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***This is #107 in the never-ending
series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog
(CRC) focuses on one specific poem and how the poet wrote that specific
poem. All BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links are at the end of this
piece.
#107 Backstory of the
Poem
“Abandoned Stable”
by Nancy Susanna
Breen
Can you
go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the
idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? The inspiration for
the poem came one wet evening in early January when I spotted the remains of a
Nativity scene on a church lawn; just a stained glass-like wooden frame and a
mass of limp straw. I started gathering lines and images in my head right away,
and I may have dashed out a rough first draft soon after, but I think it was
mid-spring before I tackled the actual writing.
Where
were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great
detail. In
this case, I did most of the writing at the computer, not counting the mental
work I did on it before and after I'd started an actual Word document. I write
in my head when I'm walking, cleaning, doing needlework, and especially when
I'm falling asleep or first wake up in the morning.
What
month and year did you start writing this poem? I started writing it
in 2016. I'm fairly sure it was after New Year's but before January 6. I
reference the Epiphany in the poem as still being in the future; and after
January 6 I'm able to let go of the Christmas season just finished and stop
mourning its passing.
How
many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you
share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) Unfortunately, I don't
retain my revisions, even though I know a lot of poets do. I write the way a
whittler works a piece of wood: I chip and slice and sand and smooth until I
get the finished piece I want, but I don't hang on to the wood shavings and
sawdust. Also, I find it hard to declare any version of any poem
"final." Even when I've gathered previously published poems for
chapbooks, I've continued to revise those poems where I see fit. If the first
few lines of a poem count as a "draft," and if even minor tweaks
constitute a new "draft," I guess this poem may have gone through ten
or more drafts.
Were
there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the
final version? And can you share them
with us? I'm
not sure what lines I may have added or cut. I do know I worked to add more
music to the poem, such as the last line with its "muffling bursts of
mirthless snow." I remember at some point being dissatisfied with the
"finished" poem because it seemed flat, so I worked to punch up the
language and imagery.
Which
part of the poem was the most emotional for you to write and why? The entire poem was
emotional because I get so depressed when the Christmas season is over.
Everything seems so faded and wilted, even before the "12 days" are
up on the Epiphany. It's a challenge to maintain the joy when the world moves
on so quickly, and when winter seems so grim once the celebration has died.
Has
this poem been published before? And if
so where? Initially
this poem was published in The Best of
Ohio 2016, the anthology of prizewinners from the annual Ohio Poetry Day
contests sponsored by the Ohio Poetry Association (it won second in its
category). It's also in my upcoming chapbook, Burying the Alleluia, to be published in May by Finishing Line
Press (https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/burying-the-alleluia-by-nancy-susanna-breen-nwvs-146/ ).
ABANDONED STABLE
Three days before the Epiphany
and already the mangers are empty.
The plywood stables stand like
stage backdrops of failed plays
that closed out of town.
Beds of old straw, flattened
by New Year's rain, reveal
no evidence of the Family
who sought shelter and celebrated a birth.
and already the mangers are empty.
The plywood stables stand like
stage backdrops of failed plays
that closed out of town.
Beds of old straw, flattened
by New Year's rain, reveal
no evidence of the Family
who sought shelter and celebrated a birth.
O Wise Wanderers
in your crowns and robes, don't let
these lonely ruins dissuade you from stopping.
Pause long enough to revive
our dissipated joy
before you resume your search
for the MIA Savior.
in your crowns and robes, don't let
these lonely ruins dissuade you from stopping.
Pause long enough to revive
our dissipated joy
before you resume your search
for the MIA Savior.
January deserves to be as golden
and spicy as December, its gloom
brightened by the Star Without Borders
even as the electric stars blink off
in evergreens and along porch rails,
even as the jubilant hymns wane
in muffling bursts of mirthless snow.
and spicy as December, its gloom
brightened by the Star Without Borders
even as the electric stars blink off
in evergreens and along porch rails,
even as the jubilant hymns wane
in muffling bursts of mirthless snow.
Nancy Susanna Breen is a poet,
freelance writer, and editor. Her poetry has appeared in many publications,
including Atlanta Review, The Donut Book, and The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics. Her chapbooks
include Rites & Observances and Burying the Alleluia (Finishing Line
Press) and How Time Got Away (Pudding
House Publications). She’s a past editor of Poet’s
Market for Writer’s Digest Books, and her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Poet’s Market, Writer’s
Market, and The Craft & Business
of Writing. She has served as screening or final judge for poetry
competitions sponsored by Pennwriters, Writer’s
Digest, The National Federation of State Poetry Societies, and several
individual state poetry associations. She lives in Loveland, Ohio.
