“My diaries are letters from my former self to my future self. My poems are replies to those letters.”
Vera Pavlova, from “Heaven is Not Verbose: A Notebook,”
As my thoughts on Thursday turn to books, I liked this quote even tho it is slightly tangential to books per se. But diaries are books and poems too are often found in books, so here we go!
Isn't this just the most remarkable way of thinking about the role of words in a person's life? I have never been a very good diary or journal-keeper; I seem to have done it in fits and spurts but never consistently.
But what a delight to think that the words of the past are written to the future you - for the future you to stop, read and reflect upon them. And then, for a poet, to think that their present words are replies to those thoughts - are responses to the lessons learned, the problems never solved, the issues considered and pondered upon. Just so delightful.
No doubt this doesn't hold true for everybody; but one of the things I like most about it is that she has captured the essence of how she sees her work and her experiences and tells a beautiful, simple story of them that lets us understand and know how she goes about her work.
Almost the perfect artist statement I think!
My most recent attempt at capturing a diary/journal type document - my daily doings book. I collected all my daily to-do lists for a year and bound them into a book. It's true, that as I look back over them I reflect on who I was and what I was doing at the time - altho not quite writing notes to my future self.
Vera Pavlova, from “Heaven is Not Verbose: A Notebook,”
As my thoughts on Thursday turn to books, I liked this quote even tho it is slightly tangential to books per se. But diaries are books and poems too are often found in books, so here we go!
Isn't this just the most remarkable way of thinking about the role of words in a person's life? I have never been a very good diary or journal-keeper; I seem to have done it in fits and spurts but never consistently.
But what a delight to think that the words of the past are written to the future you - for the future you to stop, read and reflect upon them. And then, for a poet, to think that their present words are replies to those thoughts - are responses to the lessons learned, the problems never solved, the issues considered and pondered upon. Just so delightful.
No doubt this doesn't hold true for everybody; but one of the things I like most about it is that she has captured the essence of how she sees her work and her experiences and tells a beautiful, simple story of them that lets us understand and know how she goes about her work.
Almost the perfect artist statement I think!
My most recent attempt at capturing a diary/journal type document - my daily doings book. I collected all my daily to-do lists for a year and bound them into a book. It's true, that as I look back over them I reflect on who I was and what I was doing at the time - altho not quite writing notes to my future self.
Greetings, Fiona. As you may have guessed, I love the idea of a diary, notes to the self, etc. even if I am not consistent either. It's a way to mark the passage of time and, if we dare to look back, a way to see who we were at a particular point in time. I also very much love your idea of compiling your daily doings! I've often thought about keeping my lists, but never knew what I would do with them....you have realized the perfect solution that expresses who you are! That's wonderful....thanks for sharing it. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI am hopeless with diaries too, yet our blogs are actually exactly that I suppose. Even with that you are far better than me!
ReplyDeleteyou did it! i've thought of doing this one so many time...never had the extra-oomph to do it. bravo!
ReplyDelete