My new collection of poems, Listening to Chopin Late at Night, has been out for a couple of months. So it is time to tell you, my dear readers, a little more about it.
These are poems that I’ve written over the years. Some when my now teen-age granddaughters were still little girls who used to enjoy sleep-overs at our house. Those days are long gone (except I have two grandsons, under the age of five, so maybe sleep-overs are still a possibility.) Many of the poems grew out of Deborah Keenan’s wonderful “assignments,” as she calls her prompts or suggestions for possible poems we might write. During our Monday morning poetry class, Deborah will read a poem and give us an idea. For example, in a Sandra Simonds poem entitled, “‘When you think about it, a cage is air–‘”, Deborah suggested that we try to use a quote as a title. “It can be a quote or maybe something anyone said,” she told us. Then off I go with a bit of writing that might relate to something someone said.
So these poems didn’t come from thin air. Many owe their existence to other poets via Deborah’s inspiration.
Yet in a way they did come from air, the air that exists between a piece of music and my hand moving across the page of my notebook–the air filled with the notes of a Chopin nocturne or ballade and my mind in a semi-dream state where notes and words take on a new life.
I love Chopin. And since I’ve been studying piano for several years now under the kind and patient tutelage of Matt Dorland, my piano teacher, I’ve learned to play many of Chopin’s easier pieces. My hands attempt to shape notes and phrases into the meaning Chopin might have intended when he, so many years ago, put those notes on paper. When I play or listen to his music, Chopin is not very far away. While not all the poems were written while listening to Chopin, the connection to his music, to poems by others, to the events of my life–all of this comes together as I write–sometimes late at night in my chair by the window.
The poems are now in the world and in the hands of many readers, some of whom have written me lovely notes. Thank you to all my writing friends, to Deborah Keenan, to Chopin–and all who have supported my work over the years.
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Writing Idea: Settle into a comfortable chair and play Chopin or some other composer on one of your devices. (I say to Alexa: “Play Chopin.” And she does.) Take out your notebook and record the events of the day or whatever you’re thinking about. Or as you listen to the music, find a line of poetry to use as a starter. See where the music and/or the poetry takes you.
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“After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” –Frederic Chopin