BACKSTORY OF THE POEM
LINKS
001 December 29, 2017
Margo
Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”
002 January 08, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake
Café”
003 January 12, 2018
Barbara
Crooker’s “Orange”
004 January 22, 2018
Sonia
Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”
005 January 29, 2018
Ellen
Foos’s “Side Yard”
006 February 03, 2018
Susan
Sundwall’s “The Ringmaster”
007 February 09, 2018
Leslea
Newman’s “That Night”
008 February 17, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher “June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”
009 February 24, 2018
Charles
Clifford Brooks III “The Gift of the Year With Granny”
010 March 03, 2018
Scott
Thomas Outlar’s “The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”
011 March 10, 2018
Anya
Francesca Jenkins’s “After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”
012 March 17, 2018
Angela
Narciso Torres’s “What I Learned This Week”
013 March 24, 2018
Jan
Steckel’s “Holiday On ICE”
014 March 31, 2018
Ibrahim
Honjo’s “Colors”
015 April 14, 2018
Marilyn
Kallett’s “Ode to Disappointment”
016 April 27, 2018
Beth
Copeland’s “Reliquary”
017 May 12, 2018
Marlon
L Fick’s “The Swallows of Barcelona”
018 May 25, 2018
Juliet
Cook’s “ARTERIAL DISCOMBOBULATION”
019 June 09, 2018
Alexis
Rhone Fancher’s “Stiletto Killer. . . A Surmise”
020 June 16, 2018
Charles
Rammelkamp’s “At Last I Can Start Suffering”
021 July 05, 2018
Marla
Shaw O’Neill’s “Wind Chimes”
022 July 13, 2018
Julia Gordon-Bramer’s
“Studying Ariel”
023 July 20, 2018
Bill Yarrow’s “Jesus
Zombie”
024 July 27, 2018
Telaina Eriksen’s “Brag
2016”
025 August 01, 2018
Seth Berg’s “It is only
Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”
026 August 07, 2018
David Herrle’s “Devil In
the Details”
027 August 13, 2018
Gloria Mindock’s “Carmen
Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”
028 August 21, 2018
Connie Post’s “Two
Deaths”
029 August 30, 2018
Mary Harwell Sayler’s
“Faces in a Crowd”
030 September 16, 2018
Larry Jaffe’s “The
Risking Point”
031 September 24,
2018
Mark Lee Webb’s “After
We Drove”
032 October 04, 2018
Melissa Studdard’s
“Astral”
033 October 13, 2018
Robert Craven’s “I Have
A Bass Guitar Called Vanessa”
034 October 17, 2018
David Sullivan’s “Paper Mache
Peaches of Heaven”
035 October 23, 2018
Timothy Gager’s
“Sobriety”
036 October 30, 2018
Gary Glauber’s “The
Second Breakfast”
037 November 04, 2018
Heather Forbes-McKeon’s
“Melania’s Deaf Tone Jacket”
038 November 11, 2018
Andrena Zawinski’s
“Women of the Fields”
039 November 00, 2018
Gordon Hilger’s “Poe”
040 November 16, 2018
Rita Quillen’s “My
Children Question Me About Poetry” and “Deathbed Dreams”
041 November 20, 2018
Jonathan Kevin Rice’s
“Dog Sitting”
042 November 22, 2018
Haroldo Barbosa Filho’s
“Mountain”
043 November 27, 2018
Megan Merchant’s “Grief Flowers”
044 November 30, 2018
Jonathan P Taylor’s
“This poem is too neat”
045 December 03, 2018
Ian Haight’s “Sungmyo
for our Dead Father-in-Law”
046 December 06, 2018
Nancy Dafoe’s “Poem in
the Throat”
047 December 11, 2018
Jeffrey Pearson’s “Memorial
Day”
048 December 14, 2018
Frank Paino’s “Laika”
049 December 15, 2018
Jennifer Martelli’s
“Anniversary”
O50 December 19, 2018
Joseph Ross’s “For Gilberto Ramos, 15, Who Died in
the Texas Desert, June 2014”
051 December 23, 2018
“The Persistence of
Music”
by Anatoly Molotkov
052 December 27, 2018
