One step at a time

I'm so happy I finished my GRE exam in Saskatoon. I did well in the verbal section, and mediocre in math, but I 'm just happy it's over. I was also able to send scores immediately to some schools for free. It feels surreal that my MFA applications have officially begun.

I've been taking things one step at a time. The GRE is finished, so now I need to work on finishing my thesis, and then editing the poems of my chapbook. Two of my brothers and my parents are actually headed to Revelstoke and the area that I describe in my chapbook, Farwell. It would be nice to go back to the forest to help get me back into that headspace as I'm revising the poems over the next few weeks.

But maybe the distance of time and space can be equally useful at looking at old poems in new ways. Part of Farwell deals with the notion of a zoetrope, or images viewed through slats that appear as though they are moving. What if we could view moments of history through the frames of photographs and memories? Would we notice a similar movement between generations, or is history truly frozen and immutable? Highlighting some of these thematic questions may help me figure out what I'm really trying to say in these poems.

I also bought Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner at the McNally Robinson. They didn't have the other short story collection I wanted, but I did pick up a new notebook for Nathan after I destroyed his in the washing machine...