revised and updated 20 March 2022
In less than a month, I will be flying to Paris to stay awhile and write – a dream I’ve had for some time now. I believe the change in scenery will do me good.
I will spend my time on the Left Bank, expecting to see and contemplate the building (151 Rue St. Jacques) in which T.S., Eliot lived as a student at the Sorbonne in 1911.
I hope to complete the final rewrite of We Heard The Music as well as to continue writing my poetry and submitting some of it for publication.
To date, I’ve published 35 poems, online and in print, a fact I’ve taken some pride in, for it shows that the past year (starting in Feb. 2021) has not been wasted for me, but has been a year of steady improvement in technique and ability. In addition, I’ve started another novel, this one based on some of the events in T.S. Eliot’s life, tentatively titled A Passion For Tom. It is historical fiction about him from about 1919-1922 (the latter date when he finished The Waste Land which, by the way, is having its centennial celebration this year).
Needless to say, I am also furiously studying French, not so much to speak but to understand when I arrive in Paris. The trip is also noted by another date of personal importance: April 1, when I was married.
Perhaps this will be the great adventure of my retirement! when I return, I shall update my list of publications.