point, I had ordered his other two books), I got really excited about poetry again and decided I would try to write a thesis on his work. This has kept me going :) If you're interested, you can check out some more of this work - http://danagioia.net/poems

Now, I'm in that process - partly why I decided to start this blog as a way of working out my thoughts and because there is a possibility of this endeavor being interesting to some of you. That, and because Leigh told me to. I guess it's only fair to write about what's going on in my life too so she, and other people who I can't talk to much, can know.

I should probably end this now and turn my attention back to creating 7 more pages about "The Song." Tolliver closes at 2, so I should be able to get another few paragraphs worked out.

Thanks for reading.