the abiding image

a•bide
verb: a•bode or a•bid•ed, a•bid•ing
verb phrase: a•bide by
noun: a•bid•er
adjective: a•bid•ing

–verb
1. to remain; continue; stay.
2. to have one’s abode; dwell; reside.
3. to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc.; last.
4. to put up with; tolerate; stand.
5. to endure, sustain, or withstand without yielding or submitting.
6. to wait for; await.
7. to accept without opposition or question.
8. to pay the price or penalty of; suffer for.

–adjective
1. continuing without change; enduring; steadfast.
2. lasting for a long time; enduring.
3. unceasing; “an abiding belief”; “imperishable truths”

working within the images that won’t leave me.

thanks to derya for the photos and my eternal gratitude to stephen for the found chalkboard, a new space on which to place my thoughts and map ideas. you’re the best.

I’d also like to offer a special thank you to everyone who joined me at Hub City Writers Project annual conference this weekend. The classes were interesting and informative and the camaraderie was excellent. I also had the opportunity to read my fiction for the first time! All in all it was an inspiring time. In fact, I’m heading to the library right now to do some research on traditional poetic forms with which I plan on experimenting.

This week I’ve been reading the latest issue of The Believer, whose interview of my beloved Michael Ondaatje has me flipping through The Cinnamon Peeler and The English Patient yet again. I’ve been reading and re-reading more contemporary poetry: Jeffrey Harrison, Rachel Zucker, Bruce Snider, Thomas Heise, Daniel Pafunda, Jorie Graham and a re-read of C.D. Wright’s One Big Self, a poetic exploration of four Lousiana prisons that only becomes more unnerving as I learn more about the process of its creation. I’ve been going through essays of James Baldwin and Virginia Woolf and Susan Sontag’s On Photography as well as the first volume of the collected Paris Review interviews. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the breathtaking cinematography of the ‘documentary’ Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus which portrayed a fascinating albeit tiny sliver of the South, but at times thought that the film felt much too contrived to ring true. Mainly, where were the African-Americans?

I’ve been keeping up with the weekly charts from WCBN back home but does anyone have any recommendations for new music? Keep me posted. Also, check out DressPoll2007 on Derya’s blog. DO YOUR CIVIC DUTY AND VOTE.