“Under Surveillance”
by Michael Farry
053 December 28, 2018
“Grand Finale”
by Renuka Raghavan
054 December 29, 2018
“Aftermath”
by Gene Barry
055 January 2, 2019
“&”
by Larissa Shmailo
056 January 7, 2019
“The Seamstress:
by Len Kuntz
057 January 10, 2019
"Natural History"
by Camille T Dungy
058 January 11, 2019
“BLOCKADE”
by Brian Burmeister
059 January 12, 2019
“Lost”
by Clint Margrave
060 January 14, 2019
“Menopause”
by Pat Durmon
061 January 19, 2019
“Neptune’s Choir”
by Linda Imbler
062 January 22, 2019
“Views From the
Driveway”
by Amy Barone
063 January 25, 2019
“The heron leaves her
haunts in the marsh”
by Gail Wronsky
064 January 30, 2019
“Shiprock”
by Terry Lucas
065 February 02, 2019
“Summer 1970, The
University of Virginia Opens to Women in the Fall”
by Alarie Tennille
066 February 05, 2019
“At School They Learn
Nouns”
by Patrick Bizzaro
067 February 06, 2019
“I Must Not Breathe”
by Angela Jackson-Brown
068 February 11, 2019
“Lunch on City Island,
Early June”
by Christine Potter
069 February 12, 2019
“Singing”
by Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum
070 February 14, 2019
“Daily Commute”
by Christopher P. Locke
071 February 18, 2019
“How Silent The Trees”
by Wyn Cooper
072 February 20, 2019
“A New Psalm
of Montreal”
by Sheenagh Pugh
073 February 23, 2019
“Make Me A
Butterfly”
by Amy Barbera
074 February 26, 2019
“Anthem”
by Sandy Coomer
075 March 4, 2019
“Shape of a Violin”
by Kelly Powell
076 March 5, 2019
“Inward Oracle”
by J.P. Dancing Bear
077 March 7, 2019
“I Broke
My Bust Of Jesus”
by Susan Sundwall
078 March 9, 2019
“My Mother
at 19”
by John Guzlowski
079 March 10, 2019
“Paddling”
by Chera Hammons Miller
080 March 12, 2019
“Of Water
and Echo”
by Gillian Cummings
081 082
083 March 14, 2019
“Little
Political Sense” “Crossing Kansas with
Jim
Morrison” “The Land of Sky and Blue Waters”
by Dr. Lindsey
Martin-Bowen
084 March 15, 2019
“A Tune To
Remember”
by Anna Evans
085 March 19, 2019
“At the
End of Time (Wish You Were Here)
by Jeannine Hall Gailey
086 March 20, 2019
“Garden of
Gethsemane”
by Marletta Hemphill
087 March 21, 2019
“Letters
From a War”
by Chelsea Dingman
088 March 26, 2019
“HAT”
by Bob Heman
089 March 27, 2019
“Clay for
the Potter”
by Belinda Bourgeois
#090 March 30, 2019
“The Pose”
by John Hicks
#091 April 2, 2019
“Last
Night at the Wursthaus”
by Doug Holder
#092 April 4, 2019
“Original
Sin”
by Diane Lockward
#093 April 5, 2019
“A Father
Calls to his child on liveleak”
by Stephen Byrne
#094 April 8, 2019
“XX”
by Marc Zegans
#095 April 12, 2019
“Landscape
and Still Life”
by Marjorie Maddox
#096 April 16, 2019
“Strawberries
Have Been Growing Here for Hundreds of
Years”
by Mary Ellen Lough
#097 April 17, 2019
“The New
Science of Slippery Surfaces”
by Donna Spruijt-Metz
#098 April 19, 2019
“Tennessee
Epithalamium”
by Alyse Knorr
#099 April 20, 2019
“Mermaid,
1969”
by Tameca L. Coleman
#100 April 21, 2019
“How Do
You Know?”
by Stephanie
#101 April 23, 2019
“Rare Book
and Reader”
by Ned Balbo
#102 April 26, 2019
“THUNDER”
by Jefferson Carter
#103 May 01, 2019
“The sight
of a million angels”
by Jenneth Graser
#104 May 09, 2019
“How to
tell my dog I’m dying”
by Richard Fox
#105 May 17, 2019
“Promises
Had Been Made”
by Sarah Sarai
#106 June 01, 2019
“i sold
your car today”
by Pamela Twining
#107 June 02, 2019
“Abandoned Stable”
“Abandoned Stable”
by Nancy Susanna Breen
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