Quick Review of the Week

 The last few weeks have been difficult. There is a persistent health problem, which required everyday little actions, tests and visits to doctors. While all of these add on, and encroach upon the time, they are also necessary. Maybe the next few years of my life will be about taking care of my own body much more than I have ever done before. Maybe, I would need to do things in a lot more targeted kind of a way. Which means, cutting out on crap. My last one year had been about putting up with lots of shitty people, feeling troubled by their actions, and then recovering from that. Invariably, those things have taken a toll on my body. Also, I have been trying to do way too much, and in general, I have been unhappy. There is no way one can be very happy during these times, but my unhappiness was of a very personal nature. I had given a few extremely dishonest human beings -- all of them much younger than myself -- too much space in my life. 

I have been trying to get back into a rhythm for a while now. While I have been able to do certain things academically, what has suffered immensely, is my poetry. For the past few months, I haven't been able to visit my poems, or poetry in general, in the way I wanted to. Something always came in the way. And, the stuff I was writing, honestly, didn't have the teeth I wanted my poems to have. But, ever since last week, I have a vow to come back. This past week, I have been able to finish a half-finished book of poems, Pastoral by Carl Phillips. I have also been able to finish a poem, which is a personal milestone, because I haven't been able to work on anything new for a long time. It is not a good poem, but at least, it is a poem that I have written. I have also begun to type up the poems I wrote last month. 

Academically, I have submitted the book proposal, and keeping my fingers crossed. This week, will have to turn the proposal to another publisher. 

I have also begun revising the academic essay for a co-edited collection. A little less than halfway through it, but working on it a little bit everyday. Often times, in my case, the gateway to finishing something is to begin the process of working on it.