David:
I don't claim to hold myself up as an example of the successful pursuit of poetry AND criticism AND teaching, because I only rarely feel successful -- you know, right after a class that goes well, or at the moment a couplet snaps into place, or for a moment or two when I've written something that really explains how a poem did what it did. But it has been a productive confluence of careers. There's always something to turn to when, as you put it, the muse is visiting another mind. It always feels as if I'm working on the same essential material, merely in a different dimension. And having done many other things, as you have, I can confirm your claim that there are far worse ways for a writer to make a living. I sometimes miss farm work, but only on mild days and only for short periods. I never, never miss my days in a big corporation, or in retail, or as a laborer...
Richard
|