Comments on: The Second Year

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:13:08 +0000

Thanks, Leslie. I appreciate the suggestion from someone who certainly knows their way around prose.

The scenes I carry from that time are difficult to express. This one just resurfaced. I thought the hardest part would be seeing the children. I wasn’t expecting it to be the few moments before.

Last semester Sandra Alcosser sent me a copy of a very short piece by Brian Doyle called “Two Hearts.” It tore me apart.

So, I am actually looking at haibun and prose introduction and other multi-modal forms, which might help me frame and shape my thesis more forcefully than a straightforward collection of poems. We’ll see.

Thanks for stopping by.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 05:29:39 +0000

A very moving post. But also good writing. The part about the lather and handwashing and memory would make amazing short essay.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:55:11 +0000

Thanks, Brian.

By: Brian Campbell

Brian Campbell — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:47:11 +0000

A very touching post. My thoughts go out to you, Robert.

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:06:11 +0000

Thanks, my friend.

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:05:53 +0000

Thanks, Peter. I thought it would be the moment of meeting my friends’ children that would have been most difficult — but it was actually the conscientiousness with which I prepared myself to meet them that brought back the experience of fatherhood — an experience of wanting to be impeccable, stemming from a visceral desire to do anything and everything I could for my son.

By: Michelle Bitting

Michelle Bitting — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:07:31 +0000

Love and strength of spirit to you at this time, Robert. You have so much of it–may you have even more!

Michelle

By: Peter Gallant

Peter Gallant — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:04:31 +0000

Robert:

What a touching post – you so eloquently reminded me (and likely many others) not only of the preciousness and value of each little life, but the strength of the link between even the simplest physical task and the strongest of our memories – even when this memory is of our best and our worst moments in stark proximity.

Best,
Peter

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:05:51 +0000

Thanks, Nick; thanks, Kurt. I sometimes question how much I should disclose about my process of moving through grief to hope. Then I hear how it has helped someone else to take stock, to focus on what matters most. Still, we went through “personal updates” at our company-wide meeting yesterday, and staring out at my colleagues, one-quarter of whom were new, and I just thought: “how personal do you want to get?” In the end, I just let one secret slip — that I write poetry.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:21:18 +0000

I’m glad that you posted this.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:55:04 +0000

Thank you for that post.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:23:08 +0000

Thanks for your kindness, Ed.