Continued! So, last time I was about to physically begin arranging my essay. I did, indeed, print out my essay, the strands in different colors, and I cut them up and laid them out on my floor. I initially had two strands. I added a third strand which I’m not positive about—it’s someone else’s point of view, someone who was involved in the other strands.
Loose ends? Noooooo!
I like the way it gives more insight into my own story, plus insight as to what was really going on. It sort of validates some of it, maybe. That certainly isn’t necessary, but for some reason it jumped out at me, so even if it doesn’t make it to the next draft, the third strand is there for now.
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This summer, I’ve given myself a project: study the lyric essay. Over the last year of grad school I’d heard it mentioned in passing, but never really thought about it—too busy trying to figure out what a regular essay involved, really. But now that I have some time, I’m interested to discover what the lyric essay is.
Over here in nonfictionland, we like to say that poetry and creative nonfiction are lovers. For me, and maybe only me, it’s true because my poems and my essays are so very personal, all about the “I.” I also like to think that I really care about my sentences. One reason I love writing poetry in form (I’m hearting cinquains lately) is because you have to, have to, find that one perfect word. The word that maybe has a couple of meanings, the word that makes your prose march. I have always tried to pay just as close attention to the words and lines in my essays. I even like to think of my poems as cute little essays.
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