Writing By Hand
the reading tub
One of the great things about the poetry conference, where I just spent five days writing, taking classes, attending lectures and readings and soirrees, was, every morning, writing by hand. I got up at 4:30 a.m., and wrote by hand for hours and hours. (And there was that tub.) I teach writing by hand. I preach it. But I cheat all the time. It was so, so good to be among the purists for a week. Poets are hand-writey people; I think that’s one reason I like them so much. They like made things .Slow things. Letter press and wine, long walks and triolets. And writing by hand. There were no computers anywhere to be seen. We all worked by hand. My best work is made by hand. And I believe my students’ work benefits immensely from hand-crafting. I can see it on the page. I can tell who typed, and who wrote by hand.
I know some of my students will want to read Joy Castro’s Blog. It’s wonderful, always. Her newest post is on writing by hand. I hope my students will comment with their thoughts and opinions on this important and slow and fabulous hand made kind of controversial topic!
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