“What Are You Going to Do Now?”

Photo by Valerie Peake

As of Saturday, I am a graduate of the Pacific University MFA in Writing Program. Throughout that final residency, and especially at the banquet on Saturday, I lost count of how many times I was asked, “What are you going to do now?”

Some asked with such expectancy, I almost wondered if they thought I had been granted magic powers. I wanted to tell them about bounding over skyscrapers and shooting lasers from my eyes. But the real answer is far more simple: I am going to keep reading, writing, and conversing with other writers and thinkers about art.

Poetry has become a survival skill for me. And so, although I now find myself in the post-MFA, pre-first-book limbo, I will continue to keep reading and writing, with patience and determination, as though my well-being depended on it. Because, quite frankly, I have discovered a simple equation: the more I admit poetry into my life, the better my life becomes. So, perhaps I should answer instead that I plan to keep improving my life, one line at a time.

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  • http://www.collinkelley.blogspot.com Collin Kelley

    Congratulations. To paraphrase a now famous poem –

    …walk forward in that light.

  • http://faerye.net Felicity

    Good answer.

    But…(grumble) try answering that question when you don’t have a day job. “Starve pathetically, of course!”

  • Kyle

    Robert,

    Well said. Keep up that line of thinking and life will be a sweet ride. Congratulations again.

  • Chris Flanagan

    Terrific post, Robert. The “What are you going to do now?” query strikes me as the psychopathic version of its only slightly less maddening cousin, “What do you do?”

    As hard as I’ve tried I don’t have a mechanical and all-together consumable answer to that one. Honesty seems out: Hey, let me tell you, I’m a literary writer so I tear my hair out; I stare at my blank computer screen and imagine all the seemingly irrevocable traps, the wrong choices I can make the moment I type the very first word. How about you?

    Your notion of living your art, “one line at a time,” seems the consummate way to go.

    It’s not about doing anything. It’s about living.

    Congratulations.

  • http://faerye.net Felicity

    More seriously: I think a lot of people look to graduates and alums to figure out where they will be, where they are going when the program is over. That’s only natural, but at the same time, I like to say that everyone gets a different MFA. That doesn’t just mean that it’s different while you’re in it; it’s different afterwards. You’re going to carry your degree, your poetry and your life forward. When they get to that bridge, so will they.

  • Robert

    Thanks, Collin!

  • Robert

    Thanks, Kyle. Here’s to the ride!

  • Robert

    Indeed, Chris. Living a bit neurotically at times, but living none the less. :)

  • Robert

    Good point, Felicity. It’s a bit like asking, “what’s it like being alive?” They’re all different, lives. Go find out yours.

  • http://www.sacredpassages.com Gavin Frye

    Congratulations on your milestone, Robert! It seems to me you have just been granted your passport to your next curriculum, and your new degree and all the experience you gained with it will assist you in recognizing and seizing new arenas of participation, fulfillment and contribution. Cheerio! Gavin

  • http://siduberoi.blogspot.com Sidharth Uberoi
  • Robert

    Ah, yes. The old existential-crisis-triggered-by-a-magic-trick scenario. Happens all the time.

  • Robert

    Thanks, Gavin! I like the idea of a “passport.”

  • http://siduberoi.blogspot.com Sidharth Uberoi

    I read your post this morning and then I wrote this (http://siduberoi.blogspot.com/2009/01/simple-pleasure.html) in reply and in commiseration.

  • Robert

    Beautiful shot. Yours?

  • http://siduberoi.blogspot.com Sidharth Uberoi

    Not mine. I proudly support the Public Domain(c), thank you very much.

  • Robert

    Commie. :)

  • http://artpredator.wordpress.com art predator

    one line at a time…

    ahhh yes

    it’s a continual challenge!!

    congratulations! i look forward to following where the lines lead!

  • Robert

    Thanks, Gwendolyn! Here’s to parallel lines intersecting! :)

  • http://www.pagehalffull.com/humanyms Pearl

    Gosh, I’m late with my congrats now but here they are the same: excellent! congratulations on staying for the long haul.

  • Robert

    Thanks, Pearl! It was a great journey.

  • Brandon McLeod

    Firstly, congratulations.

    I’m graduating with my M.A. in Literature and Writing with a concentration on Poetry tomorrow. I’ve been consistently asked what I’m going to do. And, truthfully, I have no idea.

    You have the benefit of already having a career.

    I’m considering going back and getting a second Master’s, this time an M.F.A. According to NPR only 15 percent of this years college graduates will get jobs after graduation, which is both depressing and distressing. I came across your blog while looking up information on low-residency programs.

    I don’t know if you have posted any work on here, because if you have, I haven’t seen it. I’d enjoy reading something of yours, given the chance.

    So, as someone who has completed their Master’s degree, now 4 months after the fact, what is your advice to me?

    I had planned to teach English overseas, but the program I was applying for fell through and I’m no longer sure if I want to go to Japan/Korea to teach English. I’m looking at other programs, of course, but, as is typical, life is getting in the way.

    Any words of wisdom?

    Brandon

  • Robert

    Hi Brandon,

    I recommend aptitude/interests tests of the kind you might find in a career counseling center. My own experience, as someone with diverse interests and abilities, has been that it hasn’t always been obvious to me what might bring fulfillment and success on the work front. These kinds of tests can help reflect back certain trends. The book _What Color is Your Parachute?_ also gives lots of exercises for uncovering possible career directions.

    I have heard that a lot of people are going back to school right now to try to ride out the recession. If you are interested in teaching, I’m not sure that an MFA in addition to an MA will necessarily differentiate you in that marketplace. A PhD might. And publication might–but that can take time. Talk to those already in academia about the marketplace, and what will set you apart. If that’s your calling, and you’re willing to work your way up through the system, then it may only be a matter of taking one next step at a time.

    Good luck. And congratulations on your degree!

    Best,
    Robert