on learning new words

when i returned from my trips yesterday, i spotted a big yellow envelope resting against the stairwell slats, happily expectant. oh yes, the response packet from my first mfa assignment packet waited for me to rip it open. i smiled and sighed spoors of relief- maybe this all really will work out in the end. so, in essence it was better than expected and i have begun the revision process.

the art of revision: cutting, pasting, sampling the new, trashing it for the discarded, end words replaced, end words moved back to original position, suction of servitude to words placed upon the screen or sheaf, breathing life enough that it will stand on its own in another voice blanketing my own.

my assignment for this new packet is to work the word "whorl" into a poem organically. i thumbed through the oxford dictionary at the library tonight and uncovered the meaning of this word, used in a glimmering poem by li-young lee and its newness excited me into the audacity of writing a poem just to use it.



whorl- a fingerprint in which the central papillary ridges turn through at least one complete circle.