I’ve engaged the services of a poetry coach for a few months now. Every other week we talk on the phone for an hour. Typically I send her a poem in advance to comment on and we agree to talk about an aspect craft. I am strong technically, so our talks are more like conversations among equals rather than a teacher-to-student relationship.

She has been helpful by exposing me to some poetry that I would not otherwise read. She has helped me understand the possibilities of poetry beyond what I’ve been doing. One of the must useful questions she put to me was: “What are you not doing in your work?” For me, that would be formal verse, prose poems, the long poem, and writing more in the third person.

Last night we discussed the long poem. We both read D.W. Fenza’s The Interlude as a long poem example and talked about some notes and an essay on the nature of the long poem. We also discussed my revised villanelle, which she liked very much. I have some very minor tinkering to do on it, and then I think it is done.

I’m really enjoying the new HBO series Rome (http://www.hbo.com/rome/). The show is getting very interesting now. After the episode last night and the preview for next Sunday, I’ll be curious to see if Atia tries to get her son Gaius Octavian into Julius’ bed like Atia tried to do with daughter Octavia and Pompey. How will Octavian handle this predicament since he has sworn not to reveal that Julius has epilepsy and his mother now will conclude that he is gay?