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***This is the thirty-fifth
in a 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.
#35 Backstory of the
Poem
“Sobriety”
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? This is a short poem, and like most of what I write,
was formed from a visual element from a place I was at. It was conceived while
sitting, waiting for a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous to begin, a fellowship I
don’t hide the fact that I belong to. This particular meeting was at a location
which had comfortable sofas, and art on the wall. There was a newcomer sitting
there, just starting at this Piccaso reprint, and also, the other
art---so, I wanted to tell this person
that sobriety can exist, be comfortable, take it in small steps, one day, one
hour at a time, just like that painting you were staring at, was made—one brush
stroke at a time, and it took a lot of brush strokes. (Title Photo-Timothy Gager on 10-14-2018 and Above Right Timothy Gager on January 3, 2014. Copyright permission for both photos granted by Timothy Gager for this CRC Blog Post Only)
I also wanted to say
that to her that coffee is a mainstay at meetings, so drink it, and not
anything else. (Left: Timothy Gager drinking a cup of coffee in July of 2015. Copyright permission granted by Timothy Gager for this CRC Blog Post Only)
I don’t know if I had
a specific process with this particular poem. It probably began with the first
two lines, followed by free writing. Then, I balanced the lines, the stanzas,
tossed out what didn’t work---made sure the beginning and ending of the poem worked
to my liking.
When I fine tune I like double meanings, for example “Sit on the sofa, legs curled under…” as one line it’s the person’s legs, but if you take
it a line at a time, it’s the sofa…not making the person comfortable, the
physical wooden legs curling under, or “view the oil paintings, hung boats and
fields” The paintings are hung, the boats are hung, the fields are hung. It’s
general, and it’s specific to the art. (Image I Told Him: A Complete Portrait of Picassa, 1932. Gertrude Stein sitting on a sofa in front of a painting of herself by Picassa at her residence at 27 Rue de Fleurus.)
What month and year did you start writing this poem? I have absolutely no idea. Anywhere
after 2014 and before 2017 (Timothy in July of 2014. Copyright permission granted by Timothy Gager for this CRC Blog Post Only)
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?) This poem took 8-10 drafts. I edit on the computer so
there are no pen marked papers. I work
with a lot of musicality and after some time I fairly aware of my poetic voice.
I’m fond of the delete button for the final draft if things don’t work out. (Left: Timothy Gager in March of 2015. Copyright permission granted by Timothy Gager for this CRC Blog Post Only)
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? Heck, I’m
getting old. I have no idea what was edited out. (Right: Timothy Gager in December of 2016. Copyright permission granted by Timothy Gager for this CRC Blog Post Only)
What do
you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? That there is hope after surrendering.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The ending. It’s the awe of a journey’s beginning and a journey, in general. I’ve very grateful from where I’ve come from, and I can get emotional about it (Left: Timothy Gager in March of 2017. Copyright permission granted by Timothy Gager for this CRC Blog Post Only)
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The ending. It’s the awe of a journey’s beginning and a journey, in general. I’ve very grateful from where I’ve come from, and I can get emotional about it (Left: Timothy Gager in March of 2017. Copyright permission granted by Timothy Gager for this CRC Blog Post Only)
Anything you would like to add? Keep writing people. There’s a lot of very important things going on.
Sobriety
It
can exist
drink
coffee
milk,
three sugars,
stirred
with a straw.
Sit
on the sofa,
legs
curled under
view
the oil paintings
hung
boats and fields
thousands
of brush strokes
thousands
HEAR IT on Doug Holder's podcast at 25.25
Timothy Gager is the
author of fourteen books of short fiction and poetry. Every Day There Is Something About Elephants, a book of 108 flash
fictions, selected by over fifty-five editors, was released by Big Table
Publishing in 2018.
He's hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in
Cambridge, Massachusetts since 2001 and was the co-founder of The Somerville
News Writers Festival. He has had over 500 works of fiction and poetry
published and of which thirteen have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His
work has been read on National Public Radio.
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”
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